Contact Info:
E-mail: njohnson@mail.utexas.edu
Phone: office: 512-471-8773; lab: 512-471-6682
Website: Nate Johnson's Website
Short Bio
Nate was born in Brainerd, MN on September 3, 1980.
After completing his work at Pine River/Backus High School,
he enrolled at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ. He
received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil and
Environmental Engineering from Princeton University in June,
2003. In September, 2003 he began graduate studies at The
University of Texas at Austin. His Master’s research worked
to develop GIS-based tools to aid in the development of
hydrologic modeling. He is currently working on his PhD
studying mercury fate beneath sediment caps.
Nate graduated in 2009 with a
Ph.D. degree and now is an assistant professor in the
University of Minnesota Duluth.
Research Summary
My research seeks to understand
the effects of passive, in-situ sediment capping on mercury
methylation in underlying sediments. Capping is becoming a
popular remediation strategy for heavily contaminated
sediment sites, many of which contain mercury. Mercury
methylation occurs primarily in specific geochemical
conditions in aquatic sediments, and sediment caps
drastically affect the geochemistry of underlying
sediments. Little is currently known about how these
geochemical changes, especially changes to the location and
extent of sulfate reduction, affect mercury methylation.
