EAS doctoral student wins award to build new type of under-ice submersible instrument

Jorge Coppin-Massanet has been awarded the Link Foundation Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Ph.D. Fellowship. His proposal, “The Submersible Under-Ice Mass Spectrometer (SUIMS) for Biogeochemical Mapping of the Ice-Ocean Interface,” was the highest-ranked of all the proposals received by the Link Foundation this year.

Coppin-Massanet is a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences working with Associate Professor Britney Schmidt. He is the first Cornell student to receive this fellowship since the inception of the award in 1963.

Coppin-Massanet proposes to design and build the first underwater mass spectrometer for use in under-ice environments. He argues that ice shelves, glaciers, and sea-ice have been overlooked as contributors to the global carbon cycle. “There are significant reservoirs of microbial communities under the ice and they  are teeming with nutrients and sources of carbon that feed into the global system,” Coppin-Massanet said. “Yet the extent of carbon stored beneath the ice remains poorly understood”

In addition to collecting data that will provide valuable insight into biogeochemical cycling in the cryosphere and the role sea ice has within it, Coppin-Massanet’s submersible will expand applications of ocean engineering by contributing to advancing technological capabilities for in-situ biogeochemical measurements in the ocean and fostering new research in the sub-ice polar ocean.

The Link Foundation was founded in 1953 by engineer and inventor Edwin A. Link and his wife Marion C. Link. The foundation’s mission is to “perpetuate and enhance the recognized Link legacy of technical leadership and excellence established by the founders in their fields of interest — simulation and training, energy resources development and conservation, and ocean engineering and instrumentation — while also continuing the support of organizations consistent with the founders’ interests.”

In furtherance of this mission, the Link Foundation has awarded grants totaling more than $20 million to universities, colleges, and other non-profit organizations.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to advance our understanding of under-ice environments and their role in the global climate system,” Coppin-Massanet said. “This fellowship not only allows me to innovate with new technology but also to explore some of the most challenging and important frontiers in Earth science. I’m eager to see how the insights from SUIMS can deepen our knowledge of polar ecosystems and their broader implications.”