Michael Hren

Associate Professor

Department of Earth Sciences

Michael is a stable isotope and organic molecular biogeochemist interested in the links and feedbacks between global carbon dioxide, local and regional climate, flooding and sediment mobilization, and the accumulation of organics (including organic pollutants) in varied depositional settings. He works in locations around the globe (California, Argentina, Taiwan, Western North America, New England) studying both modern and ancient systems to reconstruct fire-climate connections, the impact of a changing climate on the residence time of organic matter in river systems, and spatiotemporal changes in the geochemistry of sedimentary systems in relation to anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic factors.

Michael received a BA in Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College in 1999, an MS in Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College in 2001, and completed his PhD in Earth & Environmental Sciences in 2007 at Stanford University. He was a Bateman Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University from 2007-2009, a Turner Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan from 2009-2011, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee from 2011-2012. He joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut in 2012. Michael has a joint appointment in the Department of Earth Sciences and the Department of Chemistry.