I'm Lexi Jones-Kellett, a Postdoctoral Associate in the Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) Department at MIT,
working in the Darwin Project Group led by Dr. Mick Follows. My research focuses on
the role of mesoscale circulations in shaping phytoplankton communities from a Lagrangian perspective. I aim to
understand how these mesoscale interactions in the ocean aggregate to support
global biogeochemical cycles and the ocean food web. Though this work, I bridge physical and biological oceanography using a
combination of satellite remote sensing observations, in situ observations (e.g. amplicon sequencing, flow cytometry, autonomous
vehicles), and numerical simulations. For more details on this research, please visit my
Research page.
Background
I hold a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program (2024) and a B.A. in Mathematics with Minors in Physics and
Business from Temple University (2018). My research career began in Dr. Rob Kulthinal's
Evolutionary Genetics and Biological Informatics lab at Temple University where I learned to code
in Python while studying genetic variation in the Drosophila lineage and the evolution of duplicate genes and their functions. I then
worked on a project examining phytoplankton composition in the Santa Barbara Channel and the community response to marine heatwaves
with ocean color remote sensing algorithms through the NASA Student Airborne Research Project (SARP). Additionally,
I led a NASA DEVELOP remote sensing study investigating the ocean conditions driving the northward migration of the grunion,
a fish endemic to Southern California. These early projects sparked my interest in oceanography and ultimately inspired me to
pursue a Ph.D. in the field.
