Sarah Nicholas
TES Beamline Scientist, Imaging & Microscopy Program, National Synchrotron Light Source II
Brookhaven National Laboratory
National Synchrotron Light Source II
Bldg. 743
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
(631) 344-2141
snicholas@bnl.gov
Preferred Gender Pronouns (PGPs): she/her/they/their
Sarah Nicholas is a beamline scientist at the TES beamline at the NSLS-II. TES is a tender-energy X-ray microprobe. Sarah does micro-XAS imaging and spectroscopy on natural and engineered samples. Some of her research interests are the biogeochemical cycling of trace elements in the environment. She has a partcular interest in spatially-resolved chemistry of marine samples. Sarah holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.
Education | Appointments | Publications
Education
Ph.D. Land and Atmospheric Sciences 2017 University of Minnesota
Dissertation “Speciation and mineralogy of arsenic in glacial sediments and their effect on arsenic concentrations in groundwater, Minnesota, USA”
Advisors: Professors Brandy Toner and Edward Nater
MS Quaternary Studies (Climate Change Institute) University of Maine, Orono, Maine
BA in History and Geology, Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Professional Appointments
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2017- 2018
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences and Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (ICRAG). National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland, 2015 - 2017
Selected Publications
- Stewart B, Nicholas S, Bone S, et al (2022) A low input strategy for chromium removal from industrial stormwater using peat sorbent. Journal of Environmental Quality. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20397
- Jones R, Nicholas S, et al (2022) Characterization and Speciation of Marine Materials Using Synchrotron Probes: Guidelines for New Users. Oceanography. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.207
- Pierce CE, Furman OS, Nicholas SL, et al (2022) Role of Ester Sulfate and Organic Disulfide in Mercury Methylation in Peatland Soils. Environmental Science & Technology 56:1433–1444. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04662
- Ding H, Dixon Wilkins MC, Gausse C, Mottram LM, Sun S, Stennett MC, Grolimund D, Tappero R, Nicholas S, Hyatt NC, Corkhill CL (2021) Safely probing the chemistry of Chernobyl nuclear fuel using micro-focus X-ray analysis. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 9:12612–12622. doi: 10.1039/d0ta09131f
- Reich ND, Nghiem AA, Nicholas S, et al (2021) Determination of Arsenic Content in Water Using a Silver Coordination Polymer. ACS Environmental Au 2:150–155. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.1c00036
- Wu D, Housel LM, Kim SJ, Sadique N, Quilty CD, Wu L, Tappero R, Nicholas SL, Ehrlich S, Zhu Y, Marschilok AC, Takeuchi ES, Bock DC, Takeuchi KJ (2020) Quantitative temporally and spatially resolved X-ray fluorescence microprobe characterization of the manganese dissolution-deposition mechanism in aqueous Zn/α-MnO2 batteries. Energy & Environmental Science 13:4322–4333. doi: 10.1039/d0ee02168g
- Do Nascimento CWA, Hesterberg D, Tappero R, Nicholas S, da Silva FBV (2020) Citric acid-assisted accumulation of Ni and other metals by Odontarrhena muralis: Implications for phytoextraction and metal foliar distribution assessed by μ-SXRF. Environmental Pollution 260:114025. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114025
- Hoffman CL, Nicholas SL, Ohnemus DC, Fitzsimmons JN, Sherrell RM, German CR, Heller MI, Lee J, Lam PJ, Toner BM (2018) Near-field iron and carbon chemistry of non-buoyant hydrothermal plume particles, Southern East Pacific Rise 15°S. Marine Chemistry 201:183–197. doi: 10.1016/j.marchem.2018.01.011
- Fitzsimmons JN, John SG, Marsay CM, Hoffman CL, Nicholas SL, Toner BM, German CR, Sherrell RM (2017) Iron persistence in a distal hydrothermal plume supported by dissolved–particulate exchange. Nature Geoscience 10:195–201. doi: 10.1038/ngeo2900
- McGrory ER, Brown C, Bargary N, Williams NH, Mannix A, Zhang C, Henry T, Daly E, Nicholas S, Petrunic BM, Lee M, Morrison L (2017) Arsenic contamination of drinking water in Ireland: A spatial analysis of occurrence and potential risk. Science of The Total Environment 579:1863–1875. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.171
- Nicholas SL, Erickson ML, Woodruff LG, Knaeble AR, Marcus MA, Lynch JK, Toner BM (2017) Solid-phase arsenic speciation in aquifer sediments: A micro-X-ray absorption spectroscopy approach for quantifying trace-level speciation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 211:228–255. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2017.05.018
- Toner BM, Nicholas SL, Wasik JKC (2014) Scaling up: fulfilling the promise of X-ray microprobe for biogeochemical research. Environmental Chemistry 11:4. doi: 10.1071/en13162
- Chu YS, Lee W-K, Tappero R, Ge M, Huang X, Xiao X, Yan H, Northrup P, Thieme J, Kiss AM, Williams GJ, Yang Y, Nicholas SL, Pattammattel A, Smith R, Ilinski P, Du Y (2020) Multimodal, Multidimensional, and Multiscale X-ray Imaging at the National Synchrotron Light Source II. Synchrotron Radiation News 33:29–36. doi: 10.1080/08940886.2020.1751520
- Tappero R, Liao S, Bhatnagar J, Averill C, Chen K, Zhang K, Nicholas SL, O'Neill H, Bilheux H, Vilgalys R (2020) Multi-Modal Imaging of Plant-Microbe Interactions in the Pine Rhizosphere. Goldschmidt Abstracts. doi: 10.46427/gold2020.2561
Brookhaven National Laboratory
National Synchrotron Light Source II
Bldg. 743
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
(631) 344-2141
snicholas@bnl.gov
