VIVIAN MERK 

Vivian Merk received her B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) in 2010 and 2012, and her PhD in Civil Engineering from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) in 2016. During her doctoral studies, she improved the properties of natural wood by incorporating inorganic minerals in the cell walls via in situ chemical reactions. After completing her PhD, Dr. Merk moved to Northwestern University for her postdoctoral research in the biomineralization of marine unicellular organisms called Acantharia. Since Fall 2019, Dr. Merk is an Assistant Professor at Florida Atlantic University with a joint appointment in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the Department of Ocean & Mechanical Engineering. Her independent research focuses on improving our understanding of biological crystal growth in complex organic matrices and developing sustainable synthesis protocols that emulate mineralized structures in the biosphere.