Currently I'm working towards a Master's degree in Chemical Oceanography and am a student with Dr. Clare Reimers in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. I met Clare while helping her PhD student, Mark Nielsen, with his benthic microbial fuel cell experiments. His work really got me excited about the possibilities for biofuels! At present I'm learning about the chemical and physical processes of the sea and their relation to ecosystem properties, especially the connections between biogeochemical processes and the ecology of the coastal zone. 

My research project focuses on the benthic oxygen flux of the Oregon shelf using a non-invasive eddy-correlation technique developed by Berg et al. (2003) for measuring oxygen flux between the water column and seafloor sediments. I'm building fast responding microelectrode oxygen sensors that are coupled with an acoustic velocity sensor and an in-situ microprofiler (IMP). This allows me to measure water column oxygen concentrations, total benthic oxygen exchange by eddy-correlation, diffusive benthic oxygen exchange, and the sediment oxygen penetration depth. I'm also taking core samples for measurements of permeability, porosity, grain size, and pigments. This equipment is deployed on three separate tripods, with a camera system on the eddy correlation tripod, at study sites of 30m, 50m, and 80m water depth. We began our cruises out onto the Oregon shelf in March 2009 and will continue every month until October 2009, which should give me a good time series measurement and show the seasonal variability.

Unfortunately there was a delay in our equipment last year, so fieldwork for the summer of 2008 occurred mainly in the Yaquina Bay and nearshore, and consisted of taking core samples with some microprofiling. Pascal Brignole worked with me for six months building microelectrodes and was a great help! 

My educational and professional research experiences to date have all contributed to my passion for oceanography and ocean conservation. Prior to returning to grad school I worked for PISCO (Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans) under the supervision of Dr. Francis Chan. The primary focus of our work was to determine physical oceanographic patterns and processes along the inner-shelf of the Oregon coast and correlate them with ecological communities onshore. Another focus of my work with Dr. Chan was to study, track, and determine the cause of the anomalous hypoxic events occurring along the nearshore of the Oregon coast (see also Science journal article). 

The Oregon shelf of the Pacific Ocean has a lot to offer as far as interests go, with its dynamic shelf topography, changing oceanic conditions, and distinct regions -  it changes from year to year, season to season. The recent natural hypoxic events that are continuing to take place nearshore have also made our coast much more publicly visible, bringing up questions about how our climate is changing and what the future holds. I look forward to coordinating my research with other new and ongoing research, including the coastal observatories of the Ocean Observatories Initiative program and the Glider Project at OSU and plan to work in some capacity of ocean conservation in the future.

Outside of grad school I enjoy spending time with my husband, Hovey, and our dogs, Keta and Fezzik. We live in a remote location in the coast range on hundreds of acres (not really, but it feels like it when you include the forest and timberland) and enjoy hiking every day and sometimes getting lost in our own 'back yard'! We have a large garden space that we're attempting to fill with veggies, and a chicken house and goat house that we hope to clear the blackberries away from and re-fence for animal habitation this summer. We also love taking our sailboat out when the wind is right - it's a fast little Fireball!

CURRENT HAPPENINGS

  • I received a Mamie L. Markham Endowment Award! 

 Thanks for visiting my site. 

Please feel free to contact me, I'd love to hear from you!  

kmccanng@coas.oregonstate.edu

Ref: Berg P, Roy H, Janssen F, Meyer V, Jorgensen BB, Huettel M, De Beer D (2003) Oxygen uptake by aquatic sediments measured with a novel non-invasive eddy-correlation technique. Marine Ecology Press Series 261:75-83.