Prachi Joshi is a Junior Group Leader in Geomicrobiology at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Dr. Joshi’s research focuses on redox processes that impact environmental issues including climate change and pollution. In particular, Dr. Joshi studies the biogeochemistry of carbon and iron. Dr. Joshi has extensive expertise in molecular, bench scale, and field techniques to probe organic matter and iron minerals to provide mechanistic understanding with links to large scale phenomena. Dr. Joshi has a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pune in India, M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, USA. After spending 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow in environmental chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, Dr. Prachi joined the University of Tübingen in the Department of Geosciences in 2020.
Read Prachi’s Emerging Investigator Series article “Preferential adsorption and coprecipitation of permafrost organic matter with poorly crystalline iron minerals” and read more about her in the interview below:
Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on Fe–OC associations formed by coprecipitation and adsorption using tests you performed on field-collected palsa, bog, and fen soils. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?
It has been quite a journey from my first paper looking at the stability of goethite, a crystalline Fe(III) oxyhydroxide, to the current work in permafrost systems. When I first started my graduate research, I was driven by understanding water quality in aquifers (I’m an engineer by training). Along the way, I discovered that I was passionate about fundamental questions and enjoyed delving into the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of environmental chemical phenomena. This has led me to diverse projects such as mineral recrystallization, organic matter redox chemistry, and carbon cycling in wetland systems. Over time, I decided to expand from working in the laboratory alone to investigating classical processes in the environment. This brings me to the most recent paper that looks at association between minerals and organic carbon in thawing permafrost systems.
Dr. Joshi, like many of our emerging investigators, you’ve travelled a lot for your scientific career. Moving between continents can be daunting! How has your global experience impacted your perspective?
I’ve always thought of international mobility as one of the most exciting parts of science. Although it can be intimidating at first, I found that experiencing new cultures, both inside the laboratory and outside in a new city or country, has been enriching. Each move has brought new scientific perspectives; for example, moving to the Environmental Chemistry group at ETH Zürich brought me into contact with researchers with expertise ranging from mass spectrometry to methane release. I’ve also been fortunate to have welcoming and supportive research environments wherever I’ve moved.
What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
I’m particularly excited about bringing the concepts that we teach in our courses out into field-based research and studying them in all their complexity. For example, one of my current projects looks at carbon cycling in coastal wetlands at the northern coast of Germany, where we combine knowledge from chemistry, microbiology, soil science, and hydrology. I even had to learn quite a bit about plants in that project.
In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?
One of the most important questions that environmental scientists have been chasing has been: how can we predict the release of greenhouse gases from natural systems? There is a lot of excellent work going on in this field; however, we still have a long way to go. The answer to this question is key to accurate global carbon cycling models which, in turn, guide our prediction of future climate scenarios and the development of mitigation strategies.
What do you find most challenging about your research?
The big questions in the field of environmental redox chemistry require interdisciplinary effort; bringing the right people together and speaking the same language represents a big challenge. We sometimes find that the research questions we have, posed somewhat differently, have been investigated by scientists from a different field such as materials chemistry. We should take advantage of this existing expertise and collaborate more!
In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?
I generally go to the American Chemical Society meetings or the Goldschmidt conference. I still have to plan for 2025 though.
How do you spend your spare time?
Fortunately, I’ve always lived in places that have good access to nature, so I enjoy running and hiking. I also enjoy reading (non-scientific) books and cooking.
Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?
As a young person, I faced the choice between computer science or chemistry and chose the latter. So, in an alternate life, I would likely be a computer scientist or developer. If I had to choose now though, I would probably delve into the field of environmental economics as I find it fascinating and extremely relevant for the future.
Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?
Connections are incredibly important – the friends I made in graduate school and during my postdoc are also my collaborators today. It’s worth investing the time to nurture these connections by going to conferences, organizing scientific visits, and keeping in touch over the years. Related to this, I recommend keeping an open mind; you never know when a chance conversation during a coffee break at a meeting turns into a great project idea.
