On Earth

Brenda was born and raised in Lima, Peru, and has a Chemistry degree from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. She also has a MSc and PhD in Geological Sciences from the University of British Columbia. Her PhD research focused on comparing water and carbon fluxes from different biomes (Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal) and land uses (natural, agriculture, pasture) in Mato Grosso, which is a B...

Michael Bostock is a professor of seismology in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia (U.B.C.). He obtained his BSc (Applied Science) and M.Eng. at Queen's University in Kingston, PhD at the Australian National University. Prior to assuming his position at U.B.C., he held a postdoctoral fellowship at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Bos...

Marghaleray Amini received a Master’s degree from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany (2003), and a PhD from Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany (2007), where she studied the chemical and isotopic compositions of marine hydrothermal systems. During her postdoctoral positions in the Saskatchewan Isotope Laboratory at the University of Saskatchewan, and i...

Oli Beeby is a current undergraduate student in UBC’s Bachelor of Media Studies program and professional museum nerd located in Vancouver, BC. Never able to pick just one interest, Oli’s passions range from dinosaurs to the 19th-century pre-Raphaelite movement, from life in marine ecosystems to life in 18th-century America. When it comes to museums, he has serious a passion for everything design a...

Rhiana Elizabeth Henry is a Ph. D. candidate at the University of British Columbia, department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, within the Mineralogical Research Group led by Dr. Lee Groat. Her specialty is gemstone mineralogy. Her Ph. D research is on the crystal-chemistry of beryl. She uses single-crystal X-ray diffraction and chemical analyses to study the H2O content within the cryst...

Alice is an EOAS alumna, having obtained a BSc degree (Hon., First Class) when the department was called Geological Sciences, and a MSc degree when the department became Earth and Ocean Sciences. Her thesis projects involved the sedimentology and micropaleontology of diatomaceous marine sediments of Miocene age from southern California. She subsequently pursued a PhD at Carleton University (Ottawa...

After volunteering for several years, in 2012 I was hired as the Collections Curator of the Cowan Tetrapod Collection. Being the bird specialist at the BBM opens so many doors. From undergraduate involvement to participating in research projects with academics or government scientist my days and weeks are chock-a-block with unrelated projects. Professionally I travel back in time when using centur...

Lualawi Mareshet Admasu is a PhD student of Atmospheric Sciences working at University of British Columbia. Currently, he is investigating why the Arctic region warms faster than other parts of the world under global warming and its effects on weather systems. Most of his work involves analyzing climate data from model outputs and observations. He also runs climate models to study how weather syst...

Scott uses stable isotopes to study the evolution of mammals and terrestrial ecosystems, with a particular interest in human origins research in Africa. His research is focused on applying and developing isotopic proxies for investigating mammal diets, terrestrial vegetation, and climates in the fossil record. He also conducts isotopic studies of modern mammals, soils, plants for studies of the ec...

A. Bahl is a Ph. D. candidate in the Earth, Oceanic, and Atmospheric Sciences Department at the University of British Columbia. Her dissertation, “An improved understanding of Salpa thompsoni diel vertical migration and its influence on Southern Ocean ecosystem structure and function” examines the behavior of one of the most abundant zooplankton species in the Southern Ocean with an effort to inte...

On Earth with Krystal Xiao - Economic Geology Student by Pacific Museum of Earth

Farhad Bouzari is Research Associate at MDRU - Mineral Deposit Research Unit - at the University of British Columbia (UBC) where he conducts industry-sponsored research projects that focus on porphyry copper deposits and mineralogical and geochemical techniques in exploration targeting. He has expertise in establishing the anatomy and evolution of the porphyry deposits, particularly their distal a...

Catriona Breasley is a first year PhD student at the University of British Columbia under the supervision of Dr Lee Groat. Her research focuses on the lithium mineralization, remobilization and metasomatism at the Tanco pegmatite, Manitoba. Before moving to Vancouver in September 2021, she completed a MGeol Earth Science degree at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

Becca Beutel is a MSc student in Physical Oceanography at UBC, working with Dr. Susan Allen in the Mesoscale Ocean and Atmospheric Dynamics research group. She is looking into which water masses make up the flow into and out of the Salish Sea (the body of water between Vancouver Island and the BC and Washington Mainland) by applying water parcel tracking simulations to two ocean models. Knowing mo...

Daniel Adria is a MASc student in Geological Engineering within the EOAS department at UBC, under Dr. Scott McDougall in the Geohazards Research Team. He is investigating tailings dam failures and their subsequent runout characteristics, to reduce uncertainties in risk assessments and emergency planning for mine projects and communities. Daniel completed his bachelor degree in civil engineering at...

Sam Anderson is a PhD candidate in geophysics working with Dr. Valentina Radic at the University of British Columbia. He is curious about the relationships between ice, water, and people. His research seeks to understand how community-scale water supplies in Western Canada will be shaped by climate change through experiences such as the loss of glaciers and heat waves, and he is interested in appl...

Anthony Wilson is a PhD student in climate science, currently working with Dr. Art Miller at the University of California San Diego - Scripps Institute of Oceanography. He is interested in climate variability and how heat fluxes from the mid latitudes will impact polar regions. Before joining Scripps, Anthony completed a Bachelor of Sciences at Central Michigan University, attaining a degree(s) in...

Cara James is a new Geophysics PhD student within the EOAS department at UBC, investigating the fluid dynamics of particle clouds produced during deep-sea mining and modelling how they may impact ocean health. Cara moved to Vancouver in January 2022, having completed her undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences and masters in Earth Sciences in the UK.

Garry Clarke received his doctorate in physics in 1967 from the University of Toronto and is currently Emeritus Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. His research speciality is glaciology and his particular expertise is in subglacial physical processes, subglacial hydrology, the stability of glaciers and ice sheets...

Sheila Byers is a marine biologist and Registered Professional Biologist in BC. Having worked at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC over the past seven years as a Museum Interpreter, she recently joined the BBM Marine Invertebrate Collection (curatorial) as a Museum Volunteer. Sheila is very interested in the natural history and ecology of intertidal organisms and the enjoys raising awareness of...

Dominique Weis is a leader in the innovative use of trace elements and isotope geochemistry, and is widely respected “for the elegance, precision and impact of her geochemical studies of the Earth from large igneous provinces to the environment." Specifically, her research aims to (1) improve our understanding of planetary evolution and the Earth’s environment, (2) model the geochemical and isotop...

Christian earned his MPhys in Physics in 1998, his DPhil in Mathematics, 2002, and did a post-doctoral degree at UBC from 2002-2007. He’s been a teaching faculty member of UBC in glaciology since 2007. He specializes in understanding the physics of how a glacier moves, and is passionate about the outdoors.

Richard Ghail is a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences of the Royal Holloway University of London. Richard specializes in intra-plate tectonics on Earth and Venus uses radar interferometry (InSAR) to measure fault movements on exceedingly small scales of millimetres per year. He applies the technology to monitoring the surface effects of engineering in the ground and to understanding the...

Corey Wall is the Facilities Manager and U-Pb geochronologist for the Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research, at the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. He is interested in determining the age of rocks using minerals that can be extracted from them. He aims to extract minerals such as zircon and determine the age of the rock by p...

Dr. Geoff Plumlee has been the USGS Chief Scientist and Senior Science Advisor to the USGS Director since January 2019. In this role, he provides strategic scientific vision and counsel to the USGS Director and other executive leaders on inter- and transdisciplinary USGS science research priorities, activities, capabilities, and partnerships. From May 2016 to early 2020, Geoff was the USGS Associa...