Matthew Rusek-Peterson

Welcome!

With eight years of laboratory experience working in a variety of settings ranging from the Department of Energy to university systems I have strong analytical skills and a deep understanding of how labs function. I also have strong computational and written skills and know how to work with dynamic teams to meet deadlines. I am committed to excellence and know that my working experiences are highly transferable to any industry or setting within the scientific community or beyond it.

Below you can find details about my work experience as well as examples of my written and computational skills. For instance, this document was written and formatted completely in RStudio!

About Me

I am a soil ecologist and I spent the last three years as the analytical lab coordinator at Biosphere 2- The world’s largest experimental ecosystem!

In this role I expanded instrumentation, managed site-wide sample inventories, and developed standard operating procedures (SOPs) and training procedures to teach undergraduates methods in soil science and analytical chemistry.

Instrument Expertise

I have a thorough understanding of analytical instrumentation including, but not limited to, HPLC, GC-MS, LC-MS, Ion Chromatography, and Elemental Analysis.

As the sole individual managing the lab at Biosphere 2 it was my responsibility to prep sample runs, calibrate instruments, run samples, extract data and visualize results for publications. Additionally, I had to perform routine instrument maintenance to more comprehensive troubleshooting.

Some specific maintenance I have conducted involved replacing instrument boards and detectors as well as repairing turbo vacuums and analytical pumps. I know how to perform root-cause investigations and identify the difference between method deviations and instrument-specific failures.

Rstudio

I have used Rstudio since 2018 to visualize research findings.

Figure 1. Examples of plots I have made in RStudio

In addition to creating figures for presentations and publications, I have led crash-courses in RStudio for undergraduate students learning concepts in biogeochemistry.

In my free time I have recorded numerous tutorial videos that are readily available on Youtube showcasing fundamentals in RStudio and how to use a variety of packages in the tidyverse. I also have used RStudio to create a repository of the code for individuals to reference and use themselves.

Texas A&M University

My master’s research investigated the interactive effects of drought and fire on soil microbial communities and soil carbon dynamics.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

While at PNNL I assisted with isotopic labeling of plants and conducting laser ablation isotope ratio mass spectrometry measurements to visualize where plants allocate resources in return for nutrients in soils.

Publications

First-Authored

• Deciphering the microbial and molecular responses of geographically diverse Setaria accessions grown in a nutrient-poor soil

Co-Author

• Antecedent conditions determine the biogeochemical response of coastal soils to seawater exposure

• The effects of plant–microbe–environment interactions on mineral weathering patterns in a granular basalt

• Tripogon loliiformis tolerates rapid desiccation after metabolic and transcriptional priming during initial drying

Master’s Thesis

• The Response of Soil Microbial Communities to the Interactive Effects of Drought and Fire in a Semi-Arid Savanna