Andy Campbell was an invited speaker at the 2nd FORCE Winter Workshop on Recent Advances in High Pressure Research, held at Arizona State University.
HPCAT 20th Anniversary Workshop (November 2023)
Andy Campbell was an invited speaker at the HPCAT 20th Anniversary workshop: Opportunities for Advancement of Studies of Matter at Extreme Conditions with APS/HPCAT-Upgrade.
Dr. Swadba (October 2023)
Congratulations to Kellie Swadba, who successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation, "Disproportion of iron in Earth's lower mantle." Great job Kellie!
ALS Visioning Workshop (September 2023)
Andy Campbell presented a keynote talk at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Visioning Workshop at the Advanced Light Source 2023 User Meeting.
Case presents (April 2023)
Abby Case presented her senior thesis work on "Melting relations in the Fe-S system and implications for the crystallization behavior of the Martian Core" at the 2023 UChicago Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Campbell visits Northwestern (November 2022)
Andy Campbell presented a seminar at Northwestern University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, on "Current and Future Synchrotron-based Investigations into Earth's Core."
Campbell fact checks hollow Earth theory (July 2022)
Andy Campbell was quoted by Politifact to explain that Earth is dense and solid, and not a hollow shell hosting mythical lands inside.
Swadba attends high pressure crystallography workshop (June 2022)
Kellie Swadba attended the 'Crystallography Under Extreme Conditions' workshop in Erice, where she presented some of her thesis research.
Dr. Davis (December 2021)
Congratulations to Anne Davis, who successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation, "The chemical and physical properties of carbon-bearing phases in the deep Earth." Great job Anne! Dr. Davis will begin a postdoctoral position at the University of Oslo in early 2022.
Dr. Zurkowski (July 2021)
Congratulations to Claire Zurkowski, who successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation, "Crystallography and phase relations of iron sulfides at Earth and planetary core conditions." Great job Claire! Dr. Zurkowski will begin a postdoctoral position at the Carnegie Institute in September.
Vennari moves on (May 2021)
Cara Vennari has completed her NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, and is relocating to Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Great job and good luck Cara!
Zurkowski presents at EGU (April 2021)
Graduate student Claire Zurkowski presented her work on Fe2S and Co2P at the European Geophysical Union's 2021 General Assembly.
Vennari reaches out (April 2021)
Postdoc Cara Vennari was featured in 'Skype a Scientist' at a high school in Pennsylvania.
Zurkowski presents at Carnegie (April 2021)
Graduate student Claire Zurkowski presented her work to the mineral physics / petrology group at the Earth & Planets Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science.
AGU meeting (December 2020)
Graduate students Anne Davis, Kellie Swadba, and Claire Zurkowski, and postdoc Cara Vennari all presented their work at this year's virtual AGU meeting. Great job by all!
Campbell in Discover (November 2020)
Andy Campbell was quoted in a Discover Magazine article discussing how we know the compositional structure of Earth's deep interior.
COMPRES meeting (August 2020)
Graduate students Anne Davis, Kellie Swadba, and Claire Zurkowski, and postdoc Cara Vennari each presented their work at this year's virtual COMPRES meeting.
Golsdschmidt meeting (June 2020)
Graduate student Anne Davis presented her work at this year's virtual Goldschmidt meeting.
AGU meeting (December 2019)
Graduate students Nigel Brauser, Anne Davis, Kellie Swadba, and Claire Zurkowski, and postdoc Cara Vennari all presented their work at this year's AGU meeting in San Francisco. Great job by all!
Davis visits Lyon (November 2019)
Again supported by the FACCTS program at the University of Chicago, graduate student Anne Davis spent November at ENS Lyon this month, applying ab initio calculations to investigate the properties of metal-carbonatite melts with the Caracas group.
Swadba and Davis reach out at MSI (October 2019)
Graduate students Kellie Swadba and Anne Davis participated in the Science Works event at the Museum of Science and Industry, where they showed off some minerals and described their research interests to hundreds of museum visitors. So cool.
Campbell visits Ann Arbor (September 2019)
Andy Campbell gave a talk on "Chemistry of core–mantle differentiation of Earth's interior" at the University of Michigan.
Vennari arrives (August 2019)
Cara Vennari, a recent Ph.D. graduate of UC Santa Cruz, has arrived as a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow. Welcome Cara!
Eventful COMPRES meeting (August 2019)
Graduate students Nigel Brauser, Anne Davis, Kellie Swadba, and Claire Zurkowski each presented their work at this year's COMPRES meeting in Big Sky, MT. Claire received a Student Presentation Award again this year for her poster presentation. Good job by all, and congratulations Claire!
Davis sponsored by GROW program (July 2019)
Anne Davis has been awarded support from the Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide program to study in France, sponsored jointly by the National Science Foundation and the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. Under this program Anne will return to Lyon, where she will apply ab initio calculation methods to investigate the properties of carbonatite melts at high-pressure.
Davis visits Lyon (June 2019)
With support from the FACCTS program at the University of Chicago, graduate student Anne Davis is visiting the Caracas group at ENS Lyon this month to apply ab initio calculation methods to investigate the properties of metal-carbonatite melts.
Zurkowski weaves science with art (April 2019)
Graduate student Claire Zurkowski was featured in a UChicago news article, part of their 'Meet a UChicagoan' series, describing how Claire's research interests inspire her artwork. The profile of Claire was also carried by the APS User News site.
Thompson joins Sewanee (March 2019)
Former student Lily Thompson has accepted a faculty position at Sewanee University, starting this fall. Congratulations Lily!
Campbell at Hida (March 2019)
Andy Campbell gave a series of lectures on "Metal–silicate reactions and planetary differentiation" at the Interaction and Coevolution of the Core and Mantle program in Hida, Japan.
