The activity of microbes greatly affects the biogeochemical flow of nutrients and contaminants in the environment. Current research focuses primarily on the thermodynamics and kinetics of aqueous and interfacial reactions involving biogenic exudates that contribute to understanding the biogeochemical cycling of natural and anthropogenic species. My approach is to blend traditional wet-chemical, field, and microbiological methods with modern spectroscopic, microscopic, genetic, and theoretical techniques to obtain an understanding of mechanisms and reaction pathways on molecular to macroscopic scales.