Laura M. Otter, PhD

Full Name:

Laura Meret Otter

Address:

Research School of Earth Sciences, Building J8, 142 Mills Road, Acton, Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

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Professional Profiles

ORCID:          

0000-0003-0737-4497

Web of Science ResearcherID:

0-7074-2019

ResearchGate: 

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laura_Otter

​LinkedIn:        

www.linkedin.com/in/DrLauraOtter

Twitter:           

@Laura_M_Otter

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Education

22/04/2020:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD); Macquarie University, Australia

Thesis: Micro- to nano-scale architecture and aspects of skeletal growth in marine calcifiers

29/07/2015:

Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Germany

Thesis: Geochemical characterization of desert varnishes and adjacent dust

28/09/2012:

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Germany

Thesis: Comparative material-scientific investigations of cultured pearls

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Employment History

Since 2020:

Postdoctoral fellow (full-time) at The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

2019 – 2020:

Research associate (part-time) and postdoctoral research associate (full-time) at Macquarie University

2016 – 2017:

Teaching assistant, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

2014 – 2016:

Research Assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC), Mainz, Germany

2013 – 2014:

Teaching assistant Johannes-Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

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Awards and Achievements
Mar 2020:

MDPI Crystals, Travel Award, AUD 1,300

Dec 2019:

International Synchrotron Access Program (Austr. Synchrotron & ANSTO) Travel Award, AUD 5,600

Sep 2019:

Beate Mocek Award (German Mineralogical Society), AUD 1,600

Jul 2018:

Macquarie University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering, Postgraduate Research Fund Incl. Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research Commendation, AUD 5,500

Jul 2018:

Geoanalysis2018 conference registration sponsored by NSW Government AUD 680

Jun 2017:

Best oral presentation at EPS HDR Conference 2017, Macquarie University AUD 50

May 2018:

Sponsored open access Ppublishing fees for invited article in MDPI Minerals, AUD 1700

Jan 2016:

Australian Government, International Postgraduate Research Scholarship AUD 200,000

Oct 2015:

Max Planck Graduate School, Travel Grant, AUD 1,500

Aug 2015:

Max Planck Graduate School grading “superior” for outstanding master’s thesis

Dec 2014:

Johannes Gutenberg University’s faculty award for outstanding bachelor’s thesis AUD 200

Dec 2014:

Johannes Gutenberg University’s Foundation for Gem Material and Economic Geology, Travel Award, AUD 400

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Research Funding Acquisition (PI total ~20,400 AUD)

May 2022:

Director's award for strategic research - 14,700 AUD

provided by the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences

Nov 2021:

Malacological Research Fund - 2,500 AUD

provided by the Malacological Society of Australasia

Jul 2021:

ANU Research School of Earth Sciences Award - 3,200 AUD

Two fully sponsored days of SHRIMP time.

Jan 2021:

Named postdoctoral scholar on the successful ARC Discovery Project “Maximising accuracy and reliability of carbonate climate proxy archives” (CI: Prof Dr Dorrit Jacob, ANU)

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Invited Seminar lectures and talks

Aug 2022:

"Photo-induced Force Microscopy (PiFM) and its application to biominerals"

School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ecole Ppolytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Aug 2022:

​“Growth dynamics and amorphous-to-crystalline phase transformation in natural nacre”

Invited talk at the Gordon Research Seminar on Biomineralization, Barcelona, Spain

Aug 2022:

“Nanoscale phase-identification using Photo-induced Force Microscopy (PiFM): Application examples from biomineralogy”

Asian School of the Environment and Earth Observatory Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

​Mar 2020:

"Australian non-bead cultured “keshi” pearls from P. imbricata fucata and P. maxima“

Broken Bay Pearls, Pearls of Australia, Mooney Mooney, NSW, Australia

Aug 2018:

“Natural & cultured pearls: background & introduction to different pearl types”

Department of Material Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Aug 2018:

“The sub-micron architecture and growth dynamics of bivalve shells”

Department of Material Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

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Teaching Experience:

2021 – 2022:

Australian National University, ‘EMSC 4017: Earth and Marine Science Honours’, honors project supervision

2016 – 2017:

Macquarie University, undergraduate course ‘GEOS112: the Planet Earth’, prac demonstrating and marking

2013 – 2014:

 Johannes-Gutenberg University, ‘Mineralogy’, teaching assistant, demonstrating spectroscopy instruments in undergrad pracs

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Student Theses Supervision:

• Shiladitya Mazumdar,

PhD thesis entitled “Biomineralization pathways and element partitioning in calcium carbonate” (2022), Macquarie University

• Oliver M. Medd,

BSc Honours thesis entitled “An aquaculture-based calibration of bivalve shell isotope and trace element thermometry using the Sydney cockle ” (2022), the Australian National University,

first-class honours distinction

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Professional Service:

Peer reviewing:

I have acted as a pee-reviewer for several international interdisciplinary and discipline journals on a  regular basis including:

• Chemical Society Reviews (Royal Society of Chemistry)

• Climate of the Past (EGU & Copernicus Publications)

• European Journal of Mineralogy (EGU & Copernicus Publications)

• Gems and Gemology (Gemological Institute of America, GIA)

• Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research (John Wiley & Sons)

• Marine Biology (Springer Nature)

• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (National Academy of Sciences, NAS)

• Science Advances (American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS)

​Since April 2021, I am a member of the GIA’s Editorial Review Board for the peer-reviewed journal Gems & Gemology.

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Conference session chairing:

• Session 1 "Characterizing Earth Materials in Three Dimensions' at the Geoanalysis 2022 Conference, Freiberg, Germany.