I'm a geomorphologist holding a B.S. in Geomechanics and a B.A. in Physics from the University of Rochester. I'm interested in nonlinear, complex systems and processes particularly in the context of earth surface processes, geophysical flows, fluid mechanics, and granular materials. My research history has been diverse and includes characterising granular segregation in geophysical and industrial flows, assessing the reliability of electrical resistivity tomography in karst landscapes, and modelling the carving out of the Finger Lakes by the Laurentide Ice Sheet. As a researcher, I view it as integral to adopt the frameworks and methodologies used by other disciplines in order to get a more holistic view of the problems or phenomena at hand and to be able to investigate and analyze them from various different angles. For myself, I am particularly interested in the intersection of physics and geoscience. Geological phenomena are extremely complex and arise from countless conditions of great spatial and temporal extent. Even so, they may be simplified in order to fit the constraints of physical experiments and numerical models in order to investigate the dynamics of the processes involved in their formation and evolution by applying the laws of physics down to the very micro-scale interactions and fabric of the materials involved. The resulting rigorous, quantitative description of the geological phenomenon in question can give more insight into the validity of qualitative explanations for that phenomenon already established within the geosciences, or it may perhaps suggest alternative qualitative explanations.
