![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Cameron-and-Mike-STORY.jpg\")
<\/a>Cameron McMillan, right, a Ph.D. candidate in biology, and his faculty mentor, Dr. Michael Weintraub, a professor of soil ecology at UToledo, in the field.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cI love being outside and exploring the outdoors and biking,\u201d said the 30-year-old Ph.D. candidate in biology. \u201cMy fianc\u00e9 and I try to bike, kayak, hike, XC-ski and do other outdoor activities every week, and we like to travel to do these things.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMillan\u2019s love of the outdoors, though, is more than a lifestyle. It\u2019s his field of study as a researcher. He recently learned that he is one of 44 Ph.D. students nationwide selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct research at its national laboratories.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s easily the most exciting achievement in my professional life,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope to learn a lot about advanced instrumentation and data analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through the Department of Energy\u2019s graduate research fellowship, McMillan will continue his environmental microbiology research started at UToledo, investigating how temperature controls arctic soil decomposition, at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, located in Richland, Washington, working side-by-side with a DOE laboratory scientist.<\/p>\n
\u201cArctic soils contain large stocks of carbon \u2014 more than four times what is currently in the atmosphere \u2014 that has been locked away due to historically low temperatures. As the globe warms and the Arctic is warming faster than other regions, understanding how changing temperatures affect soil carbon release becomes more important to predict climates in a changing world,\u201d McMillan said. \u201cSo, I have been focusing on how low temperatures affect carbon release from arctic soil. We have found big implications for how antecedent temperatures play a large role in soil decomposition.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMillan first came to UToledo after graduating from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a bachelor of science in microbiology with a minor in chemistry, and bachelor of science in physics with a minor in mathematics. He knew he wanted to earn a Ph.D. in the field of biology. It was Dr. Egbert Schwartz, an advisor at NAU, who suggested he mentor under Dr. Michael Weintraub, professor of soil ecology at UToledo.<\/p>\n
<\/a>McMillan will continue his environmental microbiology research started at UToledo as one of 44 Ph.D. students nationwide selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct research at its national laboratories.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cMy journey has gone in many directions, but the core principle I work by is to not make rigid goals, allowing me to be flexible. This is in part how I ended up in Toledo.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMillan joined Dr. Weintraub\u2019s team to work together to understand the temperature controls on arctic soil decomposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the field, Mike and I had a manipulative experiment where we built snow fences to create deeper snow,\u201d McMillan added. \u201cIn the winter, larger snow depths can insulate soil causing warmer but still frozen soil conditions.\u00a0We take soil measurements such as carbon flux, soil nutrients and soil moisture and collect soils for temperature-controlled laboratory incubations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weintraub credits McMillan\u2019s tenacity as a researcher for why he received this career opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe diligence and perseverance Cameron has shown speaks volumes about his high level of motivation and enthusiasm, which were recognized by the Pacific Northwest National Lab in awarding him a prestigious \u2013 and highly competitive \u2014 graduate research fellowship,\u201d he said.\u201d By combining hard-won arctic field data, mechanistic experiments and advanced analyses at PNNL, Cameron’s research during this fellowship will improve our understanding of how Arctic soils will respond to a warming environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMillan, though, is quick to credit Weintraub.<\/p>\n
\u201cMike is an incredibly strong advisor. He identifies students’ biggest needs and helps them focus on these items, which has helped me in developing meaningful research and hone my ability to communicate this research,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter spending a lot of time together in the arctic and around Toledo we have developed a strong relationship. I hope to be able to continue doing work with Mike in the future as a colleague; and without question as a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weintraub also has been instrumental in helping McMillan prepare his future beyond UToledo.<\/p>\n
\u201cMike has tons of contacts within academia and research, but he also helped me identify a need for networking outside of these circles,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd Mike encouraged me to take some business classes where I was able to get connected to several industry experts in science fields, opening up new opportunities and giving me more long-term flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cameron McMillan is one of 44 Ph.D. students nationwide selected to conduct research at a national laboratory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":75997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,39,1,71,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75995"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75999,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75995\/revisions\/75999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>