Kate Freeman

Kate directs the lab group, teaches and mentors students.  Her research interests include isotopic biogeochemistry, paleoclimate and new methods in organic isotope analyses. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, earned her M.S. and Ph.D. working with John Hayes at Indiana University, and was a postdoc with Stuart Wakeham at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.  Kate is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Geochemical Society, the American Academy of Microbiology and the Geological Society of America. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2013.

Denny Walizer

Our "technical wizard" who makes all things go (especially instruments!).  Denny has worked with all manner of lab equipment and manages faclities for the Department of Geosciences.    

Heike Betz

Heike Betz joined our labs in spring of 2019, bring with her many years of experience with analytical methods including GC/MS and LC/MS techniques.  She manages the analytical facilities related to organic extraction, separation, characterization, and mass analysis, and is hard at work on new methods using orbitrap MS techniques for isotope analyses.

​Allie Baczynski

Allie completed her Ph.D. at Northwestern University with lab alumna Cesca McInerney in 2014.  Allie has a background in Geology and Chemistry, and has worked extensively on molecular carbon isotope analyses, particularly on plant waxes.  Allie has worked on PETM sections in the Bighorn Basin, WY.  At Penn State, she is the force behind our Pico-CSIA and Nano-EA/IRMS advances which lowered CSIA sample size requirements down to trace levels.