Ben Lowin, a doctoral student in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and based at the UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO), has been named a new investigator for NASA’s Future Investigators in the NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) program. 

As a member of NASA’s Early Career Research (ECR) FINESST 2025-2027 cohort, Lowin will receive a research grant of $50,000 per year for two years to support his work on carbon cycle monitoring along the South Atlantic Bight. 

“I am excited to be working with NASA, doing research that will help advance our ability to determine where in the ocean is a source or sink of carbon,” said Lowin. 

Lowin, a member of Sara Rivero-Calle’s Lab at SkIO, will use the funding to develop a new satellite-based method to measure the amount of carbon that is being produced and consumed in southeastern coastal waters, including the inner shelf of the South Atlantic Bight, where carbon exported from marshes fuels microbial activity. 

Using data from the Research Vessel Savannah’s new National Science Foundation-funded ocean sampling flow-through system, which measures high-resolution net community (carbon) production, and Rivero-Calle’s radiometers, Lowin plans to improve how ocean carbon is tracked from space. His work will focus on coastal regions, which are underrepresented in global climate and Earth system models and are often difficult for satellite-based estimates to capture accurately. Lowin’s work will help scientists better understand whether these regions act as carbon sinks or sources. 

“NASA FINESST is an extremely competitive process, it is an honor to have Ben’s project selected and representing the lab,” said Rivero-Calle, an assistant professor in the Department of Marine Sciences and based at SkIO. 

In July 2024, Lowin was featured in a SkIO Student Spotlight. That Q&A profile is available here. 

About SkIO

The UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO) is a multidisciplinary research and education institution located on Skidaway Island near Savannah, Georgia. The Institute was founded in 1967 with a mission to conduct research in all fields of oceanography. In 2013, SkIO was merged with the University of Georgia. The campus serves as a gateway to coastal and marine environments for programs throughout the University System. The Institute’s primary goals are to further the understanding of marine and environmental processes, conduct leading-edge research on coastal and marine systems, and train tomorrow’s scientists. For more information, visit www.skio.uga.edu.