Professional Summary
As a petrologist and geochemist, I'm interested in the intersections of mineralogy and human activity, exploring the ways in which the raw materials of the Earth impact our society, and in turn how society affects the evolution of those raw materials. I also enjoy exploring the mineralogy, chemistry, and structures of rare igneous and metamorphic formations, the stranger, the better. I am especially interested in the outputs of magmatic fractionation processes, such as alkaline basalts, carbonatites, and ultramafic intrusive complexes. I am currently working with Dr. Craig Dietsch on the petrology of the ultramafic lamprophyres of the Kentucky Fluorspar District, attempting to decipher their relationship to the carbonate complex they intrude, the hydrothermal fluids that passed through the district, and their viability for rare earth element extraction in the future.