Education
2017
Ph.D. in Geophysics, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, USA
Dissertation: “Permafrost organic matter quality and biolability in the Vault Lake thermokarst environment, Interior Alaska, USA”
2011
B.S. (honors) cum laude in Ecohydrology and Environmental Studies, Minor in Geography, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
Senior Thesis: “Modeling the Impacts of Climate Change on Hydrology at Galena Creek, Nevada”
Professional experience
2022 - present
Field Engineer, Alaska Earthquake Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Member of the field team with a specialization in non-seismic instrumentation and data within the Alaska Geophysical Network. Summer travel across Alaska with colleagues to repair, maintain, and install instrumentation in Earthquake Center’s network. In Fairbanks, works with non-seismic data (e.g. weather and soil temperature) collected by the center from across Alaska and helps make the data publicly available for cross-disciplinary research.
2019 – 2022
Postdoctoral Fellow, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
2017 – 2019
Robert Gilbert Postdoctoral Fellow, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada
Department of Geography and Planning (Dr. Melissa Lafreniere)
Research Experience: Examining interactions between permafrost soil organic matter quality, microbial community composition, and greenhouse gas production potentials in the Canadian High Arctic. Field site at the Cape Bounty Arctic Research Observatory (capebountyresearch.com).
2016 – 2018
Executive Committee, Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN)
2014-2017
EPA STAR Fellow, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA
Water and Environmental Research Center and Department of Geosciences (Dr. Katey Walter Anthony)
2012-2014
Research Assistant, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA
Water and Environmental Research Center and Department of Geology and Geophysics (Dr. Katey Walter Anthony)
2011
NSF-EPSCoR Undergraduate Researcher, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
Department of Geography (Dr. Douglas Boyle)
Research Experience: Integrated climate models, hydrological models, and field measurements to determine how climate change impacts water availability in two local snowmelt-dominated watersheds. Field sites in Nevada, USA and California, USA.
2009-2012
Undergraduate Lab Worker, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
Aquatic Ecosystems Analysis Laboratory (Dr. Sudeep Chandra)
Research Experience: Conducted water chemistry and various limnological analyses for multiple research projects examining water quality and native and invasive aquatic species as part of the Aquatic Ecosystems Analysis Laboratory (http://aquaticecosystemslab.org).
2009-2010
Student Researcher, The Polaris Project, Russia
Northeast Science Station, Russia
Research Experience: Conducted two undergraduate-level projects examining how thawed permafrost carbon is processed in aquatic ecosystems as part of the Polaris Project team (www.thepolarisproject.org).
2008-2009
Undergraduate Lab Worker, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (Dr. Kurt Pregitzer)
Publications
Publications
Beel, C.R.*, Heslop, J.K.*, Orwin, J.F. Pope, M.A., Schevers, A.J., Hung, J.K.Y., Lafrenière, M.J., and Lamoureux, S.F. “Emerging dominance of summer rainfall in driving High Arctic terrestrial-aquatic connectivity.” Nat. Commun., 2021, doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21759-3.
*Co-first authorship
Heslop, J.K., Hung, J.K.Y., Tong, H., Simpson, M.J., Chapman, F.M., Roulet, N., Lafrenière, M.J., and Lamoureux, S.F. “Varying pond dissolved organic matter characteristics yield similar CO2 flux potentials in a disturbed High Arctic landscape.” Environ. Res. Lett., 2020, DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abc913.
Heslop, J.K., Walter Anthony, K.M. Winkel, M., Sepulveda-Jauregui, A., Martinez-Cruz, K., Bondurant, A., Grosse, G., and Liebner, S. “A synthesis of methane dynamics in thermokarst lake environments.” Earth-Science Reviews, 2020, DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103365.
Heslop, J.K., M. Winkel, K. M. Walter Anthony, R. G. M. Spencer, D. C. Podgorski, P. Zito, A. Kholodov, M. Zhang, and S. Liebner. “Increasing organic carbon biolability with depth in yedoma permafrost: ramifications for future climate change.” JGR Biogeosciences, 2019, DOI: 10.1029/2018JG004712.
Heslop, J.K., K. Walter Anthony, G. Grosse, S. Liebner, M. Winkel. “Century-scale time since permafrost thaw affects temperature sensitivity of methane production in thermokarst-lake and talik sediments.” Science of The Total Environment, 2019, DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.402.
Winkel, M., A. Sepulveda-Jaurequi, K. Martinez-Cruz, J. Heslop, R. Rijkers, F. Horn, S. Liebner, K. Walter Anthony. “Anaerobic oxidation of methane in the thaw bulb of a thermokarst lake.” Environmental Research Communications, 2019, DOI: 10.1088/2515-7620/ab1042.
Tanski, G. and 36 co-authors including J.K. Heslop. “The Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) is getting older – its development since IPY, state and vision.” Polar Records, 2019, DOI: 10.1017/S0032247418000645
Heslop, J.K., S. Chandra, W. Sobzcak, Davydov, A. Davydova, V. Spektor, K. Walter Anthony. “Variable respiration rates from incubated permafrost soil extracts in the Kolyma River lowlands region of Northeast Siberia.” Polar Research, 36, 2017, DOI: 10.1080/17518369.2017.1305157
Heslop, J.K., K. Walter Anthony, M. Zhang. “Utilizing pyrolysis GC-MS to characterize organic matter quality in relation to methane production in a thermokarst lake sediment core.” Organic Geochemistry, 103, 43-50, 2017, DOI: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2016.10.013
Heslop, J.K., K. Walter Anthony, A. Sepulveda-Jaurequi, K. Martinez-Cruz, A. Bondurant, G. Grosse, M. Jones. “Thermokarst lake methanogenesis along a complete talik profile.” Biogeosciences, 12, 4317–4331, 2015, DOI: 10.5194/bg-12-4317-2015
Reviewed papers for
Academic awards
GFZ Discovery Fellowship, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 2019 (3 years postdoctoral-level funding)
Internal Fellow, Geo.X Young Academy, Geo.X, 2019
Office of Post-Doctoral Training Post-Doctoral Travel Award, Queen’s University, 2017
Robert Gilbert Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Geography and Planning, Queen’s University, 2017
Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Graduate School, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2016-2017 Academic Year
University of Alaska, Fairbanks Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research Award Grant, 2015
EPA STAR Fellow, Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results Graduate Fellowship, 2013
Honorable Mention, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, 2014
Scholarship Recipient, Geophysical Society of Alaska, 2014
Honorable Mention, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, 2013
GSA Scholarship Recipient, Alaska Geophysical Society, 2014
Grant-in-Aid Scholarship Recipient, The Arctic Institute of North America, 2012-2013 Academic Year
Third Prize Undergraduate Category, College of Science Poster Competition, University of Nevada, Reno, Fall 2011
President’s Award for Outstanding Paper by an Undergraduate Student, Association of Pacific Coast Geographers Annual Meeting, Fall 2011
Nevada NSF-EPSCoR Scholarship Recipient, Summer 2011
Dean’s List, Fall 2010 and Spring 2011, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources, University of Nevada, Reno
Third Place Environmental Sciences, 2008, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, Atlanta, GA
Overall Winner, First Place Environmental Sciences, 2008, Western Nevada Regional Science and Engineering Fair, Reno, NV
Overall Runner-up, Second Place Environmental Sciences, 2007, Western Nevada Regional Science and Engineering Fair, Reno, NV
Millennium Scholar, 2008-2012, State of Nevada