People | noiselab

Dr. Morgan Reed Raven

Associate Professor

Morgan is an organic geochemist and geobiologist. After finishing her PhD at Caltech in 2016, she worked as an Agouron Geobiology Fellow at Washington U. in St Louis before joining the UC Santa Barbara Earth Science faculty in July 2018.

Google Scholar

Molly Crotteau

PhD Student

Molly (she/hers) joined the NOISE Lab in September 2021. She studies sulfur cycling and organic matter sulfurization in low-oxygen zones, such as Santa Barbara Basin, and in sinking marine particles. Her research aims to better understand the microenvironments in which organic matter sulfurization can occur, which has applications to determining the magnitude of the effect of organic matter sulfurization on carbon burial. She received her B.S. in Geochemistry and Environmental Science and Engineering from Caltech in 2021. In her free time, you can find Molly running, swimming, or baking.

Marianna Karagiannis

Ph.D Student

Marianna (she/hers) joined the NOISE lab in September 2022. She is interested in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies, organic matter preservation, and using stable isotopes to track chemical cycling in the ocean. Marianna graduated from the University of Chicago in 2021 with a BS in Geophysical Sciences and Environmental Science, and spent one year as a research assistant studying the biological carbon pump at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Outside of research, she loves mushroom foraging, baking, and dancing.

Alicia Sadowski

Ph.D Student

Alicia joined the NOISE lab in September 2025. Her current project investigates patterns in sulfur isotopes of marine biomass and sulfur reduction rates in anoxic environments. She is interested in applying these tools to understand methods for carbon dioxide removal. Alicia most recently worked as the Rapid Response team’s Associate Research Director at Media Matters for America, a nonprofit media watchdog identifying and correcting misinformation. Previously, she received her B.S. in Environmental Science, Policy and Management from UC Berkeley in 2019. Outside of the lab, Alicia enjoys playing ultimate frisbee, hanging by the beach, and discussing the latest news about Taylor Swift.

Sylvia Li

Undergraduate Researcher

Sylvia is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing a B.S. in Earth Science with an emphasis in Climate and Environment, as well as a B.S. in Statistics and Data Science. She joined the NOISE Lab in Summer 2024 and is currently working with Marianna to study the sulfurization of organic matter in anoxic conditions, and how this can affect organic matter preservation. She is excited to learn various instrumentation in the lab and in the future hopes to work on an independent research project. In her free time, Sylvia enjoys hiking, going rock hunting and making jewelry.

Kaley Weis

Undergraduate Researcher

Kaley joined the NOISE Lab as an NSF REU student in summer 2024. Her current senior thesis research investigates the mechanisms of organic carbon preservation in low-oxygen fjords. She is especially interested in using lipid biomarkers to track terrestrial carbon sources in these organic carbon burial hotspots.

Dr. Lewis (Lee) Sharpnack

Assoc.Development Engineer

Lee is one of the engineers in the UCSB Earth Science Department. He works closely with the NOISE Lab to customize, troubleshoot, and run our mass spectrometers and other major pieces of equipment. You can often find him in the SEM (microscopy) lab.