top of page
This site was designed with the
.com
website builder. Create your website today.Start Now

Current Research

Rare Earth Elements and the Energy Transition

My project investigates the occurrence and distribution of ion-exchangeable rare earth elements (REE) and critical minerals in coal-hosted clays from the Powder River Basin, WY. 

 

I am also interested in REE speciation in produced waters and geothermal waters from western U.S. basins.

Rigaku Smartlab SE XRD for analyzing clay mineralogy.

Field site: coal mine and power station in the Powder River Basin, WY.

Past Research

Rare Earth Elements in Coal Combustion Waste

Summer 2021

I analyzed thin sections of waste products from U.S. coal power stations using transmitted light microscopy. I characterized fly ash and bottom ash mineralogy for use in rare earth element resource evaluation.

axioscope-5-fl_axiocam-208-color.jpeg

Zeiss Axioscope 5 for analyzing coal ash mineralogy.

DF 05B.2 (2).jpg

Bottom ash under cross polarization.

Thermal History of Oruanui Super Eruption, Taupo Volcanic Zone, NZ

2018 - 2019

As an undergraduate in Dr. Kari Cooper's research group, I worked in the UC Davis Geochemistry Clean Lab preparing samples for MC-ICP-MS analysis. We used U-Th disequilibrium dating techniques to constrain a thermal history of the silicic magmatic system that produced the ~25.4 Ka super-eruption at Taupo Volcanic Center in New Zealand.  I also aided in modeling the diffusion of Sr through plagioclase crystals in Oruanui rhyolites.

Setting hot plate temperatures in the UC Davis Class 100 Geochemistry Clean Lab.

Presenting my work at the UC Davis Undergraduate Research Conference, 2019.

bottom of page