Naval Nuclear Lab scientist to speak in Environmental Speakers Series
Keith O’Connor, senior scientist, reactor plant chemistry, Naval Nuclear Laboratory, will present at next week’s Environmental Studies Speakers Series. The presentation—titled “Surface Water Through Space and Time”—is scheduled for 12:20 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, in Roon Lecture Hall, Science Center, on the Alfred University campus.
ALFRED, NY – Keith O’Connor, senior scientist, reactor plant chemistry, Naval Nuclear Laboratory, will present at next week’s Environmental Studies Speakers Series. The presentation—titled “Surface Water Through Space and Time”—is scheduled for 12:20 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, in Roon Lecture Hall, Science Center, on the Alfred University campus.
O’Connor received his BA in geology and BS in environmental chemistry with a minor in environmental science and policy from Hartwick College in 2015, and his Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences from the University of Notre Dame in 2020. Keith’s dissertation focused on calibrating paleoclimate proxies using plant waxes and microbial lipids in high latitude regions.
After earning his doctoral degree, O’Connor received an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Cincinnati. His projects there looked at heavy metal transport at a watershed level and looking at the stable isotopes of micro plastics. Since completing his postdoc in March 2022, Keith has been working at the Naval Nuclear Laboratory in Niskayuna, NY, where he analyzes the chemistry of water used in the nuclear reactors on submarines and aircraft carriers.