Undergraduate Research in the Molecular Sciences (URMS)

The Undergraduate Research in the Molecular Sciences (URMS) is held every year. It brings together up to 100 participants from 11 colleges and universities to share their oral and poster presentations. These presentation are done by undergraduates and compete for travel awards to the national conferences of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) and the American Chemical Society.

2019 URMS 14 Conference

October 25-26, 2019

Langseth Hall at Minnesota State University Moorhead, Moorhead, MN

Register Online Abstract Submission

Email questions or comments to: urms@mnstate.edu

Attendance Fees:

  • Professional: $60
  • Student: $60

Online Registration & Payment

Friday October 25, 2019: Langseth Hall Atrium

  • 5:00 PM | Registration and Reception
  • 5:45 PM | Dinner
  • 7:00 PM | Keynote Seminar

Saturday October 26, 2019: Langseth Hall

  • 8:00 AM | Judges Meeting
  • 8:30 AM | Student Talks
  • 10:30 AM | Poster Sessions
  • 12:45 PM | Box Lunch & Breakout Sessions
  • 2:00 PM | Award Ceremony/Closing

Kathryn Schreiner
Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota Duluth
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Large Lakes Observatory

The Source and Fate of Organic Carbon from Land to Sea

The delivery of organic carbon by rivers to coastal margins is an important connection between the short-cycling biospheric carbon cycle and the long-cycling geologic carbon cycle, since storage of terrestrial organic carbon in marine and lacustrine sediments is one of the main mechanisms of sequestration of biospheric organic carbon in the geologic carbon cycle. And yet, much is still unknown about the chemistry, sources, and ultimate fate of terrigenous organic carbon on marine shelves, even as the global carbon cycle is being significantly affected by a variety of anthropogenic mechanisms, including climate warming, land use change, and pollution. Here, I will explore some of these questions and will address them using examples from my own work studying the formation and chemistry of soil organic matter and the delivery and stabilization of terrestrial organic carbon in coastal regions from a range of environments and latitudes. The “source to sink” fate of terrestrial organic carbon will be followed, starting from vegetation and soil microbial communities, through riverine transport to deltaic and coastal environments, and ultimately to the long-term storage of terrestrial organic carbon in marine sediments.

Courtyard by Marriott
Address: 1080 28th Ave S Moorhead, MN 56560
Phone: 218.284.1000

Microtel Moorhead
Address: 2915 12th St S Moorhead, MN 56560
Phone: 218.284.4022

This event is funded in part with support from: