I am interested in how metabolism and organic structures in microbial mat communities influence changes in aqueous chemistry and induce mineral precipitation; in particular, how modern organisms can be used as analogs for microbe mineral interactions in past environments to reconstruct their role in shaping the geologic record and enhance our ability to detect potential biosignatures of early life on Earth and Mars. My current research focuses on mechanisms by which photosynthetic benthic cyanobacteria and their organic products influence the precipitation of high magnesium carbonates and the mineralogy of these precipitates, in terms of species and texture, relative to abiotically precipitated minerals.