Emerging Investigator: 加拿大地质调查局 Jaime Cesar

导言 

AG期刊第三位Emerging Investigator Series入选者公布，祝贺加拿大地质调查局的研究科学家Jaime Cesar博士！本文推送个人介绍和访谈。采访内容已在IAGC Newsletter全文刊载，入选者个人信息在Elements杂志上刊登。点击“阅读原文”直达IAGC官网页面。

Cesar博士在委内瑞拉接受本科教育，其就读的委内瑞拉中央大学是该国的第一学府，也是拉丁美洲最重要的大学之一。随后在澳洲的Curtin University获得博士学位，后在加拿大地质调查局工作，近期已转为长期职位，开始了独立的科研生涯。

国际地球化学协会和AG期刊始终坚持国家化、多样化的价值观。Jaime Cesar在拉美接受本科教育，在亚太接受博士教育，又在北美从事独立的学术生涯，是IAGC国际社群包容性的最佳注脚。

Cesar博士的入选论文提出的方法对于地调局的工作具有很好的启发，符合“应用地球化学”的特色，当然这里面也有很多尚未回答清楚的问题，值得深入探讨。处理该稿件的副主编是俄亥俄州立大学的气体地球化学家Tom Darrah。

Emerging Investigator Series常年开放申请，只要你提交申请时获得博士学位不足10年，并愿意把能代表自己科研水平的论文投到Applied Geochemistry，都欢迎申请。期待有你！

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Jaime Cesar is a research scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary. He obtained a B.Sc. in Geochemistry from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, and holds a PhD in organic and isotope geochemistry from Curtin University, Australia.Jaime combines molecular, compound-specific and site-specific stable isotope tools to study organic compounds from petroleum basins and other environments, with the purpose of optimizing the exploration and production of hydrocarbon resources, performing paleo-environmental reconstructions, amongst others. Jaime’s research is part of the Geoscience for New Energy Supply (GNES) program funded by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). When not in the lab, Jaime is performing arts in different expressions such as singing, acting, and poetic writing.

Jaime: it all starts here, when we isolate a specific compound class for analysis.

What excites you most about the work published in Applied Geochemistry?

In science, there often is an elephant in the room that we prefer to ignore because we do not know how it got there. However, despite its unknown provenance, the elephant may answer many of our questions. That is what happens with ethane gas. This molecule is often found with primary microbial methane, but we tend to ignore it because the mechanisms for microbial generation of ethane are not well understood. However, this does not mean that we cannot use its geochemical characteristics, for instance, to distinguish primary microbial gas from early mature thermogenic gas. Our work probably brings more questions than answers, but that is great. Perhaps we now start looking at ethane, the elephant in the room, more often.

Describe your research group at Geological Survey of Canada. What are you working on and with whom are you collaborating?

The Organic Geochemistry and Petrology Section of the GSC is responsible for the characterization of (i) conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon systems; (ii) existing and potential environmental impacts of fossil resource extraction and development on the surface and in the underground; (iii) the origin and fate of organic matter and its interaction with water, minerals and metals in lake, river and ocean sediments, and in soil and peats from both pedosphere and hydrosphere. I currently work with Dr. Andrew Kingston and Dr. Omid Ardakani. We combine several geochemical approaches to understand the occurrence and distribution of H2S gas in low-permeability hydrocarbon reservoirs from the Montney Formation, Western Canada. I particularly focus on the organic and isotope geochemistry of the petroleum fluids. Additionally, I support Dr. Majid Bizhani in the evaluation of organic geochemical changes due to enhanced-oil-recovery practices, with focus on CO2 as a recovery agent, and with implications on CO2 storage. Working at the GSC has also given me the opportunity to contribute on studies that evaluate the role of organics in mineral prospecting as well as peat formation and degradation. We actively collaborate with the University of Calgary, the University of North Dakota, The Imperial College of London, The GSC-Quebec, and several petroleum companies in Canada.

In the organic petrography lab. From left to right: Majid Bizhani, Jaime Cesar, and supervisor Omid Ardakani.

Where do you see your research program heading, and what topics are you most interested in pursuing?

I am very excited to see that we did not know everything about gas geochemistry. The occurrence of isotope equilibrium in gases from tight rocks, for instance, is only gaining relevance recently after some of our work and that of other scientists at Caltech. As a next step, I am interested in evaluating to what extent the geochemistry of low-molecular-weight liquid hydrocarbons (C7-C18) from low-permeability reservoirs is different to what we know about conventional systems.

Jaime Cesar with the team that makes sure that samples are well prepared and ready for analysis. From left to right: Carlo Gallotta, Marina Milovic, Jaime Cesar, and Keegan Nagy.

I have also started to introduce methods that will allow us to study organic matter from recent environments (e.g. peats, lakes), and we aim to perform more environmental organic geochemistry studies in the near future.

Jaime Cesar in the instrumental lab with Rachel Robinson, who makes sure that the instruments provide excellent results. She and Marina are very patient every time Jaime asks them to modify a method/procedure.

Canada is famous for being an excellent record of macro and microfossils of past life. However, little is known about molecular fossils from the same geological archives. Therefore, I will be fascinated to contribute on the field of early life too. Finally yet importantly, I am always interested in becoming a better communicator. I believe scientists should not only be in the lab but also onstage. We ought to take the platform and communicate what we do in ways that the common citizen can understand.

As an early career investigator, do you have any to share with the audience of Applied Geochemistry?

I will probably think the same in some years, but for now, I would like to say that “you can’t do it alone”. Be gladly open to learn and receive support from your supervisors, the lab staff, and everybody else working around you and with you.

Also, building a career feels like you are always projecting to the future, but do not forget the present. Enjoy the experiment that turns out amazing and the one that fails, treasure the resources you have right now even if little. Be authentic. I know science feels like a place filled with methods to follow, but you can still be you.

One more thing, science is also about service. In everything you do, always consider how you are helping others with that. Ah, and though this is a word we seldom write in our papers, trust! Trusting is great.

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