RESEARCH
MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY
Presentations
Environmental Genomics and SeqCode Workshop
Ernster, NM. 2024. Metagenomics pipelines, tools, and metadata. Chinese Association of Microbial Ecology Annual Meeting. Qingdao, China, October.
The 9th International Conference on Polar and Alpine Microbiology
Ernster, NM, MH Seixas, AR Luzuriaga-Neira, D Alvarez-Ponce, NE Avalon, BJ Baker, AE Murray. 2022. Antarctic ascidian-associated bacterial culture collection reveals genomes rich in biosynthetic gene clusters and genomes harboring signatures of cold adaptation. Potsdam, Germany, October.
United States Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research 2021 Science Meeting
Ernster, NM, MH Seixas, AR Luzuriaga-Neira, D Alvarez-Ponce, NE Avalon, BJ Baker, AE Murray. 2021. Mining Antarctic ascidian-associated bacterial genomes reveals numerous biosynthetic gene clusters and signatures of cold adaptation. USSCAR. Virtual, July. https://usscar.org/2021-us-antarctic-science-meeting
Nevada NASA Programs - EPSCoR 2021 Statewide Meeting
Ernster, NM, D Mars, A Ichimura, R Quinn, AE Murray. 2021. Optical microscopy and AFM as complimentary tools in detecting signs of life in ocean world analog samples. Nevada Space Grant and NASA EPSCoR Statewide meeting. Virtual, Nevada, April.
Awards and Funding
2024 Young Researchers Fund – Tyrolean Science Fund
Project: "Investigating Microbial Communities and Evolution in Snow of the High Arctic to Examine Extremotolerance and Transport through Time Series Sampling (ICESHEETS)"
2023 Excellence Doctoral Scholarship – Universität Innsbruck
2021 Earth and Space Foundation Award – Earth and Space Foundation
Microbial nanomotion detection project
2020 Nevada NASA Space Grant Fellowship – NV NASA Space Grant
Project: “Optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy as complimentary tools in detecting signs of life in ocean world analog samples”
1st place in NV Space Grant Statewide poster competition, May 2021.
https://nasa.epscorspo.nevada.edu/2021-virtual-poster-competition/
2020 Nevada INBRE Service Award – University of Nevada, Reno/NIH
Bacterial whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics training
2020 Raymond H. Berner Graduate Scholarship – University of Nevada, Reno
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
My physical science work experience includes six seasons as a Physical Science Technician for the U.S. National Park Service, and three seasons as a Hydrologic Technician with the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station. My projects involved air quality, water quality, hydrology and limnology work across remote Wilderness regions of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Some examples include:
Stream gauge equipment installation and datalogger programming
NPS Sierra Nevada Network Lake Monitoring
Wading, ADCP, and dilution streamflow measurements
ROHN tower installation, snow pillow/pinger installation and maintenance
Air quality and soundscape monitoring
Historic weather data analyses, writing protocols and leading laboratory trainings
