Complete CV

✦ Field camp in the Slave Craton, NWT Canada, Aug 2016. (photo: Steve Shirey)

Education and Professional Preparation

Carnegie Institution of Washington; Isotope Geology, Postdoctoral Fellowship 1984-1985 

Stony Brook University; Geochemistry, Ph.D. 1984 

University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Geology, M.Sc. 1975 

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH; Geology, A.B., 1972 

Graduate and Postdoctoral Advisors

Richard W. Carlson, Carnegie Institution of Washington (Postdoctoral advisor)

Gilbert N. Hanson, Stony Brook University (Ph.D. advisor)

Stearns A. Morse, University of Massachusetts (M.Sc. advisor)

Appointments and Employment

Staff Scientist Emeritus, Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, 2026 to present

Scientific Staff, Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, 1985 to 2026

Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Maryland, College Park, 1992-2014

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1984 to 1985

Research Assistant, Earth & Space Sciences, Stony Brook University, 1981 to 1984

Teaching Assistant, Earth & Space Sciences, Stony Brook University, 1979 to 1980

Geologist, Sponsored Research Staff, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1977-1979

Mineralogist, Environmental Sciences Lab, Mount Sinai Hospital, 1975-1976

Economic Geologist, Mineral Exploration, Three summer positions, 1970-1974

Honors

Distinguished Lecturer, College of Fellows, Amerixcan Geophysical Union (2026-2027)

Harry H Hess Medal, American Geophysical Union (2025)

Distinguished Alumni Award, Geoscience Department, University of Massachusetts (2017)

President,  Mineralogical Society of America (2015) 

Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2010) 

Fellow, Geochemical Society (2010 )

President, Geological Society of Washington  (1999)

Fellow, Mineralogical Society of America (1998)

Fellow, Geological Society of America (1997)

Research Interests

geological processes on the early Earth

chemical evolution of mantle reservoirs

formation of the continents

magmatism at mid-ocean ridges

mantle processes in subduction zones

geochemical constraints on plate tectonics

geological aspects of diamond formation and relation to carbon geochemical cycle

Analytical Expertise

radiogenic and stable isotope systems as igneous petrogenetic tracers

solid and plasma source isotope ratio mass spectrometry

high-sensitivity chemical separation and ion detection techniques

specific isotopic system and trace element expertise: B, C, N, O, S, Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, Pb-Pb, Re-Os, PGE, LILE

Geological Field and Cruise Experience

East Pacific Rise area, OASIS Cruise, RV Atlantis on 8ºN seamount chain; Alvin Dive #4852, fall 2016 

Slave Craton, NWT Canada, Central Slave Basement Complex, high grade gneiss terrane, summer 2016

Sudbury, Ontario area, field trip co-leader for geoneutrino-producing crustal rocks around SNO+, 2012

Ontario, Wawa-Abitibi Belt, Superior Province, diamondiferous lamprophyres in greenstone belt, 2009

South Africa-Botswana, Kaapvaal Craton, mantle xenolith and diamond localities, 1995, 1998, 2000

East Pacific Rise, Panorama Leg I, RV Melville, co-Investigator, 1997

Nunavut, Churchill Province komatiites and associated supracrustal rocks, 1997

Australia, Yilgarn Craton, komatiites and komatiite-hosted Ni deposits, 1993

Ontario, Wabigoon Belt, Superior Province, granite-greenstone terranes, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984

Ohio-Pennsylvania-Indiana, mature Appalachian sandstone deposits, 1977

Colorado, San Juan volcanic field, fracture system mapping 1974

Labrador, Nain anorthosite complex, 1973

Wyoming-Colorado, Precambrian age rocks in Laramide uplifts, 1971

Maine, Devonian metamorphic rocks, geochem sampling, 1970

Research Funding

Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on 27 National Science Foundation Grants out of 40 submissions totaling $9,289,836 from 1985-2024. Does not include participatory roles in other large grants from NASA Astrobiology and the Sloan Foundation funded Deep Carbon Observatory. (see separate list)

Education/Outreach Activities

Teacher/lecturer, EPL Postdoctoral Workshop Program, lecturing on job interviewing, teaching/research statements, and writing applications, 2014-2020 

TJStar Lecturer, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA, 2018

USA Science and Engineering Festival, Washington DC, participant and exhibitor, 2011-2016

Smithsonian Institution, Summer Earth Science Academy for Teachers, lecturer & workshop leader, 2009-2018

