Faculty Research
The department offers numerous opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to be involved in the research of its faculty.
Available as Faculty Mentors
The following faculty are accepting Master's students.
Alyssa Abbey
Lab website: Abbey Lab
Research Interests:
- tectonics
- crustal deformation
- surface processes
- thermochronology
- geoscience education
Projects:
- Paleotopography in the southern Rockies
- Fault growth in the Andean Precordillera, Argentina
- Tectonic and Climatic interactions in the Basin and Range
- Thermochronometric Modelling methods
- Field experience impact on student interests, skills, and workforce readiness
Andrea Balbas
Research Interests:
- geochronology
- paleomagnetism
- stratigraphy
Projects:
- Testing for Large Scale Hawaiian Arch Volcanism and Associated Magma Sources
- Pacific Intraplate Volcanism
- Geomorphic Geochronology
- Geochronology of the Northwest Basin and Range
Matthew Becker
Lab website: Becker Lab
Research Interests:
- hydrogeology
- enhanced geothermal reservoirs
- fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing
- island submarine groundwater discharge
Current Projects:
- Impact of groundwater discharge from atolls and high islands to reef environments
- Hydraulic testing for enhanced geothermal at the Utah FORGE site
- Sea level rise and ;groundwater flooding of hazardous waste sites in California
- Field testing of low-temperature thermal remediation of solvent plumes
- Distributed acoustic sensing as a strain sensor in fractured bedrock systems
- Tracer testing in volcanic and bedrock systems
Ben Hagedorn
Lab website: Hagedorn Lab
Research Interests:
- environmental forensics
- water resources
- global biochemical cycles
Projects:
- Groundwater Recharge and Interbasin Flow in Nevada
- Hydrology of Ocean Islands
- Solute Sources and Weathering Rates in the Central Rocky Mountains
Nate Onderdonk
Projects:
- Neotectonics of the northern San Jacinto Fault Zone
- Rotation of crustal blocks in Southern California and implications for crustal dynamics
- Tectonic evolution of the Santa Maria Basin, southern California
- Mud Volcanoes in the Salton Trough
Lora Stevens
Research Interests:
- paleoclimatology
- paleolimnology
- isotope geochemistry
No Longer Accepting Master's Students
The following faculty are no longer available as faculty mentors for new Master's students.
Rick Behl
Lab website: MARS Project
Research Interests:
- sedimentology
- stratigraphy
- paleoceanography
- earth systems science
Greg Holk
Research Interests:
- stable isotope geochemistry
- fluid-rock interactions
- igneous and metamorphic petrology
Projects:
- Magmatic evolution of the Coastal Batholith of Peru
- The evolution of aqueous fluids in fault zones
- Water-rock interactions in subduction-related metamorphic rocks
Tom Kelty
Research Interests:
- structural geology
Stan Finney
Research Interests:
- paleontology
- stratigraphy
- geochronology
- tectonics
