Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Daniel Woodworth is a NSF postdoctoral fellow based at the University of Houston. Daniel is conducting global mantle convection modeling in TERRA to assess Pacific plate reconstructions of the Hawaiian-Emperor bend.
Dr. Ed Clennett is conducting postdoctoral research on Pacific plate tectonics, plate driving forces, and machine learning predictions for critical mineral systems. Ed completed his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin, where he integrated seismic, geodynamic and plate kinematic modelling to investigate the tectonic history of both the Pacific region and Arabia-Eurasia Collision. Previously, Ed graduated with a Master’s in Earth Sciences from the University of Oxford, for which he developed a plate reconstruction of western North America and the eastern Pacific.
Postdoc Dr.Diego Costantino is joining soon!
MS students
Kaitlin Thomas is a MS student at the University of Houston and now advised by Dr.Alex Robinson. Kaitlin is working on tomographic characterization of the subducted Indo-Australian plate along the Sunda trench and their implications for India-Asian tectonics.
Will McCraine is a MS student analyzing subducted slabs under the US Cordillera from mantle tomography. Will is also conducting fieldwork on the Catalina Metamorphic Core Complex, Arizona, in a project co-advised by Dr.Paul Kapp.
Parker Comisac is a MS student working on Alaskan tectonics and tomography with implications for Kula-Pacific plate tectonic history.
Undergraduate students
Erika Pérez Roque is researching the geochemistry of cassiterite mineral deposits and developing bilingual Spanish-English geology outreach materials. Erika is co-advised by Dr.Marta Codeço.
Alumni
- Moloud Rahimzadeh Bajgiran, 2024, PhD, “Machine learning and plate tectonic analysis for mantle heterogeneity, paleoclimate, and critical minerals”, co-advised with Lorenzo Colli.
- Chris Calvelage, 2024, PhD, “Effects Of Subduction History On Mantle Convection: Implications For True Polar Wander And Dynamic Topography”, co-advised with Lorenzo Colli and Yingcai Zheng. Now geoscientist at Earthscope.
- Oriyomi Ojelabi, 2023, MS, “Characterization of Nazca slab and possible subducted aseismic ridges from seismic tomography”.
- Spencer Fuston, 2022, PhD, “Reconciling North American Tectonics with Deep Mantle Slabs through Structurally Unfolding Subducted Slabs and Mantle Convection Modeling”. Now a geologist at EOG Resources.
- Keaton Denzer, 2022, MS, “Tectonostratigraphic Analysis Case Studies from British Columbia, Canada UAV Photogrammetry and 3D Seismic of Bohai Bay, China”. Now Chief UAV drone pilot at Bechtel Corporation.
- Tsung-Jui Wu, 2021, PhD, “NW Pacific-Eurasia subduction history and continental arc evolution along NE Asia since Cretaceous times”. Now a postdoctoral researcher at University of Nevada Reno, USA.
- Yi-Wei Chen, 2021, PhD, “Quantitative Links Between Mantle Structure, Plate Tectonics and Dynamic Topography Along the Andean and Caribbean Convergent Margins”. Now a postdoctoral researcher at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany.
- Yi-An Lin, 2020, PhD, “New constraints for convergent margin plate reconstructions from imaged and predicted mantle structure”. Now a GIS Developer at Centerpoint Energy.
- Phinphorn Amonpantang, 2019, MS, “Structural characterization of the Phitsanulok basin, onshore Thailand, and inverted pull-apart basin sandbox analog models”. Now a geophysicist at PTTEP, Thailand.
- John Boyle, 2019, MS, “Tectonic evolution of the Aegean domain, eastern Mediterranean, since the early Mesozoic based on 3D slab mapping, unfolding and characterization from seismic tomography”. Now a geoscientist at ExxonMobil.
- Eric Lunn, 2019, MS, “3D crustal modeling of the Barreirinhas and Ceara basins of northeastern Brazil”, co-advised with Dale Bird. Now a geoscientist at ConocoPhillips.
Lab life
Bowling with Lorenzo Colli’s research group
Jeremy Tsung-Jui Wu in the geochemistry lab
Lorenzo lectures on the finer points of pizza and geodynamics, with Brook, Lorenzo, Yiduo and Xibin
Completing our first sandbox model in Mason’s new thrust apparatus, with Yi-An, Aminat, Michael, and Jeremy