When setting off on work trips, Andrew Babbin aims to travel light. However, alongside his travel essentials, he always includes a roll each of electrical tape, duct tape, lab tape, a pack of cable ties, and some bungee cords.
“It’s my improvised toolkit,” Babbin explains. “You never know when you need to patch something up in the field or mend a broken bag.”
Babbin’s adventures often take him far out to sea, embarking on month-long research cruises where he samples waters off the Pacific coast and beyond. In these isolated environments, his repair supplies have proven invaluable—like the time he had to zip-tie a wrench to a sampling device to ensure it sank through the icy waters of an Antarctic lake.
As an oceanographer and marine biogeochemist, Babbin investigates the role of marine microbes in controlling nitrogen cycles between the ocean and atmosphere. This delicate balance is critical for ocean health and contributes to the ocean’s ability to sequester carbon.
By integrating ocean measurements with laboratory experiments at MIT, Babbin aims to uncover the intricate relationship between microbes and oceanic nitrogen. His findings could illuminate pathways to safeguard the ocean’s vitality and productivity, as he travels to coastal and open-ocean regions across the globe.
“Being an oceanographer and Earth scientist enables you to fully experience the world,” Babbin says, who has recently achieved tenure as the Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Professor in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. “Embracing the diversity of cultures and places on our planet is truly special.”
A profound cycle
For Babbin, the ocean has been a significant influence since childhood. Growing up in Monmouth County, New Jersey, he and his twin sister spent countless hours playing along the Jersey shore, and family cruises sparked a lifelong fascination.
“I’ve always loved being on the water,” he shares. “My favorite moments on those cruises were the days spent in open waters, surrounded by ocean on all sides.”
With a natural affinity for science, Babbin was drawn especially to chemistry during his school years. He ventured to Columbia University, where an inspiring visit to the Earth and environmental engineering department transformed his perspective.
“For me, there was always an excitement about the water and chemistry, and then I realized I didn’t have to choose between them,” Babbin recalls.
He pursued a major in Earth and environmental engineering with a concentration in water resources and climate risks. After graduating in 2008, Babbin returned to New Jersey for a PhD in geosciences at Princeton University, focusing on chemical oceanography and environmental microbiology. Thanks to his advisor, oceanographer Bess Ward, he joined her research group and embarked on several month-long cruises throughout the eastern tropical Pacific.
“I can still vividly remember that first trip,” Babbin recounts. “It was overwhelming! Everyone else seemed to have sailed before, loading up the boat and securing equipment while I was just getting my bearings. But it didn’t take long for me to dive into experiments as the ship rocked!”
He learned to deploy sampling canisters overboard and analyze the seawater for trace signs of nitrogen—an essential nutrient for life. Interestingly, the plants and animals reliant on nitrogen cannot absorb it directly from the atmosphere. Instead, specific microbes “fix” nitrogen, converting it from gaseous form into usable nutrients. In the ocean, specialized microbial species play a crucial role in making nitrogen available to phytoplankton, which are fundamental to the marine food web and significantly contribute to the ocean’s carbon dioxide absorption.
These microorganisms also have the capability to utilize biologically available forms of nitrogen for energy and can release nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to ozone depletion in the stratosphere.
Through his academic journey, both at sea and in the lab, Babbin has developed a keen interest in nitrogen cycling and the vital role of nitrogen-fixing microbes in sustaining ocean ecosystems and influencing climate patterns. Achieving a balanced nitrogen flow is essential to support phytoplankton and enhance the ocean’s carbon dioxide absorption capacity.
“Many pressing questions in the realm of ocean biogeochemistry revolve around nitrogen cycling,” Babbin states. “By understanding how this element travels through the ocean, we can better comprehend its importance to ecosystem health and the Earth’s climate.”
Balancing lab work with field research
After completing his PhD in 2014, Babbin joined MIT as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
“Upon arriving here, it struck me that this is truly a playground for knowledge enthusiasts,” he expresses. “I embraced the chance to be involved in a culture focused on deep understanding of the world while pursuing our passions.”
In 2017, he took on a faculty position in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, setting up his lab—painted in his favorite bright orange—on the top floor of the Green Building.
Babbin’s research group employs 3D printing technology to create microfluidic devices that replicate oceanic conditions and examine microbe metabolism and its interplay with marine chemistry. He has led research expeditions to the Galapagos Islands and other eastern Pacific regions, where he collected and analyzed samples for signs of nitrogen transformations and microbial activity. His measurement station in the Galapagos has been instrumental in inferring marine emissions of nitrous oxide across vast sections of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. His team has also researched the microbial dynamics of coral reefs in southern Cuba.
Recently, Babbin ventured to Antarctica, where he camped beside frozen waterways and collected pristine ice water samples for analysis of ancient microbial genetic remnants. Insights from preserved bacterial DNA may unlock secrets about microbial evolution and its effects on Earth’s climate over billions of years.
“Microbes are the true terraformers,” Babbin states. “They’ve shaped our planet since life first emerged over 3 billion years ago. We must consider how they influence the natural world and how their responses may unfold as we navigate the Anthropocene.”
Collective efforts for innovation
Looking ahead, Babbin is charting new research avenues. In parallel with his fieldwork and laboratory studies, he is venturing into engineering by designing denitrifying capsules. While nitrogen is crucial for marine ecosystems, excessive nitrogen from fertilizer runoff can lead to harmful algal blooms. Babbin aims to create eco-friendly capsules that absorb and remove excess nitrogen from local water bodies.
Additionally, he is starting to develop a novel sensor to monitor low-oxygen levels in the ocean. As global temperatures rise, oceans are losing oxygen, leading to “dead zones” uninhabitable for marine life. While Babbin and others have previously mapped oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) sporadically, his proposed sensors intend to achieve a more comprehensive mapping through deployment on wide-ranging, deep-diving, naturally propulsive vehicles: sharks.
“We aim to monitor oxygen levels, and sharks require oxygen, too. By tracking areas where sharks are absent, we may discover regions suffering from low oxygen,” Babbin explains, collaborating with marine biologists on methods to tag sharks with oxygen sensors. “Tracking the diving patterns of these large pelagic fish can provide insights into not just their behavior, but the ocean’s chemical composition as well.”
Reflecting on what fuels his innovative thinking, Babbin emphasizes the importance of collaboration with others in his team and throughout MIT.
“My best ideas stem from our collective efforts,” he asserts. “Especially because our diverse backgrounds allow us to tackle problems from unique perspectives.”
This collaborative ethos is at the forefront of his new role as a mission director for MIT’s Climate Project. Together with Jesse Kroll, a professor in civil and environmental engineering and chemical engineering, Babbin co-leads the project’s mission focused on restoring the atmosphere and safeguarding land and oceans. They plan to organize workshops across the campus to foster new connections and stimulate ideas aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of various climate mitigation strategies and assessing climate impacts on society.
“One key area we want to promote is the synergy between climate science and climate interventions,” Babbin concludes. “A multitude of actions is currently being sparked. We aim for these actions to be impactful because we truly have one opportunity to get this right. Time is of the essence.”
Photo credit & article inspired by: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
