Ocean and Climate
Our Team
Sophia Chernoch
Graduate Student
Sophia came to St. Pete from Westminster, Massachusetts in 2018 to study Marine Science and Geoscience at Eckerd College. Her undergraduate research focused on marine sedimentology, stratigraphy, and short-lived radioisotope geochronology, culminating in a thesis investigating hurricane and anthropogenic impacts recorded in sediment cores from northern Cuba. Since earning her bachelor’s, she has explored career opportunities in government, academia, and industry – working on projects ranging from coral geochemistry to paleolandscape reconstructions and even monitoring deep-sea mining impacts using radioisotope tracers. As a master’s student at USF College of Marine Science, Sophia’s current research is focused on applying seafloor mapping tools to contribute to a refined understanding of sea level history in Florida since the last deglaciation. She is also actively involved in the crowdsourced bathymetry program run by the college’s Center for Ocean Mapping and Innovative Technologies.
Roxanne Mina
Graduate Student
I am interested in marine carbon export by understanding biogeochemical cycles that influence nutrients such as nitrate. My work focuses on the Southern Ocean as a high-nutrient low-chlorophyll region that undergoes variations in productivity due to seasonal physical and biological processes. I am building on an existing biogeochemical model (Rafter et al. 2017) to estimate the iron recycling rates necessary to explain observed Southern Ocean nitrate consumption. Additionally, I'm interested in observational oceanography and supporting oceanographic measurement collection which help inform our understanding of the global ocean.
Mackenzie Cole
Hi, my name is Mackenzie Cole and I am a junior at Eckerd College. I am majoring in Marine Science with a focus in Chemistry and minoring in Spanish and Data Science. I have been working with Dr. Rafter for 1.5 years doing paleoceanography research. I have studied the N. Atlantic Ocean, specifically sea surface temperature fluctuations from the last glacial maximum to present. Currently, I am working on my undergraduate thesis! I will be using mass spectrometry to study the oxygen isotopic composition of individual foraminifera in the Pacific Ocean during the Pliocene. The goal is to gain a better understanding of ocean temperatures during glacial and interglacial periods, which is vital in understanding our current day climate crisis.
Christian Ngin
My name is Christian Ngin and I’m a junior student at USF St Petersburg campus, however I’m a first year transfer student and just completed my first semester in the fall of 2025. I’m a Cambodian American student and am currently studying marine biology. I’m passionate about marine conservation and frequently volunteer outside of the lab trying to clean up our coast and improve our native ecosystems to ensure we protect the biodiversity of our planet for future generations. I’ve been a student research assistant for Dr Patrick rafter in the Ocean and Climate Laboratory since the fall of 2025. I’ve been learning a lot from everyone at the college of marine science about climate patterns and nutrient cycling in the ocean. When it comes to science i prefer things to be on the biology side of the spectrum, but I love all marine science. My favorite organisms belong to the phylum Cnidaria, being jellyfish and coral. In the future i hope to be a graduate student and contribute in meaningful ways to preserve our local coral reefs. This semester I've been doing some personal research into a couple currently at risk species of coral which are the elk and stag-horn species. Additionally I have been reading up on how with warming ocean temperatures some coral species are adapting in real time to survive the longer bleaching events that have been occurring through out the 2020's.
Christopher Vogt
Undergraduate Researcher
Christopher is currently an undergraduate student at Eckerd college pursuing a double major in Marine Geophysics and Computer Science. His research interests include paleoclimate studies, physical oceanography, and computer modelling. He is currently working on a legacy code port of a Diagnostic Box Model of Carbon Interannual Variability in the North Atlantic.
Alexis Vargas
Lab Manager
Alexis Vargas is the laboratory manager of the Ocean and Climate Laboratory for Dr. Patrick Rafter & a first-generation college graduate. Alexis graduated with high honors from Eckerd College with a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science. She originally became intrigued by paleoclimate during her internship at the United States Geological Survey’s Marine and Coastal Science Center, where she studied sclerochronology, the dating and interpretation of growth intervals on clam shells. Currently, her research efforts include investigating the ocean’s past carbon cycling and temperature records, which are provided by carbon and oxygen isotopes of foraminifera, or microfossils, within deep-sea sediment. In her free time, Alexis enjoys practicing yoga, traveling to new places, and scuba diving!