Education
Ph.D. in Geosciences – University of Arizona 2016
M.Sc. in Geosciences – Idaho State University 2011
B.Sc. in Geology – University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 2009
Professional Experience
Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Weber State University (WSU), Ogden, UT, USA
Associate Professor 2021-present
Assistant Professor 2016-2021
Utah Geological Survey Mapping Program, Salt Lake City, UT
Consulting Geologist, Stratigraphy and Geologic Mapping 2020, 2022, 2024
Visiting Professor
Colorado College, Colorado Spring, CO, USA 2015
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 2014
Honors and Awards
2024 WSU Highland Ambrose Amos Shaw Endowed Chair Award
2024 WSU College of Science Spencer L. Seager Distinguished Teaching Award
2022 WSU Exemplary Interdisciplinary Collaboration Award
2022 WSU Gwen Williams Extraordinary Researcher Prize
2021 WSU Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence
2020 WSU College of Science Undergraduate Mentor of the Year
2015 Fulbright Research Fellowship, Argentina
RESEARCH
External Grant Funding
NSF EAR 2228482: Instrumentation and Facilities: Acquiring a New Cathodoluminescence System for Scanning Electron Microscopy, lead PI, Co-PIs K Rabosky and B. Burnett: $312,822 (2024)
NSF EAR 1801760, GP EXTRA: Geoscience Education Targeting Underrepresented Populations, lead PI, Co-PIs M. Matyjasik and C. Frantz $324,640 (2018-2024)
Utah System of Higher Education Grant: Increased Recruitment and Retention of underrepresented
Groups in STEM Fields Using a Combination of Geoscience Concurrent Enrollment and Summer Bridge Program, $73,670 (2016-2017)
WSU Grant Funding
Dee Family Technology Grants: Enhancing Undergraduate Research with a New Sputtering and Carbon Coating Tool, lead PI, Co-PI K. Rabosky, $46,930 (2024-2025)
Hemmingway Collaborative Award: Technique Development and Comparative Analysis of New Cathodoluminescence Detector, $8,880 (2024-2025)
WSU Presidential Teaching Innovation Grant: Teaching from the Roof of the Americas, $4,438 (2024-2025)
Hemmingway Collaborative Award: Development and Assessment of the Effectiveness of Microlearning to Increase Student Awareness Earth Science Opportunities $10,420 (2022-2023)
Hemmingway Collaborative Award: Thin Film Coatings to Improve CL Zircon Imaging and Dating $7,338 (2022-2024)
Hemmingway Presidential Innovative Teaching Award: Integrating Geochronologic Analysis with Capstone Student Research Projects, $5,000 (2021-2022)
Hemmingway Collaborative Award: Development of an Interdisciplinary Mineral Separation and Imaging Lab, $8,605.50 (2020-2021)
Special Call: Facilitating Experiential Learning Online: Developing Immersive Virtual Earth Science Field Trips, $4,525 (2020)
Hemmingway Faculty Excellence Grant: The Impact of Glacial Retreat on High Alpine Watersheds in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, $1760 (2018-2019)
TEACHING AND MENTORING
Undergraduate Research Projects and Grants Funded
Ethan Mayfield and Ben Cowgill: The Record of Yellowstone Supervolcano Eruptions Preserved in Ogden in Morgan Valleys: $15,000, Office of Undergraduate Research and College of Sciences Grants, 2024 and 2025
Logan Knight, Kara Olsen, Cole Stern, and Jonathan Shank: Timing and Genesis of Mineralization in the Silver Island Mountains: combined $13,394, Office of Undergraduate Research Grant and College of Science Research Awards, 2022 and 2023
Roxolana Athalye, Kristi Rasmussen, Laura Wilcock: Age, Geologic Setting, and Chemistry of the Farmington Canyon Complex: combined $15,205, College of Science Research Awards, 2021
Austin Jensen and Alexander Berniche: Age and Chemical Evolution of the Farmington Canyon Complex, $7,500, 2020
Chantelle Anderson, Elizabeth Williams, Brooklyn Smout, Kylie Arcias: Geochemistry of Igneous Rocks in the Silver Island Mountains, $2,854, 2019
Analeah Vaughn: Timing and Magnitude of Uplift in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, $3,492, 2018
