People

Faculty & Staff Postdoctoral Researchers Graduate Students Undergraduate Students T@P Alumni

Faculty & Staff

Dr. Marissa Tremblay (she/her/hers)

Marissa is the PI of Thermochronology @ Purdue. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue, and an Honorary Assistant Professor in the Department of Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Learn more about Marissa's background and research interests here.

Dr. Ryan Ickert (he/him/his)

Ryan is a Senior Research Scientist at Purdue who spends time working in both Thermochronology @ Purdue and the Radiogenic Isotope Geology Lab. While Ryan is relatively new to the noble gas world, he is extremely excited to soon re-determine the neon isotopic composition of air!

Taylor Bourikas (she/her/hers)

Taylor earned her BS from Purdue in summer 2023, majoring in Planetary Science as well as Geology & Geophysics. She is staying at Purdue for the next year working as a postbaccalaureate researcher in T@P, where she will be carrying out cosmogenic nuclide analyses on samples from Antarctica that we collected in 2022.

Postdocs

Dr. Hongcheng Guo (he/him/his)

Hongcheng earned his PhD from Lehigh University in 2022, and joined Thermochronology @ Purdue in January 2023. He is interested in tectonics, surface processes, and their interactions with climate. His training has focused on tectonic processes, noble gas geochemistry, and geomorphology with particular attention on low-to-medium temperature (U-Th)/He and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronology.

Dr. Nick Meszaros (he/him/his)

Nick earned his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in the spring of 2023 and joined the Thermochronology @ Purdue lab in the summer of that year. His research background is in igneous petrology and volcanology, which included using ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology to refine eruption dates at Valles Caldera in New Mexico. He has broad interests in using thermochronology to investigate the origin and evolution of continental arc and rift magmatic systems, as well as extraterrestrial planetary surfaces.

Graduate Students

Addison Curtis (they/them/theirs)

Addison is a MS student in T@P. They are interested in isotope geochemistry, Earth history, and large-scale tectonic processes. Addison’s research focuses on applying U-Th/He and fission track thermochronology to track exhumation in eastern Washington associated with the collision of Siletzia. They are also a self-described mass spectrometry nerd! Outside of the lab, Addison enjoys taking care of their houseplants and playing with their hedgehog.

Moe Mijjum (she/her/hers)

Moe is a PhD student in T@P. She is interested in the intersection of geochemistry and planetary science, and its applications towards constraining the timing/evolution of planetary surfaces and interstellar objects. Moe’s research focuses reconstructing the thermal histories of E chondrites using cosmogenic noble gas observations, noble gas diffusion data, and orbital dynamics simulations. She is also working to constrain the duration of hiatuses between eruptions in the Deccan Traps large igneous province using paleo-exposure records from cosmogenic noble gases.

Matias Romero (he/him/his)

Mati is a PhD student in the Department of Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin Madison and is co-advised by Dr. Shaun Marcott and Marissa. Mati is using cosmogenic nuclides, including cosmogenic ³He, to reconstruct the glacial history on volcanoes in the Southern Volcanic Zone of the Chilean Andes.

Wenbo Zhan (he/him/his)

Wenbo is a PhD student in T@P. He is interested in geochemistry, tectonics, and geomorphology. Specifically, he applies apatite ⁴He/³He and (U-Th)/He thermochronology to study upper crustal tectonics, landscape evolution history, and their correlation to the lower crustal and mantle dynamics. He is also interested in the development of thermochronology methods, such as the study of noble gas diffusion kinetics in minerals.

Undergraduate Students

Kamden Maddox (he/him/his)

Kamden is working with Marissa to develop outreach activities with 3D printed fossils as well as to study the color changes that gar fish scales undergo during heating.

Bethany Remian (she/her/hers)

Bethany is working with postdoc Hongcheng Guo to obtain (U-Th)/He dates of detrital apatite and zircon grains isolated from sediment cores collected adjacent to the Chile Triple Junction.

Kevin Rivera Monserrate (he/him/his)

Kevin is working with PhD student Moe Mijjum to isolate pyroxene and ilmenite grains from Deccan Traps samples for cosmogenic ³He measurements.

T@P Alumni

Graduate Students

John Carter, PhD, University of Glasgow, 2021 (current: Postdoctoral Researcher, Berkeley Geochronology Center)

John Fink, MS, Purdue University, 2023 (current: PhD student at Boise State University)

Purdue Undergraduates

Devin Blair, Geology & Geophysics, 2021-2022

Justin Daisey, Geology & Geophysics, 2022

Samantha Golding, Planetary Science, 2019-2020

John Herring, Geology & Gephysics and Planetary Science, 2020-2023 (current: PhD student at Iowa State University)

Brittany Linn, Chemistry, 2021 (current: PhD student at MIT)

Simon Mason, Computer Science, 2020

Juliana Peckenpaugh, Planetary Science, 2020-2022 (current: PhD student at University of Hawaii)

Sui Xiong Tay, Materials Science Engineering, 2022-2023 (current: PhD student at Princeton University)

Gabby Wagner, Environmental Geoscience, 2022-2023

Isabella Zuffoletti, Geology & Geophysics, 2020