My research focuses on using modern methods to answer ancient questions. I will be analyzing shifts in reef carbonate producers in the coral triangle in the Neogene at fine stratigraphic detail. In order to generate enough data for these analyses, I am developing an AI that can identify carbonate producing clades in thin sections and the area of each thin section that is occupied by each clade.
Keywords
coral reefs, coral triangle, paleoecology, thin sections, machine learning, artificial intelligence, Pliocene
Researchinterest
I have been collecting fossils since I was a small child and never lost my interest in ancient reefs fauna.
In my bachelor's and master's studies, I was often confronted with problems that could be solved with analyses of the innumerable thin sections that exist in collections around the world. However, extracting quantitative data from these thin sections is a time-consuming task that prevents many interesting analyses. I seek to apply machine learning methods to train a computer to do years worth of analyses in seconds, ushering in a new era of large data studies based on existing and new thin sections!
CurrentResearch
A selection of the topics I am working on currently.
4D-REEF Research Programme
Cenozoic fossil record of coral reefs
(Paleo)ecology of turbid reef ecosystems
