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My research involves a relatively even split between field work and lab work, with a smattering of computational work. Regions of interest include more local areas in the western U.S. as well as several international sites with active tectonics.
Current Research Projects
Fault growth and Basin integration in the western US
Integration of stratigraphic and fossil characterization, fault growth analyses, and paleo-climate proxies to assess tectonic and climatic drivers for Miocene mammal migration in the Basin and Range, US (K. Loughney, Spencer Cooper (CSULB undergraduate student), Alec Billmeier (CSULB undergraduate student))
Low-temperature thermochronometry modelling methods
Numerical thermal history modelling has become a core approach used for interpretation of low-temperature thermochronometry data. This project focuses on determining good practices for inverse and forward modeling such data, as well as developing education tools for those new to modelling low-T thermochronology data (K. Murray, A. Stevens-Goddard, M. Wildman).
Paleo-topography and Paleo-altimetry: Rocky Mountains and Great Plains
​​Cessation of compressional tectonics, preserved paleo-surfaces, and less than 1-2 km of exhumation recorded since the early Cenozoic implies the the Rockies are an ancient landscape. On the other hand, increasing relief, maintained high elevations, and active river incision suggest this landscape is much younger and still developing. Can we uncover the incision history of the Arkansas River and paleo-topography preservation in the southern Rocky Mountains? (N. Niemi, G. Gehrels, A. Tye and K. Townsend).
Tectonic growth of the Andean Precordillera
Exploration of fault growth patterns and surface processes by combining low-temperature thermochronometry and cosmogenic radionuclide dating to evaluate erosion rates at different spatial and temporal scales: Andean Pre-cordillera fold-thrust belt (D. Granger, D. Shuster).
Tracking Water-Rock interaction
Using a novel combination of reset low-T thermochronometry ages and stable isotope data in apatite with hydrothermal circulation models to predict likely thermal histories and determine isotope exchange that occurred during the emplacement of the Little Devils Postpile, Yosemite CA (N. Randolph-flagg, D. Shuster, Kyla de Villa (UCB undergraduate student), S. Kim)​
Past Research Projects
Continental Rifting: Rio Grande rift
Southern Rocky Mountains, CO
During my PhD I worked understanding the development of the the Rio Grande rift and addressing the growth debate (synchronous vs propagating rift) using low-T thermochronometry and spatiotemporal analysis of magmatism (N. Niemi). 
Multidisciplinary work from my PhD revealed differential exhumation in the southern Rockies, during the Laramide Orogeny, insights into paleo-topography during the early Cenozoic, formation of the regional Eocene erosion surface, and evidence for top-down resetting of low-T thermochronometers (N. Niemi, I. Winkelstern, J. Geissman, M. Heizler)
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