Claudia Benitez-Nelson

Claudia Benitez-Nelson spent her earliest years in New York City, NY, where she attended college and graduate classes with her mother from a very young age. She and her mother later moved to Seattle, Washington, where she spent most of her remaining childhood. Benitez-Nelson attended the University of Washington, receiving her Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Oceanography in 1992.[1][2]

Benitez-Nelson found her passion for oceanography after taking an Introduction to Oceanography course at the University of Washington, taught by Roy Carpenter,[3] and then by conducting research with Jim Murray, who helped guide her towards a career in oceanography. Benitez-Nelson earned her Ph.D. through the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program/Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Oceanography in 1999.[2][1] Her Ph.D. advisor, Ken Buesseler, now a senior scientist in Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, played a pivotal role in Benitez-Nelson's development as a scientist and person.[4] Upon graduation, Benitez-Nelson moved to the University of Hawaii as a School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) Young Investigator & National Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA)/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Postdoctoral Fellow, where she worked with David Karl, a professor in Oceanography at the University of Hawaii. and member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Benitez-Nelson is a Carolina Distinguished Professor in the School of Earth, Ocean & Environmental Sciences at the University of South Carolina where she serves as the Associate Dean for Instruction, Community Engagement, and Research.[1] After finishing her postdoctoral work in Hawaii, Benitez-Nelson joined the then Department of Geology at the University of South Carolina as an Assistant Professor, she became a Full Professor in 2010.[1]

Benitez-Nelson's research examines the mechanisms of aquatic particle formation, export, and burial and how the composition of these particles changes both temporally and spatially.[5] Much of this work focuses specifically on phosphorus[6][7][8] and carbon biogeochemistry,[9] but includes other elements and compounds ranging from mercury to the neurotoxin, domoic acid. She uses a variety of geochemical techniques in her laboratory, including cosmogenic and uranium series radioisotopes. She participated in the Cariaco Basin project in the Caribbean Sea.[10]

Benitez-Nelson has received awards for her research, teaching, and mentoring, such as the Early Career Award in Oceanography [11] and the Sulzman Award for Excellence in Education and Mentoring from the American Geophysical Union. An active researcher, Benitez-Nelson has received numerous grants from the National Science Foundation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Other awards and honors Benitez-Nelson has received include:

• The National Faculty of the Year Award from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars in 2005.[12]
• The University of South Carolina's Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2006.[13]
• Fulbright and Marie Curie Fellowships in 2008.
• Benitez-Nelson became a National Academies of Science/Humboldt Foundation Kavli Fellow in 2012.[14]
• The University of South Carolina named Benitez-Nelson the Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year in 2013 [13]
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 2015.[15]
• The University of South Carolina's Ada B. Thomas Advisor Award in 2016.[13]
• Served for the Advisory Committee to the Geoscience Directorate of the National Science Foundation.[16]
• Has worked for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board as well as the National Academy of Science's Ocean Studies Board.[17]

Benitez-Nelson's major publications include:[18]

• Buesseler, Ken; Dai, Minhan; Aoyama, Michio; Benitez-Nelson, Claudia; Charmasson, Sabine; Higley, Kathryn; Maderich, Vladimir; Masqué, Pere; Morris, Paul J.; Oughton, Deborah; Smith, John N. (2017). "Fukushima Daiichi-Derived Radionuclides in the Ocean: Transport, Fate, and Impacts". Annual Review of Marine Science. 9: 173–203. Bibcode:2017ARMS....9..173B. doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060733. ISSN 1941-1405. PMID 27359052.
• Piper, Meryssa M.; Benitez-Nelson, R.; Frey, Karen E.; Mills, Matthew M.; Pal, Sharmila (2016). "Dissolved and particulate phosphorus distributions and elemental stoichiometry throughout the Chukchi Sea". Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. 130: 76–87. doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2016.05.009.
• Puigcorbé, Viena; Benitez-Nelson, Claudia R.; Masqué, Pere; Verdeny, Elisabet; White, Angelicque E.; Popp, Brian N.; Prahl, Fredrick G.; Lam, Phoebe J. (2015). "Small phytoplankton drive high summertime carbon and nutrient export in the Gulf of California and Eastern Tropical North Pacific". Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 29 (8): 1309. Bibcode:2015GBioC..29.1309P. doi:10.1002/2015GB005134. hdl:1912/7659. ISSN 0886-6236.
• Stukel, Michael R.; Benitez-Nelson, Claudia R.; Décima, Moira; Taylor, Andrew G.; Buchwald, Carolyn; Landry, Michael R. (2015-11-30). "The biological pump in the Costa Rica Dome: An open-ocean upwelling system with high new production and low export". Journal of Plankton Research. 38 (2): 348–365. doi:10.1093/plankt/fbv097. ISSN 0142-7873. PMC 4889986. PMID 27275035.
• Benitez-Nelson, Claudia (2015). "The missing link in oceanic phosphorus cycling?". Science. 348 (6236): 759–760. Bibcode:2015Sci...348..759B. doi:10.1126/science.aab2801. PMID 25977538. S2CID 206638076.[19]
• McParland, Erin; Benitez-Nelson, Claudia R.; Taylor, Gordon T.; Thunell, Robert; Rollings, Anna; Lorenzoni, Laura (2015). "Cycling of suspended particulate phosphorus in the redoxcline of the Cariaco Basin". Marine Chemistry. 176: 64–74. doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2015.07.008.
• Pinckney, James L.; Benitez-Nelson, Claudia R.; Thunell, Robert C.; Muller-Karger, Frank; Lorenzoni, Laura; Troccoli, Luis; Varela, Ramon (2015). "Phytoplankton community structure and depth distribution changes in the Cariaco Basin between 1996 and 2010". Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. 101: 27–37. Bibcode:2015DSRI..101...27P. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2015.03.004. ISSN 0967-0637.

Benitez-Nelson is one of the creators of the GeoScholars Program at the University of South Carolina, a program designed to aid students of color pursuing undergraduate degrees in the geosciences through financial and academic support. Benitez-Nelson also helped form the Women in GeoSciences Club at the University of South Carolina where she mentors female-identifying students in continuing their careers as scientists.[20] She also aids in an after school program known as ScienceQuest, where undergraduate and graduate students work with K-7th grades students explore science.

Benitez-Nelson is married and has two children and a dog. She is an "avid soccer player."[1]

• Claudia Benitez-Nelson publications indexed by Google Scholar