Graduate Research Opportunities - Utah State University Geosciences

The Department of Geosciences at Utah State University invites applications for multiple PhD and MSc positions. Graduate research opportunities coalesce around two themes:

EARTHQUAKE SCIENCE, HAZARDS, AND FORECASTING:

Dr. Alba Rodriguez Padilla (alba.rodriguez@usu.edu) seeks two MSc students to investigate the effect of geometrical complexity on earthquake rupture length in the Intermountain Seismic Belt and controls on fault damage using high resolution spatial and temporal datasets.

Dr. Kelian Dascher-Cousineau (kelian.dascher-cousineau@usu.edu) seeks graduate students to investigate earthquake interactions using modern earthquake catalogs, earthquake forecasting models to advance early warning techniques and aftershock forecasting, and quantifying the limits of earthquake predictability.

Dr. Srisharan Shreedharan (srisharan.shreedharan@usu.edu) is looking for a PhD student to work on experimental studies of rock and sediment frictional strength and stability, and/or numerical modeling of quasi-static and dynamic processes associated with earthquakes.

Dr. Tony Lowry (tony.lowry@usu.edu) seeks a graduate student to apply geophysical remote sensing of the mineralogy and ductile-rheological properties of the lower crust and upper mantle in the Cordilleran US, using seismic imaging, potential fields inversion, and isostatic analysis, to explore long-term fault dynamics.

CLIMATE, CRITICAL ZONE PROCESSES, AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLING:

Dr. Derrick Vaughn (derrick.vauhgn@usu.edu) seeks two PhD students to study blue carbon ecosystems and quantifying carbon export in the Florida Everglades, and seasonal and anthropogenic carbon cycling in Utah lakes and rivers.

Dr. Don Penman (donald.penman@usu.edu) seeks graduate students to reconstruct warming, acidification, and hydrology of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum using inorganic geochemistry in new marine (IODP) and terrestrial (Uinta Basin, UT) sedimentary records.

Dr. Tammy Rittenour (tammy.rittenour@usu.edu) has multiple new projects including reconstructing glacial advances in SW Alaska, investigating mega-fauna and stratigraphy along the southeast US coast, and exploring fingerprints of fire in sediment and soil records in the western US.

Dr. Carol Dehler (carol.dehler@usu.edu) seeks graduate students to work on field mapping in the Bear River Range and the Uinta Mountains, UT; geochronology of Tonian and Cryogenian strata in the western US; and Neoproterozoic and Cambrian Earth systems studies in Grand Canyon region.

USU and the Geosciences department are committed to cultivating an inclusive learning and research environment. If interested, please contact the respective faculty member(s) associated with the projects above. Review of applications start the first week of January 2025. More information about the application process can be found here: https://www.usu.edu/geo/graduate-program/future-graduates