People
Laura C. Motta
Assistant Scientist, Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry
Laura C. Motta is a chemist originally from Neiva, Colombia. She earned a chemistry degree from Rutgers University in 2013, where she conducted her first mercury experiments with marine phytoplankton in John Reinfelder’s lab. She then pursued a double Ph.D. at the University of Michigan—one in Earth Sciences with Joel Blum, focusing on marine mercury stable isotope biogeochemistry, and one in Theoretical Chemistry with Paul Zimmerman, using quantum chemistry to understand heavy element chemistry. In 2019, Laura moved to France to study relativistic quantum chemistry with Trond Saue as an international predoctoral fellow at CNRS. After completing her Ph.D. in 2020, she moved to South Korea to work with Sae Yun Kwon at POSTECH, studying mercury in zooplankton. She later became a postdoctoral fellow with Jochen Autschbach at SUNY Buffalo, where she worked on relativistic quantum chemistry to explore the chemical bonding of organometallic compounds.
Since 2023, she has been at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where she leads the Theoretical Chemistry and Isotope Biogeochemistry Lab. Her research focuses on advancing our fundamental understanding of chemistry, inspired by our oceans.
Contact: laura.motta@whoi.edu
Current Members
Corinne Richard
Research Assistant II: 2024 - present
Corinne graduated from the honors program at the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Science in Earth Sciences with a concentration in Oceanography and a minor in Marine Biology.
Corinne is our lab manager. She is in charge of all things related to trapping mercury for stable isotopes. She also maintains our plankton cultures. She is the plankton master! Corinne is primarily working on our Antarctica project.
Contact: corinne.richard@whoi.edu
Former Members
Frank Dorman
Summer Student: 2024
Frank is an undergraduate student in Chemistry at Juniata College. He joined us in the summer of 2024 to help us develop new analytical methods to degas the ocean. As Frank calls it, the Super-Gas-O-Matic.The goal is to trap gaseous mercury for Hg stable isotopes.