Dr. Kimberly Lau

Biography

Kimberly Lau is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Penn State University. Her research focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of ocean anoxia and oxygenation throughout Earth’s history. Through her work, she has explored how anoxic conditions have resulted in significant increases in atmospheric pCO2, influencing continental weathering and the delivery of essential nutrients, such as phosphates, to the oceans—factors that stimulate primary productivity and affect oxygen demand. Lau's research emphasizes the close relationship between redox conditions in the oceans and biogeochemical cycles, particularly regarding carbon and trace metals. She utilizes a combination of methods, including geochemical proxies and numerical modeling of marine sedimentary rocks, to investigate these processes. Her particular interest in isotopic proxies, like uranium, provides insights into past biogeochemical cycling, allowing for the quantitative reconstruction of oceanic redox conditions over millions of years. Her notable projects include understanding the controls on uranium isotopes in reducing environments and reconstructing the marine redox state during critical events in Earth's history. Lau earned her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Stanford University and a B.S. in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University, and she has completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Agoroun Geobiology at UC Riverside. Before joining Penn State, she served as an assistant professor at the University of Wyoming.

Research Interests

Experience