About Me

I am a geologist and Assistant Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University who leads a multidisciplinary research program that studies the role of magma in the formation and evolution of planets, known as the EPIC lab.

I also have deep interests in improving science communication, particularly between scientists, policy makers, educators and the general public.  To this aim I work on projects with a variety of communities at Arizona State University, including at the intersection of the arts and science, and have previously served as Vice Chair of the Council of the American Geophysical Union, the largest professional organization of Earth and space scientists.

Recent & Upcoming Events


  • Dec. 2018: Awarded Geological Society of America's 2019 Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology & Volcanology Early Career Award
  • Dec. 2018: Invited Talk, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 
  • November 2018: ASU KEDTalk Released (ASU's in-house version of a TED talk about my research & path to science)
  • October 2018: Elected Secretary for American Geophysical Union's Volcanology, Geochemistry & Petrology section
  • October 2018: Colloquium Speaker, Univ. Nevada, Reno
  • September 2018: Colloquium Speaker, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville
  • May 8, 2018: Colloquium Speaker, Stanford University
  • Jan 22-26, 2018: Colloquium Speaker, Oregon State University
  • Jan 6-17, 2018: Keynote talk at the Chapman Conference on Large Silicic Igneous Systems & field excursion to Laguna del Maule Chile
  • Dec. 9-15, 2017: EPIC lab members and I gave a range of presentations at the AGU Fall Meeting, as well as a keynote talk at the CIDER pre-AGU workshop
  • October 2017: Our work on Yellowstone is featured in the New York Times and range of other media outlets (e.g., Time, USA Today, AZ PBS, Snopes)
  • late July, 2017: Field work at Mt. Shasta & Medicine Lake volcanoes, CA
  • Co-organizer for CIDER 2017: Subduction Zones June 26 -July 21, 2017, UC Berkeley
  • June 15, 2017: Our paper "Rapid cooling and cold storage in a silicic magma reservoir recorded in individual crystals" published featuring our work on Li in zircon diffusion chronometry using the ASU NanoSIMS published in the journal Science. ASU Press Release available here.
  • May 22-26, 2017: ENKI Workshop Participant, San Juan Island, WA
  • May 12-14, 2017: Performed in Beneath, a theater production about the science of the inside of the Earth
  • May 1, 2017:  Invited Centennial American Mineralogist paper "A Review & Update of Mantle Thermobarometry for Primitive Arc Magmas" published
  • May 1, 2017: Colloquium Speaker, Univ. Wyoming
  • April 4, 2017: Colloquium Speaker, US Geological Survey, Denver
  • Dec. 12-16, 2016: Look for me & EPIC lab members at the AGU Fall Meeting
  • Dec. 2, 2016: American Mineralogist paper "A Review & Update of Mantle Thermobarometry for Primitive Arc Magmas" accepted and available online here
  • Nov. 2016: NSF CAREER grant funded!
  • Nov 17, 2016: ASU Proposal Insights Series talk, "Tips on Getting NSF Funding"
  • Nov. 10, 2016: Colloquium Speaker, University of Washington
  • Nov 9, 2016: Colloquium Speaker, University of Oregon
  • Nov. 2, 2016: Nature Commentary on interdiscplinary collaboration in science published
  • Oct 14-16, 2016: NAS Chinese-American Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium, Irvine CA
  • Sept 29-Oct 1, 2016: Subduction Zone Observatory Planning Mtg, Boise ID
  • August 2016: It's back to school! Check out details of summer adventures on the lab webpage (epic.asu.edu)
  • June 2016: Invited Talk, "Review of Mantle Thermobarometry" @ Goldschmidt Conference, Japan
  • June 2016: Field work in Japan
  • April 11, 2016: Alan Alda School for Science Communication Training Workshop
  • February 17-19, 2016: Co-organizer NSF/NASA Workshop Without Walls: "Upstairs Downstairs: Consequences of Internal Planet Evolution for the Habitability and Detectability of Life on Extrasolar Planets”, Arizona State University

My Twitter Feed on Related Science Happenings
Photo: Deanna Dent, ASU