People

Pietro joined the Berelson lab in 2024 after completing his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. In his PhD research, he worked to understand the numerous interactions between climate change and air quality. At USC, he’ll continue exploring these topics by contributing to the Public Exchange Urban Trees Initiative as well as the continued development of the BEACO2N/Carbon Census low-cost air quality sensor network.

Mohammed joined USC in 2025 as a Wrigley Climate & Carbon Post-doctoral Fellow and is working with Dr. Seth John and Dr. Will Berelson. Mohammed is interested in marine calcium carbonates in the modern ocean and throughout Earth history. His research has focused on calcium carbonate production by marine fish, exploring subseafloor processes and benthic fluxes, reconstructing aspects of Earth history using the carbonate record, and ocean alkalinity enhancement as a CO2 sequestration approach. At USC, he will be working on calcium carbonate cycling as well as alkalinity generation for carbon capture.

Rucha joined the Berelson Lab in Fall 2021. She received a Bachelor’s in Marine Science at the University of Delaware, and is now pursuing a PhD in Ocean Science. Before starting at USC, she studied patterns of anthropogenic acidification in the open ocean. At USC, she is looking at the calcium carbonate cycle and hydrography around the Cocos Ridge. Additionally, Rucha is studying how carbon sequestration through ocean alkalization will impact the ecosystem. She hopes to improve our ability to detect and understand changes in the inorganic carbon cycle.

Matt is a PhD candidate in Earth Sciences who joined the Berelson Lab in 2021. He studied geology as an undergraduate at Colgate University and received a Master’s degree in Marine Science and Oceanography from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at FAU where he studied the degradation of organic contaminants in marine sediment under different redox conditions. Here at USC he is studying the cycling of silica in the sediment of the Cocos Ridge, calcium carbonate cycling in sandy continental shelf sediment, and the fate of DDT+ contaminants in the sediment of the Southern California Bight.

Thaomy joined the Berelson lab as a PhD student in 2023. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. As an undergraduate, she studied the effects of ozone exposure on the emissions of pine trees. At USC, she will be investigating air quality in and around urban trees to determine which are best suited for urban environments.

Wenye Wang joined the Berelson Lab in Fall 2024. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Nanjing University in China. His master’s major was Remote Sensing of Resources and Environment, where he used machine learning and deep neural networks to extract vegetation in urban areas. Due to his interest in urban vegetation and the carbon cycle, he is currently conducting research related to vegetation and carbon census in Los Angeles. 

Nick Rollins is Professor Berelson’s longtime technician and lab manager. With his Mechanical Engineering background Nick has designed and built numerous ocean sampling and analysis apparatuses and put them to work both at sea and in the lab. Nick is fluent in Matlab and Python and writes a wide range of code including instrument control, data analysis, and modeling. When Nick isn’t in the lab you will probably find him at the beach surfing

Devan joined the Berelson lab as a lab technician in March of 2024. She received a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science from Oregon State University. At USC, Her work focuses on maintaining and deploying air quality sensors at schools as part of the Carbon Census Network. She also assists with atmospheric chemistry and oceanography projects.