Originally from Portland, OR, I went to Beaverton High School. Then I earned a B.A. from Pomona College in Claremont, CA where I double-majored in Geology and Mathematics. After skiing for a year in Steamboat Springs, CO, and working at the coffee shop at Off the Beaten Path Bookstore, I went to the University of Washington, Seattle to earn a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences. After finishing my PhD, I decided it was okay to move off the west coast and east of the Mississippi River and have been at Vanderbilt University since 2009.
Here at Vanderbilt, I’m a Principal Senior Lecturer in Earth and Environmental Sciences where I teach and do research in glacial geology and geomorphology. As a geomorphologist, I like all landscapes, and my research is primarily in glacial geology. I focus mostly on the glacial history of Antarctica, but I’ve worked in mountains all over the world: the Rockies (CO), the Sierra Nevada (CA), the Brooks Range (AK), the Alps (Italy), the Southern Alps (New Zealand), the Himalaya (Nepal), the Andes (Peru), and Iceland. I utilize a variety of geochronologic techniques, including exposure dating with cosmogenic nuclides (such as 10Be, 26Al, and 21Ne) and lichenometry to study questions about the timing of glaciations and the rates at which geomorphic processes occur. My work involves a balance of field-based studies, laboratory analysis, and numerical modeling. Increasingly, I am using additional geochemical techniques such as the Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) and U-Pb ages of detrital zircon in glacial tills to look at the provenance of tills and the flow patterns glaciers through time.
From 2015-24, I had the pleasure of serving as an Associate Dean for the College of Arts & Science. In that role I had oversight of the College Scholars Program, Merit Scholarships, Departmental Honors programs, the Immersion Vanderbilt initiative, Study Abroad, Internships, and served as the liaison to Undergraduate Admission and the Athletics Department.
I have also had the pleasure of being the faculty head of Memorial House from 2018-2020. My family and I lived in an apartment in the house, with about 80 first-year students. This is all part of the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons first-year living-learning environment. Additionally, I have served as a faculty VUceptor for first-year students for 11 years