Carmen Longo: Geochemistry and Mapping in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, $3,492, 2018
Daksha Patel: Water Quality in the Cordillera Blanca, Huascaran, Peru: $2,590, 2017
Raquel Robello: Petrology and Paleocurrent of Sandstone in the Claron Formation, $1,425, 2016
Courses Taught (IP = in-person, HYB = hybrid virtual and in-person, VIR=virtual synchronous, ONL=virtual asynchronous)
Fa 2020 ONL and VIR, Sp 2020 IP GEO 1030, Earthquakes & Volcanoes, 3 credits
Multiple semesters IP and ONL GEO 1110, Physical Geology, 3 credits
Fa 2022 and 2024, Sp 2023 GEO 1115, Physical Geology Lab, 1 credit
Sp 2016-2018 and Fa 2016-2019 IP GEO 1220, Historical Geology, 4 credits with lab
Sp 2026 GEO 3060, Structural Geology, 4 credits with lab
Sp 2016-2026, IP, Sp 2020 HYB GEO 3550, Sedimentology and Stratigraphy, 4 credits with lab
Fa 2016-2024 IP, Fa 2020 HYB GEO 4060, Field Methods, 4 credits with lab
Su 2016, 2018, 2021, 2023 GEO 4080, Field Camp, Director, 5 credits
Su 2016 and 2018 GEO 2950, Geoscience Fieldtrip: Yellowstone NPs, 1 credit
Su 2021 and 2022 GEO 2950, Geoscience Fieldtrip: local watershed studies
Su 2019 GEO 2950/4950, Geoscience Fieldtrip: Iceland, 3 credits
Service
Professional Service
Co-chair of GSA session T160: North American Cordilleran Margin Tectonic Framework: Paleozoic and Precambrian, GSA National Meeting, Anaheim, CA, 2024
Chair-Elect, Chair, and past-Chair: Rocky Mountain Section of the Geological Society of America 2021-2024
Co-chair of GSA session 45-T24: Sedimentary Record of Cordilleran Orogenic Systems, GSA Joint Rocky Mountain Cordilleran Section Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, 2022
Journal Reviewer for: Geology, Tectonics, Geological Society of America Bulletin, Basin Research, Journal of South American Earth Sciences, Lithosphere, Geosphere, Andean Geology, Journal of Sedimentary Research, National Science Foundation
Field Trip Co-Leader of an American Association of Petroleum Geology Annual Meeting Field Trip, Salt Lake City, UT, 2018
Co-chair of GSA session T184: Geodynamic, Orogenic, and Surface Processes of Flat-Slab Subduction, GSA National Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, 2018
University and Departmental Service
Director of K-12 Outreach for WSU Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences (2017-present)
Concurrent Enrollment Liaison for WSU Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences (2019-present)
Geology Degree Academic Advisor (2020-present)
Member of the College of Science Undergraduate Research Grant Committee (2019-present)
Member of the College of Science Scholarship Committee (2018-present)
Faculty Advisor to WSU Geology Club (2017-2019)
Organizer for WSU Geoscience Speaker Series (2016-2018)
Co-organizer of Geoscience Movie Night (2016-2017)
Community Engagement and Synergistic Activities
Discussion leader for the WSU Honors College Aletheia Club for “Lightning Flowers” (Fall 2020)
Board Member for the Ogden Eccles Dinosaur Park (2020-2021)
Discussion leader for the WSU Honors College Aletheia Club for “The Great Quake” (Spring 2020)
Guest Lecturer for the “Research, Exploration, and Creativity among the Disciplines” for the Office of Undergraduate Research Scholars (2019)
Guest Lecturer for local high school Earth Science courses (St. Joseph High School Spring 2018, Weber Innovation High School Fall and Spring semesters 2017, 2018, 2019, Da Vinci Charter School, 2025)
Conducted an interview with the local news channel, KUTV, on quicksand hazards in southern UT (2018)
Worked with Girl Scout Troop 171 to build an interactive geology display for Horace Mann Elementary School (2018)
Conducted an interview with the local news channel, KUTV, about local landslide hazards in northern Utah (2017)
Professional Organizations
Geological Society of America
American Geophysical Union
Earth Science Women’s Network
Association of Women Scientists
American Alpine Club