A warm welcome to MIT Group Postdoc Scott McCain who recently joined CBIOMES.
by Helen Hill for CBIOMES
HH: In summary, what are your research interests?
SM: I am interested in microbial ecology, in particular how molecular processes give rise to microbial behaviors, which then cascade up to ecosystem processes. I primarily work on two themes: 1) Quantifying microbial activities by coupling computational and statistical models with molecular observations, and 2) developing novel cellular-scale models to quantify and describe microbial biogeochemical impacts.
HH: What are you currently working on?
SM: I work with Mick Follows and Gene-Wei Li on these types of problems! One problem I’m particularly interested in is: how do organisms control intracellular reaction rates?
HH: What is your educational background (BS, MS?)
SM: I completed a B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Western Ontario, a M.Sc. in Biology with Dr. Heike Lotze at Dalhousie (studying fish / coastal ecosystems), and then a Ph.D. in Biology with Dr. Erin Bertrand at Dalhousie (studying trace metals / phytoplankton / metaproteomics). I am a biologist and oceanographer at heart, and I enjoy using tools from applied math and statistics to answer questions in these realms.
Story image: In his free time, McCain enjoys cooking, philosophy, drawing, watching comedy, playing games, and “hanging out with my sleepy greyhound Blake.”