Indiana University, Crossroads Geology Conference (undergraduate science fair judge), 2008

University of Maryland, Geology 646 Crustal Petrology, lecturer, 2007

Geophysical Lab/DTM, NSF REU Summer Intern Program Grant, Co-Investigator, 2000-2004

Department of Commerce, Science Fellows Program, speaker, 2002

Smithsonian Institution, Museum Natural History, scientific consultant for geochronology exhibit, 2001

Rock Creek Forest Elementary School, local geology and rocks exhibit organizer for nature trail, 2001

Montgomery College, Summer Science Teacher Training Workshop, speaker, 1999, 2000

DTM, Summer Intern Program Coordinator, 1998-2000

Rock Creek Forest Elementary School, Hands-on-Science Program Coordinator, 1995-1999

University of Maryland, graduate level course, Geochemical Evolution of the Solid Earth, 1992

Editorial Duties

Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry (RiMG) Volume, Diamond: Mineralogy, Genesis, and Geochemistry, 2020 to 2022

American Mineralogist, Special Editor, 2015 to 2017

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Associate Editor, 2010-2013

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, Associate Editor, 1990-1994

The Geochemical News, Editor, 1989-1995

Proposal and Program Review

NSF, Earth Sciences Review Panel, Petrology and Geochemistry, 2012-2014

NSERC, Site Visit Committee, Industrial Research Chair Program, Waterloo, ON, 2010

NSF, Major Research Infrastructure Reinvestment and Recovery Review Panel, 2009

Smithsonian Institution, Endowment Research Proposal Review Panel, 2008

NSF, Committee of Visitors (COV), EAR Instrumentation & Facilities Program, 2007

NSF, Earth Sciences Review Panel, Continental Dynamics, 1997-2003

NSF, Small Business Innovative Research Review Panel, 1995-1996

NSF, Earth Sciences Review Panel, Petrology and Geochemistry, 1991-1993

NSF, Small Business Innovative Research Review Panel, 1987-1988

Committees and Administration 

Geoscience Advisory Board, MIneral Detection of Dark Matter Colloboration, 2026 to present

Ombud, Carnegie Institution for Science, 2026 to present

Union Fellows Selection Committee, American Geophysical Union, 2026

Review Panel for GSA Position Statement on  the Ethics of Geologic Field Work, 2021

Dana Medal Committee, Mineralogical Society of America, 2020-2022

Carnegie Institution Staff Scientist Association (CISSA) representative 2019-2020

Reservoirs and Fluxes Community Steering Committee of the Deep carbon Observatory, 2018-2020

Geochemical  Society, Joint Publications Committee 2016-2018, Chair 2018 

Geological Society of Washington, Finance Committee 2015 

Geochemical Society, Nominations Committee 2012-2014

American Geophysical Union, Tellers Committee 2010-2012

Carnegie Institution of Washington, Health Care Contract Renegotiation Committee, 2009-2010

Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Energy Committee, 2008

Carnegie Institution of Washington, Service to Science Award committee chair, 2007 to 2009

Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Safety Officer, 2000 to present

Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Machine Shop Committee, chair, 2004 to 2012

Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Library Committee, 1995 to present

Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Hazardous Waste Officer, 1990 to present

Geological Society of Washington, Nominations Committee, 2003, 2005

Rock Creek Forest Elementary School, PTA, President and Vice President 1997-2001

Smithsonian Institution Geochemistry Staff Search Committee, 1999

Geological Society of Washington, 1st and 2nd Vice-President and President 1995,1998,1999

Geological Society of Washington, Program, Awards, and Nominations Committees, 1994, 1996, 1997

Geological Society of Washington, Councilor, 1992 to 1993

Geochemical Society, Secretary, 1989 to 1995

Conference and Meeting Organization

Co-organizer 6th International Diamond School, Bressanone Italy, 2026

Co-organizer 5th International Diamond School, Bressanone Italy, 2023

Co-organizer MSA Short Course, Diamond: Genesis MIneralogy and Geochemistry, Virtual, October 2022

Co-organizer Richard W Carlson honorary symposium, A Solar System View of 4.6 Billion Years of Earth Evolution: A Celebration of the Extraordinary Career of Richard W. Carlson, Washington DC, 2022

Co-organizer MSA Centennial, The Next 100 Years of Mineral Sciences, Washington DC, 2019

