Assistant Professor

Geology

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Research

I study how signals of past climate and environmental change are encoded in the terrestrial sedimentary rock record. My research focuses on terrestrial environments that are particularly sensitive to climatic change, such as wetlands (i.e., palustrine) and lake (i.e., lacustrine) systems. I use a variety of tools including sedimentology, stable isotope and aqueous geochemistry (e.g., carbonate clumped and triple oxygen isotopes), and modern environmental monitoring.

 

My research is broadly driven by these questions:

1. What does the geologic past reveal about dynamics in Earth’s climate system?
2. When Earth’s climate changes, how is the hydrologic cycle modified?
3. What are the feedbacks between topography, climate, and on-land environments?

 

Current projects include:

• Assessing which hydroclimate forces drive variation in Mono Lake levels now and in the recent geologic past by using triple oxygen and clumped isotopes to better quantify evaporation
  • Field site: Mono Lake, eastern California

• Understanding the sensitivity of terrestrial environments, especially mountainous and wetland ecosystems, to extreme global heat through studying the super-greenhouse climate of the mid-Cretaceous (~100 Ma)
  • Field site: central Nevada

• Improving interpretations of palustrine stable isotope geochemistry data by studying both present-day and ancient wetland ecosystems
  • Field sites: Cariboo Plateau, BC & Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park, Spain

• Evaluating where and when evaporation is greatest over the Great Salt Lake and in its hydrologic basin using environmental monitoring and water stable isotopes
  • Field sites: Great Salt Lake and Wasatch Range, Utah

 

For more information about my research, please visit my website.

Courses

• GY140 – Introduction to Earth Systems
• GY305 – Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
• GY370 (Special Topics) – Lake: Present to Paleo

Appointments

• Visiting Assistant Professor, Earth & Climate Sciences Department, Bates College (2022–2023)
• NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Earth & Environmental Sciences Department, University of Michigan (2023–2025)