Research Focus Areas:
- Black shale chemistry
- chemistry, age, and growth of fish otoliths
- analytical instrumentation
If I had to do it all over again I couldn't have got where I am today if I even tried. Like many researchers I took a long strange path to get where I am. What made my path more clear was accepting that "geochemistry is the way and the light". Once I found geochemistry there was no looking back but geochemistry didn't find me until I was half-way through my MS degree....seriously! But find me it did and so here I am.
I was first introduced to geochemistry through C-S-Fe systematics thanks to Tim Lyons (thanks!). From there I turned my full attention to geochemistry and never looked back. From C-S-Fe in sedimentary rocks I focused on mastering, as best I could, trace element geochemistry of black shales and basalts. Luckily I was exposed to low and high temperature geochemistry during my PhD studies. I highly recommend studying high temperature geochemistry, that's the best way to really get a handle on trace element geochemistry. So after that I worked on trace element chemistry and Re-Os geochemistry of river sediments and black shales at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. I just love love love black shales....very cool! Then on to what would turn out to be one of the seminal moments in my life working with Dr. Cynthia Jones, a fisheries ecologist, at Old Dominion University. It was at that time that I realized that geochemistry can solve the world's problems. Learning about otoliths (aragonitic fish ear stones...just another mineral to me) including not only their chemistry but also their utility in studying fish life histories, how old they are, how fast they grow, and through their chemistry, where they've been. Upon arriving at ASU I continued to work with students on black shale chemistry (diagenesis and chemical weathering), fish otoliths (chemistry and age and growth), but really came into my own when I focused my efforts towards my passion, analytical instrumentation. So as I grew and learned more as a scientist so has WRL grown from a traditional geochemical research lab to a complex web of integrated chemical and biological research projects. Of course, there is a theme, all of our research relies on mass spectrometry. Through quantification comes answers!
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