Co-organizer 4th International Diamond School, Bressanone Italy, 2018

Co-organizer 3rd International Diamond School, Edmonton, AB, Canada, 2016

Co-organizer 2nd International Diamond School, Bressanone Italy, 2011

Co-convener, Special Session, Formation, evolution, and destruction of cratons, 22nd Goldschmidt Conference, Montreal, QB, 2012

International Organizing Committee, 20th Goldschmidt Conference, Knoxville, TN, 2009

Co-convener, Special Session, Continents and their Lithospheric Keels, 18th Goldschmidt Conference, Vancouver, BC, 2008

Co-convener, Special Session, Mantle heterogeneity induced via ancient subduction, 17th Goldschmidt Conference, Cologne, GDR, 2007

Co-convener, VGP Session, Earth's Carbon Cycle: Sources, Recycling Pathways, & Geochemical Evolution, Spring 2006 AGU

Co-convener, Union Session, Geophysics in the 20th Century, Contributions from Washington, Spring 2002 AGU

Co-convener, VGP Session, Petrological and Geochemical Constraints on the Formation of Archean Cratons, Spring 2001 AGU

AGU Spring Program Committee, 2001-2002

Co-convener, VGP Session, Pb Isotopes and the Study of the Earth, a Symposium to Honor George Tilton, Fall 1994 AGU

Organizing Committee, 3rd Hutton Symposium on the Origin of Granite, 1995

Lectures: Invited and Keynotes

6th International Diamond School, Bressanone Italy 2026

GAC-MAC Annual Meeting Sudbury, ON Canada, keynote speaker, 2023

5th International Diamond School, Bressanone, Italy, 2023

Seismological Society of America 2022 Meeting, Invited speaker for session "Structure and seismogenesis of subducting slabs"

Fall 2021 AGU Meeting, New Orleans, Invited Speaker for Session MR08 "Tracing deep carbon from crust to core"

2021 COMPRES Annual Meeting, Keynote Speaker 

V. M. Goldschmidt Conference, 2020 Keynote "Slab-derived diamond and the formation of cratons" (virtual meeting)

GAC-MAC  Meeting Whitehorse, YT, Invited for session “Kimberlites, Diamonds and Xenoliths”

AGU Meeting San Francisco, 2012, Invited for “Constraints on Composition and Structure of the  Lithospheric Mantle”

GSA Meeting Charlotte, 2012, Keynote for Pardee Symposium “Understanding the Earth Through Carbon”

GSA Meeting Minneapolis, 2011, Keynote for “The Archean of North America: the Core of a Continent”

Lecturer, International School on Diamond Geology, Univ of Padua, Brixen-Bressanone Italy, 2011

5th International Archean Symposium, Perth, WA, 2010

Neutrino Geoscience 2008, Sudbury, ON, 2008

GAC NUNA Conference on “The Pulse of the Earth and Planetary Evolution”, Sudbury, ON, 2007

GSA Penrose Conference on ”When Did Plate Tectonics Start on Earth”, Lander, Wyoming, 2006

8th International Kimberlite Conference, Victoria, 2003

Geophysical Lab Centennial Symposium, The Living Earth, 2002

53rd Diamond Conference, Oxford, UK, 2002

52nd Diamond Conference, Bristol, UK, 2001

Geochemical Earth Reference Model Workshop, Lyon, France, 1996

IUGG XXI General Assembly, Boulder, CO, 1995

5th V.M. Goldschmidt Conference, Edinburgh, UK, 1994

I.A.V.C.E.I., Canberra, Australia, 1993

USGS Short Course on Isotopes and Geochronology, Reston, VA, 1992

MAC Short Course on Radiogenic Isotope Systems, Toronto, Canada, 1991

I.C.O.G. 7, Canberra, Australia, 1990

Midcontinent Rift Scientific Drilling Workshop, Duluth, MN, 1987

Multiple invited university lectures and department seminars, more than 46 from 1996-2021

Society Memberships

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Geophysical Union

Geochemical Society

Geological Society of America

Geological Society of Washington

International Ombud Association

Mineralogical Society of America

Mentoring - 25 Student Advisees 

(PhD, MS, and BA candidates with original home institution)

Megan  Ankney (University of Wisconsin) 

C.Tucker Barrie (University of Toronto)

Grant Bybee (University of Witwatersrand)

Jean Carignan (University of Montreal)

Xin Ding (Indiana University)

Katie Donnelly (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory)

Lynne Elkins (Smith College)

Louise Frick (Monash University)

Ben Garden (University of Cape Town)

