Professional Background

 Education

  • Ph.D., Stanford University, 1979, with concentration in Structural Geology

  • A.B. Cornell University, 1975, major in Geological Sciences, distinction in all subjects

Professional Experience

  • 2019 – Present Professor Emeritus, Cornell University

  • 1984 – 2019 Assistant Professor to Full Professor with tenure, Cornell University

  • 2008 – 2011 Associate Dean for Diversity Faculty Development and Mentoring, College of Engineering, Cornell University

  • 2002 – Present Visiting Professor, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile

  • 1980 – 1984 Research Associate III, Cornell University

  • 1976 – 1985 Geologist, U. S. Geological Survey (1976-1979: summers only; 1979-1985: WAE)

Professional Societies

  • Geological Society of America, Fellow

  • American Geophysical Union, member

  • Asociación Geológica Argentina, miembro correspondente (honorary foreign member)

Professional & Editorial Service

  • Geological Society of America Bulletin, Associate Editor 1988-1990

  • American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, Associate Editor 1986-1988

  • Journal of South American Earth Sciences, Editorial Advisory Board member, Present

  • Geology, Editorial Board Member, 1992 – 1994

  • National Science Foundation: served on four different review panels in last ten years

Publications, Software, & Books

My publications are detailed on a separate page. The professional software I have authored, available from this site and, for iOS apps from the Apple App Store, are downloaded about 60,000 times per year and are in use in every continent on Earth (including Antarctica!). Over the last decade, my programs have been downloaded more than half a million times. I have one published book and an unpublished laboratory manual that is publicly available for free and has about 1,000 downloads per year.

Students & Postdocs

Students are responsible for the success of my research program and generally teach me far more than I ever teach them! My current students are (if a name is highlighted as a link, click on it to go to their own web pages).

  • Former Graduate Students

    • Paul Morgan — Graduate student at the University of Washington

    • Felipe Aron — Pontificia Universidad Católica, Chile

    • Phoebe Judge — In law school

    • Amanda Schroeder — Editorial assistant, Frontiers open access journal

    • Jack Loveless — Associate Professor at Smith College

    • Holly Caprio — Shell Oil in Houston

    • Néstor Cardozo — Professor, University of Stavanger, Norway

    • Dan Litzenberg — High school math and science teacher, Los Angeles, California

    • Ben Brooks — Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey

    • Mary Parke — Indiana Geological Survey

    • Tomás Zapata — Repsol in Houston, Texas

    • Trent Cladouhos — Altarock Geothermal, Seattle, Washington

    • Randy Marrett — Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin

    • Michael Wells — Professor of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

    • David Snyder — Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

    • Martha Grier

    • Jamie Robinson — in gold exploration in Salt Lake City, Utah

  • Post-Doctoral Scholars & long term Visiting Scientists

    • Ernesto Cristallini

    • Leandro Echavarria

    • Andres Krammer

    • John Gephart

    • former graduate students Randy Marrett, Tomás Zapata, Néstor Cardozo, and Phoebe Judge were post-docotral scholars at Cornell for 6 to 12 months after finishing their degrees