About Me:
I am an assistant professor in Quaternary geology at University College Dublin, within the School of Earth Sciences. My interests lie in the connections between earth surface processes, ice sheets and glaciers, and changes in climate. Broadly, my work involves studying the landscape, mapping geologic features, and collecting samples for laboratory analyses that allow us to better understand the changing landscape around us. One of the tools I use in my work is terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides, which can tell us about when and how fast geomorphic processes occur. For example, the amount of cosmogenic nuclides in a rock can tell us when the last ice sheets receded off the landscape at the end of the most recent ice age, perhaps giving us insight into the reaction of present ice sheets to on going warming.
Abreviated curriculum vitae is available below:
Education
University at Buffalo [2010-2014]
Ph.D. in Geology
Advisor: Jason Briner
Committee: Beata Csatho, Charles Mitchell, Michael Kaplan
Dissertation: Variability in Holocene ice margin change in the Disko Bugt region of west Greenland.
University of Maine [2007-2009]
M.Sc. in Quaternary and Climate Studies
Advisor: George Denton
Committee: Brenda Hall, Terry Hughes, Joerg Schaefer, Michael Kaplan
Thesis: 10^Be surface-exposure chronology of the left-lateral moraines of the former Pukaki glacier lobe in the Mackenzie region, South Island, New Zealand.
Dalhousie University [2003-2007]
B.Sc. in Earth Sciences with Honors
Honors Advisor: Dr. John Gosse
Honors Thesis: Pinning the timing of deglaciation of the Western Foxe Peninsula, Baffin Island, Nunavut
Work Experience
University College Dublin [2019-present ]
Lecturer/Assistant Professor, School of Earth Sciences
University of Waterloo [2019- present ]
Adjunct Research Faculty
State University of New York at Buffalo [2018-present ]
Research Assistant Professor; Department of Geology
University of Waterloo [2018–2019]
Lecturer
University of Waterloo [2014-2019]
Post Doctoral Fellow in Quaternary Geology (Mentor: Martin Ross)
University at Buffalo [2012-2014]
Research Assistant (Supervisor: Jason Briner)
University at Buffalo [2010-2012]
Teaching Assistant (Supervisors: Jason Briner, Beata Csatho, Tracy Gregg)
Penobscot River Trust [2010]
Field Technician
Northeast Geophysical Services [2009-2010]
Field Technician/Analyst
University of Maine [2007-2009]
Research Assistant (Supervisor: George Denton)
Geologic Survey of Canada/Nunavut Geoscience Office [2006]
Field Assistant (Supervisors: Dan Utting, John Gosse)
Dalhousie University [2004-2007]
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Supervisors: John Gosse)
University of Maine [2001-2005]
Summer Research Assistant (Supervisors: Paul Mayewski, Anderi Kurbatov, Karl Kreutz, Erich Osterberg)
professional Activity
Associate Editor: Journal of Sedimentary Research (2023 to present)
Funded Investigator (Full Member): iCRAG SFI Research Centre for Applied Geosciences
Executive Committee Member: Irish Quaternary Association (2022- present)
Financial Director for the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences (2016-2019)
Referee: Geomorphology, Nature: Scientific Reports, Quaternary Science Reviews, Quaternary Research, Journal of Quaternary Science, Nature Communications, Journal of Maps, Irish Journal of Earth Sciences
Member: UCD Earth Institute, Irish Quaternary Association, Network of Arctic Researchers in Ireland, European Geophysical Union, Geologic Association of Canada, Geologic Society of America, Association of Polar Early Career Scientists, Canadian Quaternary Association
Teaching
Courses taught
GEOL40490 Quaternary Geology UCD
SCI10010 Scientific Enquiry UCD
GEOL30250 Geological Mapping UCD
GEOL30400 Low-Temperature Geochemistry UCD
GEOL30340 Digital Geology UCD
GEOL20200 Discovering Ireland’s Geology (field trip leader) UCD
GEOL30070 Geology for Civil Engineers (field trip leader) UCD
GEOL40710 Natural Hazards and Risk (field trip leader) UCD
Earth 440 Quaternary Geology (instructor) University of Waterloo
Earth 644 Questions in Quaternary Geology (instructor) University of Waterloo
Field Experience:
2023: Mourne Mountains, N. Ireland
2022: Lava Beds National Monument, N. California
2021: the Cairngorms, central Scotland
2021: Wicklow Mountains, eastern Ireland
2020: Belmullet Peninsula, western Ireland
2017: Lac de Gras Region, eastern Northwest Territories
2016: Kaskattama Highlands, Northeast Manitoba
2015: Eastern Northwest Territories.
2015: Nelson River, Northeast Manitoba
2012: Brooks Range, Northern Alaska
2012: Svalbard (Field course and fieldwork via UNIS)
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013: Disko Bay, central West Greenland
2010: Penobscot River, central Maine
2009: Geophysical surveys in the eastern USA (Adirondacks, Maine, New Jersey)
2008: Lago Buenos Aires, Patagonia (Argentina)
2008 and 2009: Central South Island of New Zealand
2007: Trinidad (Dalhousie/Shell Petroleum Field School)
2006: Southwest Baffin Island (Canadian Arctic with GSC)
2005 Gunnison River Drainage, Central Colorado (NSF-REU)
2004: Irish Sea (coring and geophysical cruise offshore of N. Ireland)