Now on faculty at Johns Hopkins UniversityMaya is interested in how the cycling of elements through the ocean and atmosphere regulates climate and habitability. Specifically, she focuses on how the sulfur cycle interacts with the carbon, oxygen, and nutrient element cycles when marine sulfate levels are low, like they were on the early Earth, versus high, like they are in the modern ocean. Maya likes to approach this topic by studying both modern and ancient systems over a range of sulfate concentrations. Currently, she holds a NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship in which she is evaluating how storm induced changes to water column chemistry in coastal lakes affects microbial ecology and how evidence of these changes are preserved in the geologic record. In doing this work, Maya aims to improve models for the evolution of the marine sulfate reservoir through time, which has implications for the evolution of the Earth’s early biosphere as well how environmental conditions affect the biosphere since the development of multicellular life on Earth.