Department Directory

Faculty

Rick Aster

Department Head
Professor

I am a geophysicist with interests in seismic imaging and source studies applied to diverse Earth processes that encompass deep structure, earthquakes, volcanos, ocean processes, and glaciers.

Sean Bryan

Master Instructor

I am a geoscientist interested in the lessons of Earth’s past about climate change, ocean circulation, and carbon cycling. I am also interested in advancing geoscience education, diversity and inclusion.

Sean Gallen

Assistant Professor

I am an Earth Scientist interested in geomorphology, active tectonics, landscape evolution, and critical zone science. My research is multidisciplinary and involves fieldwork, geochronology, GIS, numerical modeling, and laboratory and data analysis.

Lauren Harrison

Assistant Professor

I am a geochemist interested in the composition and plumbing systems of Earth’s volcanoes, studying long-lived mantle plumes to infer Earth’s chemical composition, and identifying and mitigating volcanic impacts and hazards.

Dennis Harry

Edward M. Warner Chair of Geophysics
Professor

I am a geophysicist focusing on geodynamic studies of continental rift systems and rifted continental margins.

Jerry Magloughlin

Associate Professor

I am a structural geologist/hard rock petrologist, with interests in faults, shear zones, fault rocks, the geochemical and isotopic aspects of deformation, metamorphic and igneous petrology, and geoeducation including geophotography.

Dan McGrath

Assistant Professor

I am a geoscientist who utilizes novel in situ geophysical and remote sensing tools to study earth surface processes, particularly related to the cryosphere. My research has involved more than 20 expeditions to Antarctica, Greenland, Alaska and Patagonia.

Sara Rathburn

Professor

I am a fluvial geomorphologist with interests in drainage basin response and recovery to sediment disturbances including floods, fires and mass movements, the influences of climate change on channel morphology and vegetation-channel feedbacks, and process-based channel restoration and monitoring.

John Ridley

Malcolm McCallum Chair of Economic Geology
Associate Professor

I study economic geology building on a background in petrology, structural geology, field geology, inorganic and organic geochemistry. My current research projects examine fluid:ore interactions from magmas to environmental impacts.

Michael Ronayne

Associate Professor

I am a hydrogeologist researching flow and transport through heterogeneous aquifers and connected groundwater-surface water systems. I develop groundwater management models to inform the sustainable use of water resources.

Jeremy Rugenstein

Assistant Professor

Paleoclimate, Geochemistry, Tectonic-Climate Interactions

William Sanford

Associate Professor

I am a hydrogeologist interested in developing nanoparticles as groundwater tracers, Isotope and tracer hydrogeology, groundwater recharge, groundwater/surface water interactions, flow and transport in fractured media and hydrogeophysics.

Derek Schutt

Professor

I am a seismologist and geophysicist interested in understanding deep Earth structures and their effects on past and present tectonics and landscapes.

John Singleton

Associate Professor

structural geology, geologic mapping, tectonics of the North American Cordillera

Lisa Stright

Associate Professor

I am a geoscientist and petroleum engineer interested in applied reservoir modeling, using outcrops as quantitative subsurface analogs, and creating methodologies to build more predictive sedimentological and reservoir/flow models.

Ellen Wohl

University Distinguished Professor

I am a fluvial geomorphologist studying a broad range of topics within the field of geomorphology such as fluvial and hillslope geomorphology, paleohydrology and channel change.