Mason Stahl, James M. Kenney Assistant Professor of Environment Engineering, was awarded a grant from The Bender Scientific Fund of The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region for his research project “Carbon Cycling at River Confluences.”

This project seeks to characterize how the mixing of chemically and biologically distinct waters, a process that occurs at river confluences, affects the overall carbon cycle of river systems. Stahl will collect samples on the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers and conduct chemical and microbiological analyses along with laboratory experiments to characterize the influence of river mixing on the consumption of organic carbon.

This project will address fundamental questions surrounding carbon cycling in aquatic environments and will improve our understanding of the geochemistry and microbiology of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers, which are regionally important water resources.