Sigma Xi Supports Student Greenhouse Gas Research

– Debra Woodall, a doctoral candidate in Florida Tech’s Department of Marine and Environmental
Systems, has been awarded a research grant from Sigma Xi, the scientific research society. The award, through Sigma Xi’s Grants-in-Aid of Research,
supports Woodall’s studies of the role that mineral-suspended solids, such as clay, play in the cycling of carbon in natural waters when affected by UV-B
radiation.

The funding will provide Woodall with materials to construct a ventilated UV-B solar simulator for her geochemistry studies. The results of her work will
add to the body of knowledge for understanding the input of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

Woodall earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La. She also holds a master’s degree in oceanography from Louisiana State
University in Baton Rouge.

Woodall is among the only 20 percent of applicants for these Sigma Xi grants who receive funding.