Garret Hart (University of Wisconsin)

Darrell Hyde (Memorial Univ of Newfoundland)

Andrew Menzies (University of Cape Town)

Wendy Nelson (Pennsylvania State University)

Suzanne Nicholson (University of Minnesota)

Micaela Ninni (University of Pennsylvania)

Eliza Poggi (National Cathedral School)

Caroline Ruppert (Smith College)

Violet Simelane (University of Witswatersrand)

Karen Smit (University of Cape Town)

Josh Smith (Indiana University)

Kisha Steele (Howard University)

Valentina Taranovic (Indiana University)

Adrian van Rythoven (Univeristy of Toronto)

Kalle Westerlund (University of Cape Town)

Bai-Qing Wu (Northern Illinois University)

Karina Zavala (Northern Arizona University)

Mentoring - 39 Postgraduate Advisees 

(with current position and e-mail address)

Sonja Aulbach (University of Frankfurt)       s.aulbach@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Harry Becker (Free University of Berlin)      hbecker@zedat.fu-berlin.de

Andrey Bekker (UC Riverside)      andreyb@ucr.edu

Al Brandon (University of Houston)      abrandon@uh.edu

Paterno Castillo (Univ of California, San Diego)    pcastillo@ucsd.edu  

Cornelia Class (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory)     class@ldeo.columbia.edu

James Dottin (Brown University)    jdottin@carnegiescience.edu

Oded Elazar (current Carnegie EPL Fellow)    oelazar@carnegiescience.edu

Sonia Esperanca (National Science Foundation, retired)

Marion Garcon (Clermont-Ferrand)    marion.garcon@uca.fr

David Gerlach (deceased)

Eloise Gaillou (Paris Museum of Mines)   eloise.gaillou@mines-paristech.fr

Munir Humayun (Florida State University)     humayun@magnet.fsu.edu

Matt Jackson (University California, Santa Barbara)     jackson@geol.ucsb.edu

Kenneth Klevin (US EPA)    klewin.kenneth@epa.gov

David Lambert (National Science Foundation)    dlambert@nsf.gov

Petrus le Roux (University of Cape Town)     petrus.leroux@uct.ac.za

Ambre Luguet (University of Bonn)     ambre.luguet@uni-bonn.de

Candace Martin (University of Wellington)    candace.martin@otago.ac.nz

Wendy Nelson (Towson State University)     wrnelson@towson.edu

Peng Ni (current Carnegie EPL Fellow)    pni@carnegiescience.edu

Suzanne Nicholson (USGS Reston)   swnich@usgs.gov

Dominic Papineau (University College, London)     d.papineau@ucl.ac.uk

Graham Pearson (University  of Alberta)     gdpearso@ualberta.ca

Jesse Reimink (Penn State)      jreimink@psu.edu

Margo Regier (National Academy of Sciences)   margoregier@gmail.com

Ivan Savov (Leeds University)     I.Savov@leeds.ac.uk

Lasse Schiotte (deceased)

Mark Schmitz (Boise State University)      markschmitz@boisestate.edu

Karen Smit (University of Witswatersrand)    kvsmit@ualberta.net 

Evan Smith (Gemological Institute of America)     smithevanm@gmail.com

Ole Stecher (University of Copenhagen)

Liyan Tian (Sanya Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering).  lytian@sidsse.ac.cn

Paul Tomascak (SUNY College at Oswego)     tomascak@oswego.edu

Richard J. Walker (University of Maryland, College Park)     rjwalker@geol.umd.edu

Da Wang (now in China)   dwang@carnegiescience.edu

Jessica Warren (University of Delaware)      warrenj@udel.edu

Elisabeth Widom (Miami University, Ohio)  widome@miamioh.edu

Qiwei Zhang (current EPL Fellow)

External PhD Examiner - 14 candidates

Andrea de Stefano (University of British Columbia)

Hayden Dalton (University of Melbourne)

Cathleen Doherty (LDEO)

Katie Donnely (LDEO) 

Janet Dunphy (Universite de Montreal)

Rui Feng (University of Saskatchewan)

Anais Fourny (University of British Columbia)

Deborah Hassler (Woods Hole)

Yael Kempe (Hebrew University)

Katernya Klochko (University of Maryland)

Trevor MacHattie (University of Alberta)

Suzette Timmerman (Australian National University)

Lin Qiu (University of Maryland)

Zhihai Zhang (Dalhousie University)