I’m a scientist interested in understanding the world around us.
Good research starts before the experiment, in the work of figuring out which questions are worth asking. That’s a creative act, and a critical one. My questions started with how marine invertebrates build their skeletons out of minerals. They’ve grown to include how science communication can change the culture of STEM, and how educators and the public can use generative AI thoughtfully. The creativity and critical thinking that sharpen good questions in the lab are skills I hope to instill in students through my teaching.
Biomineralization
My doctoral work at UCLA, completed in 2025, focused on biomineralization in marine invertebrates: how organisms like corals, mollusks, and crustaceans build their skeletons out of calcium carbonate. The dissertation, Multi-geochemical tracer perspectives on biomineralization, looked at how the geochemistry of these biominerals (aragonite, calcite, vaterite, and amorphous calcium carbonate) records environmental conditions, and how an organism’s own biology can shift that record. The papers below collect the work.
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Jamie K. Lucarelli, Bettina Purgstaller, Robert N. Ulrich, Zeeshan Parvez, Albrecht Leis, Katja E. Goetschl, Robert A. Eagle, Martin Dietzel, Aradhna Tripati (2023). Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2023.07.027
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Zeeshan A. Parvez, Jamie K. Lucarelli, Irvin W. Matamoros, Joshua Rubi, Kevin Miguel, Ben Elliott, Randy Flores, Robert N. Ulrich, Robert A. Eagle, James M. Watkins , John N. Christensen , Aradhna Tripati (2023). Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2023.06.022
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Jamie K. Lucarelli, Hannah M. Carroll, Robert N. Ulrich, Ben M. Elliott, Tyler B. Coplen, Robert A. Eagle, Aradhna Tripati (2022). Geochemistry, Geophysics, and Geosystems. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GC010458
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Deepshikha Upadhyay, Jamie Lucarelli, Alexandrea Arnold, Randy Flores, Hayley Bricker, Robert N. Ulrich, Gregory Jesmok, Lauren Santi, William Defliese, Robert A. Eagle, Hannah M. Carroll, Jesse Bloom Bateman, Victoria Petryshyn, Sean J. Loyd, Jianwu Tang, Antra Priyadarshi, Ben Elliot, Aradhna Tripati (2021). Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.9143
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Robert N. Ulrich, Maxence Guillermic, Julia Campbell*, Abbas Hakim*, Rachel Han*, Shayleen Singh*, Justin D. Stewart, Cristian Román-Palacios, Hannah M. Carroll, Ilian DeCorte, Rosaleen E Gilmore, Whitney Doss, Aradhna Tripati, Justin B. Ries, Robert A. Eagle (2021). Frontiers in Earth Science. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.641760
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Sebastian T. Mergelserg, James J. De Yoreo, Quin R.S. Miller, F. Marc Michel, Robert N. Ulrich, Patricia M. Dove (2020). Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2020.06.030
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Sebastian T. Mergelsberg, Robert N. Ulrich, Shuhai Xiao, and Patricia M. Dove (2019). Frontiers in Earth Science. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00069
Selected papers
AI literacy for educators and the public
Through Black Dog Black Cat, where I work as an AI Integration Strategist, I co-develop curricula for using generative AI thoughtfully. Most of the work is applied: trainings, bootcamps, and courses for community college faculty and staff, with extensions for higher education more broadly, the National Association of Workforce Boards, and the American Library Association. The polished output of that R&D so far:
Selected papers
Identity, community, and science
Through the ReclaimingSTEM Institute, where I serve as Co-Director, I research how identity, community, and science meet. Specifically, how science communication training that centers people from marginalized backgrounds can change the culture of STEM, and how the people doing that work make sense of belonging in spaces that weren’t built for them.