Biography

Peter Nico is a Soil and Environmental Biogeochemist who studies transition metal redox processes and their impact on the fate and transport of environmental contaminants. He has also investigates soil carbon stabilization and mineralization mechanisms with an emphases on the role of mineral surfaces and redox active metals such as Fe and Mn. Much of his work uses synchrotron based X-ray spectromicroscopic techniques to probe chemical and physical heterogeneity on the micron and nanometer scale. He received his B.S degree in Chemistry from the University of California, Davis, and a M.S. in Organic Chemistry from U.C.L.A. He received his Ph.D in 2001 in Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry from the University of California, Davis. From 2001-2002 he was a post-doctoral fellow in Soil and Environmental Biogeochemistry at Stanford University and still maintains a visiting scholar appointment there. From 2002-2005 he held the position of Assistant Professor of Chemistry at California State University Stanislaus before joining the Earth Sciences Division in 2005. In September 2016, Peter Nico was appointed to lead the Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure Program Domain (previously known as Sustainable Energy Systems Program Domain), and, as of February 2022, is the (Acting) Division Director for the Energy Geosciences Division.