I am a Researcher and Lecturer of Mineralogy and Petrology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the Department of Geosciences. My research focuses on trace element, major element, and isotopic compositions of convergent margin lavas. The scope of my research includes interpretation of local (Bezymianny, Kamchatka; Telica, Nicaragua), regional (The Andean Southern Volcanic Zone; Kamchatka, Russia; Central America; Cascades) and global systematics, including processes from the subducting slab to the crust.
I have ongoing collaborations with the NERC consortium titled "Mantle volatiles: processes, reservoirs and fluxes." My contribution to this consortium involves developing new constraints on the fluxes of volatiles from the slab to the mantle wedge in subduction zones, primarily though the use of olivine hosted melt inclusions from the Southern Volcanic Zone of Chile (and associated rear-arc volcanism in Argentina) and Kamchatka.
I am also working closely with ongoing projects originating with the Deep Carbon Observatory seeking links between subduction and biological processes. My contribution to this project involves developing new isotope and elemental proxies to track the recycling of carbonate in convergent margins.