Doreen Huang

Doreen completed a PhD under the supervision of Professor David Lowe. She investigated the colourful layers of volcanic ash (Holocene tephras) seen in road cuttings of the Waikato-Bay of Plenty, and how DNA from these buried soils that could provide clues to past environments and climate change.

She is now working as a Project Principal Investigator in the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science environment at Umeå University in Sweden

She cites the highlights of her time at Waikato as the opportunities to work with world-leading academics in soil science, the moments to spend with friendly and open-minded colleagues for scientific discussions and the unforgettable field trips to Taupo and many other study sites.

Her advice for others considering a similar path is to be proactive and talk to as many people as possible about research ideas and initiate new collaborations, because these connections become very important.