Prof. Dr. Ir. S. Schouten
Department of Earth Sciences - Geochemistry
Faculty of Geosciences
Utrecht University
P.O. Box 80.021
3508 TA Utrecht
The Netherlands
e-mail:
Position: Professor of Molecular Palaeontology (part time - 0.2 fte)
Homepage at the NIOZ
Research topics
My main research interest is the organic biogeochemistry of marine sediments, i.e. the reconstruction of present and past microbial communities, biosynthetic pathways, biogeochemical cycles, environments and climates by structural and stable isotopic analysis of organic compounds in micro-organisms, marine waters and sediments. Detailed research subjects include:
• Biosynthetic pathways, structures and isotopic compositions of lipids in algae, bacteria and archaea.
• Combination of lipid and genetic information for analysing past and present biodiversity
• Development and application of new organic proxies for paleoenvironmental reconstructions
• Natural sulphurization processes in water columns and sediments.
• Determination and interpretations of 13 C, 15 N and 2 H in sedimentary and cellular compounds.
• Isolation and structural identification of biomarker lipids in micro-organisms and sediments.
• Application of organic proxies to reconstruct past marine and continental climate.
Teaching
At UU, I teach in the MsC course ‘Organic Geochemistry' and the undergraduate course ‘Marine Sciences I' of the Biology department. I also regularly organise a graduate course “Molecular Organic Biogeochemistry” at Royal NIOZ.
External functions
I am currently Associate Editor for Organic Geochemistry and member of the Netherlands IODP Committee .
Awards
Yes, I even won some awards !
2005: VICI-award for promising young senior scientists from NWO.
1999: Pieter Schenck Award for best young scientist in organic geochemistry awarded by the European Association of Organic Geochemists.
1997: CPIMA Young Investigator fellowship.
1995: Best Student Paper Award from the organic geochemistry division of the Geochemical Society of America ( Geochim.Cosmochim. Acta 59 , 953-958)
Education/Employment
2010-present: Part time (0.2) professor at the faculty of Geosciences of the University of Utrecht.
2002-present: Senior Research Scientist at the Department of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research.
1999 – 2002 : Research Scientist at the Department of Marine Biogeochemistry & Toxicology at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research.
1998 – 1999 : Visiting Research fellow at the Centre on Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular Assemblies, University of California at Davis (USA) and Stanford University (USA).
1994 – 1997 : Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Marine Biogeochemistry & Toxicology at the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research.
1990 – 1994 : PhD-study at the Organic Geochemistry Unit at Delft University of Technology and the Marine Biogeochemistry Division of the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. Dissertation: "Structural and stable carbon isotope studies of lipids in immature sulphur-rich sediments".
1984 – 1990 : MSc study of chemical technology at Delft University of Technology. Thesis: "Distribution of carbon skeletons in sulphur-rich sediments: A study of the Vena del Gesso basin".