My Research Interests
Critical zone science, cosmogenic radionuclides, geomorphology, geochemistry, hydrology
My Research Experience
Bedrock Critical Zone Network (BCZN) ~ June 2021-present
Currently, I am working with Dr. Cliff Riebe and the Bedrock Critical Zone Network to investigate surface processes involving the deep critical zone. We are using depth profiles of cosmogenic radionuclides to quantify changes in erosion rates over time and validate soil production functions. We are working to understand the sensitivity of the critical zone to perturbations at Earth’s surface.
Critical zone science, cosmogenic radionuclides, geomorphology, geochemistry, hydrology
My Research Experience
Bedrock Critical Zone Network (BCZN) ~ June 2021-present
Currently, I am working with Dr. Cliff Riebe and the Bedrock Critical Zone Network to investigate surface processes involving the deep critical zone. We are using depth profiles of cosmogenic radionuclides to quantify changes in erosion rates over time and validate soil production functions. We are working to understand the sensitivity of the critical zone to perturbations at Earth’s surface.
ExTerra Field Institute and Research Endeavor (E-FIRE) ~ May-December 2019
Throughout the summer and fall of 2019, I was an undergraduate researcher on the E-FIRE project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). E-FIRE is a partnership between ExTerra, an organization of U.S.-based researchers, and Zooming in between Plates (ZiP), an EU-based Marie Curie Training Network. Both are focused on studying the processes and relationships within subduction zones. In total, over 30 students, postdocs, and faculty mentors from institutions all over the U.S., Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and Switzerland collaborate and participate in research and field institutes. Learn more about E-FIRE at http://geoprisms.org/exterra/e-fire/.
As an undergraduate researcher, I conducted bulk rock laboratory work and analyzed data at Penn State during the summer of 2019. My studies focused on understanding the mass transfer and metasomatism in subducting slabs through the trace elements and isotopes of metamorphic pillow basalts from Corsica, an exhumed terrane of the Western Alps. In August, I travelled to the Western Alps with my advisor, Dr. Maureen Feineman, to meet up with the rest of the E-FIRE researchers, participate in field institutes, and discuss research progress. After exploring the French and Italian Alps and convening in Syros, Greece, I continued my project on campus throughout the fall semester.
Provided by the E-FIRE NSF award, I was able to attend the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting of 2019 and present my research in a poster session. To learn about my experience at AGU, check out my blog! Our findings are not yet published, but if you are interested in learning more, please contact me through the tab above! My abstract is below.
Throughout the summer and fall of 2019, I was an undergraduate researcher on the E-FIRE project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). E-FIRE is a partnership between ExTerra, an organization of U.S.-based researchers, and Zooming in between Plates (ZiP), an EU-based Marie Curie Training Network. Both are focused on studying the processes and relationships within subduction zones. In total, over 30 students, postdocs, and faculty mentors from institutions all over the U.S., Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and Switzerland collaborate and participate in research and field institutes. Learn more about E-FIRE at http://geoprisms.org/exterra/e-fire/.
As an undergraduate researcher, I conducted bulk rock laboratory work and analyzed data at Penn State during the summer of 2019. My studies focused on understanding the mass transfer and metasomatism in subducting slabs through the trace elements and isotopes of metamorphic pillow basalts from Corsica, an exhumed terrane of the Western Alps. In August, I travelled to the Western Alps with my advisor, Dr. Maureen Feineman, to meet up with the rest of the E-FIRE researchers, participate in field institutes, and discuss research progress. After exploring the French and Italian Alps and convening in Syros, Greece, I continued my project on campus throughout the fall semester.
Provided by the E-FIRE NSF award, I was able to attend the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting of 2019 and present my research in a poster session. To learn about my experience at AGU, check out my blog! Our findings are not yet published, but if you are interested in learning more, please contact me through the tab above! My abstract is below.
Metal Isotope Laboratory at Penn State (MIL) ~ 2018-2019
As a sophomore undergraduate student at Penn State, I became interested in geological research, particularly in geochemistry. My advisor directed me to Dr. Matt Fantle's geochemical analyses of the groundwater that is cycled in Penn State's Living Filter system. The Living Filter is an initiative to recycle treated wastewater and recharge the water table by spraying the treated wastewater in chosen areas. Learn more about Penn State's Living Filter at: https://opp.psu.edu/unit/wastewater.
I worked in the MIL, a clean lab, mentored by graduate students in the Fantle lab group. My project was focused on the Strontium isotopes of the groundwater in order to trace its origins and processing. We collected water samples and filtered them in the field on crisp winter mornings and processed them with Strontium column chemistry in the lab. We used Penn State's TIMS (thermal ionization mass spectrometer) and ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer) to measure the groundwater isotopes and content. Again, our findings are not yet published, but if you are interested in learning more, please contact me through the tab above!
Joint Fire Sciences Project (JFSP) ~Fall 2017
As a freshman student at Penn State, I was lucky to have a first-year seminar professor, Dr. Ericka Smithwick, who needed help conducting research about forest management in central Pennsylvania. My role was a field tech and I travelled to local recreation areas, such as Rothrock State Forest and Scotia Game Lands, surveying visitors about the use of prescribed fires to manage local forests. The project was apart of the Joint Fire Sciences Program and you learn more about this national initiative at https://www.doi.gov/wildlandfire/joint-fire-science-program.
As a sophomore undergraduate student at Penn State, I became interested in geological research, particularly in geochemistry. My advisor directed me to Dr. Matt Fantle's geochemical analyses of the groundwater that is cycled in Penn State's Living Filter system. The Living Filter is an initiative to recycle treated wastewater and recharge the water table by spraying the treated wastewater in chosen areas. Learn more about Penn State's Living Filter at: https://opp.psu.edu/unit/wastewater.
I worked in the MIL, a clean lab, mentored by graduate students in the Fantle lab group. My project was focused on the Strontium isotopes of the groundwater in order to trace its origins and processing. We collected water samples and filtered them in the field on crisp winter mornings and processed them with Strontium column chemistry in the lab. We used Penn State's TIMS (thermal ionization mass spectrometer) and ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer) to measure the groundwater isotopes and content. Again, our findings are not yet published, but if you are interested in learning more, please contact me through the tab above!
Joint Fire Sciences Project (JFSP) ~Fall 2017
As a freshman student at Penn State, I was lucky to have a first-year seminar professor, Dr. Ericka Smithwick, who needed help conducting research about forest management in central Pennsylvania. My role was a field tech and I travelled to local recreation areas, such as Rothrock State Forest and Scotia Game Lands, surveying visitors about the use of prescribed fires to manage local forests. The project was apart of the Joint Fire Sciences Program and you learn more about this national initiative at https://www.doi.gov/wildlandfire/joint-fire-science-program.
Posters and Presentations |
AGU Fall Meeting 2022 poster: "Steady-state erosion and soil production in the South Carolina Piedmont inferred from cosmogenic nuclide depth profiles"
agu22_abstract.docx | |
File Size: | 13 kb |
File Type: | docx |
AGU Fall Meeting 2019 Abstract: "Trace-element immobility during prograde subduction metamorphism: a metabasalt transect through Alpine Corsica"
agu19_abstract.docx | |
File Size: | 14 kb |
File Type: | docx |
To see my AGU poster, please contact me! The results have not been published yet, and so I will not be providing a downloadable link until they are.