last updated: July 2023
photo: Henry Liu
Current research staff / postdocs
Jikai Ding (2020- ). Topic: Paleomagnetism of Proterozoic supercratons and supercontinents.
Former research staff / postdocs
Bin Wen (2016-2019), currently on faculty at China University of Geosciences Wuhan. Topic: Paleomagnetism and tectonic history of Tarim and Alxa terranes, central Asia.
Johanna Salminen (2010-12), currently on faculty at University of Helsinki, Finland. Topic: Paleomagnetism of Mesoproterozoic mafic dykes in Finland (Baltica) and the São Francisco/Congo craton (Brazil/Angola).
Michiel de Kock (2007-08), currently on faculty at University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Topic: Paleomagnetic study of the Agouron scientific drillcores and outcrops of the Ventersdorp and Transvaal successions, for refinement of the Kaapvaal craton apparent polar wander path; and a global review of “hard” hematite iron deposits from paleomagnetic constraints.
Aleksey Smirnov (2005-07), currently on faculty at Michigan Technical University. Topic: Intensity and field morphology of the Archean-Paleoproterozoic geomagnetic field, and refinement of the Neoarchean apparent polar wander path for the Pilbara craton, Western Australia.
Current students (primary adviser or co-adviser)
James Pierce, PhD expected 2026. Topic: Paleogeography and geodynamo evolution through the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition.
Dana Polomski, BS expected 2024. Topic: Paleomagnetism of Meso-Neoproterozoic strata along the Kalahari foreland of the Damara orogen, Namibia: Implications for Rodinia assembly, configuration, and breakup.
Current graduate students (second discourse adviser)
Jonathan Wolf, PhD expected 2025. Topic: Testing alternative supercontinent cycle models with paleolatitude distributions of global subduction zones.
Alexie Millikin, PhD expected 2024. Topic: A paleomagnetic fold test on Cryogenian interglacial strata, Kaoko foreland, Namibia.
Former students
Eliza Poggi, BS 2023. Topic: Paleomagnetic survey of early Ediacaran hematite-bearing strata in northern Utah.
Zheng Gong, PhD 2021. Topic: Precambrian global tectonics, the geodynamo, and environmental change.
Frederic Dufour (McGill University; primary adviser Prof. Galen Halverson). Topic: Paleomagnetism of Meso-Neoproterozoic mafic intrusions in the Fury-Hecla, Borden, and Thule Basins, Laurentia.
Chiara Chung-Halpern, BS 2021. Topic: Reconnaissance paleomagnetism of the Northern Rehoboth Basement Inlier, Namibia.
Vuong Mai, BS 2021. Topic: Paleomagnetic regional survey of late magmatic & sedimentary rocks of the Southern Rehoboth Basement Inlier.
Emily Stewart, PhD 2020. Topic (minor discourse): Further paleomagnetic study of the Keilberg cap carbonate, Etoto syncline, Namibia.
Devon Cole, PhD 2019. Topic (minor discourse): Testing Vaalbara supercraton reconstructions with integrated paleomagnetism and U-Pb geochronology of mafic dykes from Pilbara, Western Australia.
Seamus Houlihan, BS 2019. Topic: Paleomagnetism of Tonian dykes and lavas in the Welwitschia Inlier, northern Namibia.
Terry Isson, PhD 2019. Topic (minor discourse): Paleomagnetic and rock-magnetic investigation of an undeformed and unmetamorphosed section of Ediacaran postglacial cap carbonate, northernmost Namibia.
Ross Anderson, PhD 2017. Topic (minor discourse): Paleomagnetism of Ediacaran strata in the Bonavista area of Newfoundland’s Avalon Zone.
Colton Lynner, PhD 2016. Topic (minor discourse): A paleomagnetic baked-contact test on Neoproterozoic-Cambrian mafic dykes in southern Namibia.
Chris Thissen, PhD 2016. Topic (minor discourse): Detailed paleomagnetic reinvestigation of the Scaglia Rossa formation, Italy, and implications for Late Cretaceous true polar wander.
Olivia Walker, BS 2016. Topic: Refined paleomagnetism of Mesoproterozoic rocks in the Kunene region, southern Congo craton, Namibia.
XinXin Xu, BS/MS 2016. Topic: Paleomagnetism of the Mesoproterozoic Barby Formation, southern Namibia.
Taylor Kilian, PhD 2015. Topic: Paleomagnetism of Proterozoic dikes in the Wyoming craton: Implications for the assembly of Laurentia.
Tierney Larson, BS 2015. Topic: Meso-Neoproterozoic paleomagnetism of the southern Congo craton, Tanzania and Namibia.
Joe Panzik, PhD 2015. Thesis: Assessing Earth’s Proterozoic geomagnetic field geometry and paleogeography using theoretical and analytical techniques.
Jenna Hessert, BS 2014. Thesis: Paleomagnetic baked-contact tests in the Mesoproterozoic Sinclair region of Namibia.
Ross Mitchell, PhD 2013. Thesis: Supercontinents, true polar wander, and paleogeography of the Slave craton.
Jenn Kasbohm, BS 2013. Thesis: A paleomagnetic reanalysis of the Auborus Formation, Namibia.
Dan Peppe, PhD 2009. Thesis: A High Resolution Chronostratigraphic Study of the Early Paleocene Floral Record in the Northern Great Plains.
Ian Rose, BS 2009. Thesis: Paleomagnetism of Mafic Dikes in the Northern Pilbara Craton, Western Australia.
Tim Raub, PhD 2008. Thesis: Prolonged Deglaciation of Snowball Earth.
Theresa Raub, PhD 2008. Thesis: Paleomagnetism of Dubawnt Supergroup, Baker Lake Basin, Nunavut, Canada: Refining Laurentia’s Paleoproterozoic Apparent Polar Wander Path.
Catherine Izard, BS 2006. Thesis: A Preliminary Paleomagnetic Investigation of the Long Range Dikes, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
Eben Rose, MPhil 2004. Topic: A geological appraisal of prebiology in Earth history.