Rowan R. Terra

I am a Ph.D. candidate conducting research on biogeochemical processes in abandoned mine drainage (AMD) at Duquesne University and NETL-DOE under an ORISE research fellowship. My current projects (1) characterize AMD feedstocks using field and computational methods while also (2) exploring microbiological mining for critical mineral (CMM) extraction and recovery. Several manuscripts are currently under review or in preparation spanning these directives.

I have a decade of research experience spanning biological, chemical, ecological, and computational sciences. These opportunities have helped me flesh out my preference for multidisciplinary approaches to scientific questions. More information can be found in my CV.

I anticipate searching for postdoctoral or industry positions with late 2026 or early 2027 start dates. I am open to work in academic, government, or industry settings, with a preference for multidisciplinary laboratories that mesh bench and computational work. Ultimately, I would like to work toward becoming a principal investigator in any of these environments.

Consulting

I run Terra Cognita LLC, a consulting firm for scientific computing, data analysis, and modeling.

Visit Terra Cognita

news

Oct 19, 2026	Defending my Ph.D. dissertation, A Microbiological Basis for Critical Mineral and Material Acquisition from Abandoned Coal Mines in Pennsylvania, at Duquesne University.
Oct 14, 2026	Presenting Governed by Genomes and Bound by Eh-pH: Guiding Microbial Communities for Recovery of Critical Minerals at GSA Connects 2026 in Denver, CO (October 11–14).
Oct 11, 2026	Presenting the invited talk The Mineral within the Protein: Predicting Structural and Functional Properties of Proteins from Mineralogical Scaffolds at GSA Connects 2026 in Denver, CO (October 11–14).
Jun 10, 2026	Presenting Computational approaches assist in critical mineral recovery and remediation effort prioritization within mining-affected systems at the American Society of Reclamation Sciences 2026 conference in Laramie, WY.
May 10, 2026	Received the American Society of Reclamation Sciences Ph.D. Level Memorial Scholarship Award.
Jul 31, 2025	In this interview, I discuss my Ph.D. projects and my experience as an ORISE fellow.