Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES)

Profile

Born in England, raised in the US and now back in Europe, my route to becoming a geologist was similarly circuitous. After developing a strong interest in the physical sciences at school, I read chemistry at Boston University before pursuing my Master's in geology at the University of Wisconsin and my PhD in Earth Sciences at Bristol University. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at University College Dublin, I am now a Senior Research Associate at the University of Portsmouth.

My research interests centre on the timing and duration of crustal evolution, from metamorphism and stabilisation through to erosion and sedimentation. I am particularly interested in combining high-precision geochronological techniques, such as in situ U-Pb in zircon and Sm-Nd dating of garnets by ID-TIMS, with structural and geochemical techniques, including Hf/O in zircon and common Pb in K-feldspar, to untangle even complicated histories. On much shorter time scales, I am also intrigued by the application of chemical techniques to archaeological materials.

Teaching

• Postgraduate:
  • Lectures on statistics, LA-ICP-MS and crustal evolution, Jan. 2011 & 2012 (University College Dublin)
• Undergraduate:
  • Mentored two undergraduate field assistants, June 2006 (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant (writing practicals and exams, grading), Sep. 2005 -May 2006 (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
  • Lab instructor (grading, teaching and sample preparation), Sep. 2002 -Dec. 2003 (Boston University)
  • Tutorial leader, Sep. 2001- May 2002 (Boston University)

Career

Mar. 2013- present: Senior Research Associate, University of Portsmouth

Nov. 2010- Nov. 2012: IRC EMPOWER Post-doctoral Fellow, University College Dublin

Jan. 2011: PhD in Earth Sciences, University of Bristol (Supervisors: Prof. Chris Hawkesworth, Dr. Craig Storey, Dr. John Schumacher)

May 2007: MSc in Geology, University of Wisconsin - Madison (US)

May 2004: BA in Chemistry (minor and distinction in Earth Sciences), Boston University (US)

Research

Provenance of detrital minerals (zircon, rutile, K-feldspar)

Evolution of the continental crust (bias in the record, secular change in plate tectonics) Isotopic technique development (LA-Q/MC-ICP-MS)

Funding Awards

2010: Irish Research Council EMPOWER post-doctoral fellowship

2009: Alumni Foundation travel grant, University of Bristol

2009: Geochemistry group, Geological Society of London, student travel bursary

2009: Goldschmidt student travel grant

2006: GSA graduate student research grant

2006: Sigma Xi grant-in-aid of research

Recent Publications

More recent publications