AGU Meeting (December 2018)
Nigel Brauser, Anne Davis and Claire Zurkowski each presented their work at the AGU Fall 2018 Meeting in Washington. Great job by all.
Zurkowski featured by PSD (November 2018)
A profile of graduate student Claire Zurkowski was featured among the Meet the Students section of the UChicago Physical Sciences Division website.
Caracas visits (October 2018)
Razvan Caracas of ENS Lyon visited the Laboratory for Mineral Physics and others at Chicago for a week. He gave our departmental seminar on "An ab initio perspective on the Giant Impact and the protolunar disk."
Campbell at Carnegie (October 2018)
Andy Campbell gave a talk on "Mineral Physics of Earth's Core" as part of the "50 Years at High Pressure" symposium celebrating Dave Mao's career at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science.
Eventful COMPRES meeting (August 2018)
Graduate students Nigel Brauser, Anne Davis, and Claire Zurkowski each presented their work at this year's COMPRES meeting in Albuquerque. Anne and Claire both received Student Presentation Awards for the talks they gave, and Andy Campbell was elected as Chair of the COMPRES Executive Committee. Congratulations Anne and Claire!
Swadba arrives (August 2018)
Welcome to incoming graduate student Kellie Swadba. Princeton's loss is our gain!
Undergrads go off to graduate school (June 2018)
Congratulations to Claire Doody, who graduated from UChicago and will begin graduate school in seismology at Berkeley this fall. Sabrina Tecklenberg, who graduated from UChicago last year, will begin graduate studies in mineral physics at Stanford.
Zurkowski receives NSF Fellowship (April 2018)
Graduate student Claire Zurkowski has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations Claire!
Dr. Thompson (March 2018)
Congratulations to Lily Thompson, who successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation, "Mineral physics of hydrogen-bearing phases in the deep Earth." Great job Lily! Dr. Thompson will begin an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University in May.
Tsuchiya visits (March 2018)
Jun Tsuchiya of Ehime University is visiting the Laboratory for Mineral Physics this week. She is serving on Lily Thompson's dissertation committee, and giving a talk in our department on "First principles investigation of hydrous phases in the Earth's deep interior."
Zurkowski receives OSPA Award (January 2018)
Claire Zurkowski received an Outstanding Student Paper Award from the Mineral and Rock Physics section of AGU for her talk "Stability of the high pressure phase Fe3S2 up to Earth's core pressures in the Fe–S–O and the Fe–S–Si systems," presented at the AGU Fall 2017 Meeting. Congratulations Claire!
AGU Meeting (December 2017)
Bethany Chidester, Lily Thompson, Claire Zurkowski, Nigel Brauser, Anne Davis and Matt Brennan each presented their work at the AGU Fall 2017 Meeting in New Orleans.
Dr. Chidester (July 2017)
Congratulations to Bethany Chidester, who successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation, "The distribution of radioactive heat-producing elements in the deep Earth." Great job Bethany! Dr. Chidester will join Sandia National Laboratory as a postdoc later this summer.
COMPRES Meeting (July 2017)
Graduate students Lily Thompson, Anne Davis, and Claire Zurkowski all presented their work at the COMPRES Annual Meeting in Albuquerque. Lily Thompson's poster presentation was recognized with a Poster Award at the meeting. Great job, all!
Thompson receives postdoc fellowship (June 2017)
Lily Thompson has been awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, which she will begin in 2018 following completion of her PhD. She will carry out her postdoctoral training at Northwestern University. Congratulations Lily!
Campbell at GRC (June 2017)
Andy Campbell gave an invited talk on "Mineral physics of Earth's core" at this year's Interior of the Earth - Gordon Research Conference.
Thompson awarded Harper Fellowship (May 2017)
Lily Thompson has been awarded a Harper Dissertation Fellowship for 2017-2018 from the Physical Sciences Division at UChicago. Congratulations Lily!
Chidester heading to Sandia (May 2017)
Bethany Chidester has accepted an offer as a postdoctoral researcher at Sandia National Laboratory, which she will begin this summer. Congratulations Bethany!
Campbell at JpGU (May 2017)
Andy Campbell gave an invited talk on "Chemical exchange between core-forming metal and magma ocean in the early differentiating Earth" at the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) meeting in Chiba, held jointly this year with AGU.
Campbell visits Ehime (May 2017)
Andy Campbell visited the Geodynamics Research Center at Ehime University, where he gave a seminar on "Reactions between metal and silicate in the early differentiating Earth."
Undergrads find great opportunities (April 2017)
This year's graduating undergraduate students from the Laboratory for Mineral Physics all have exciting plans for next year! Hannah Bausch, Matt Brennan, and Olivia Pardo are headed next fall to graduate school programs in mineral physics at Northwestern, Harvard, and Caltech, respectively, and Sabrina Tecklenburg landed a job in a lab at Stanford University. Congratulations to all!
SSAP Symposium (April 2017)
Bethany Chidester presented her work "Phase behavior and equations of state of the actinide oxides" at the Stewardship Science Academic Programs Symposium, sponsored by the NNSA.
Chidester visits Rochester (March 2017)
Bethany Chidester visited the University of Rochester, where she gave a seminar on "Radioactive heat-producing elements in the deep Earth."
Davis receives NSF Fellowship (March 2017)
Graduate student Anne Davis has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations Anne!
Chidester visits Sandia (March 2017)
Bethany Chidester visited Sandia National Laboratory, where she gave a seminar on "Radioactive heat-producing elements in the deep Earth."
Chidester et al. paper appears in GCA (January 2017)
"Metal–silicate partitioning of U: Implications for the heat budget of the core and evidence for reduced U in the mantle," by graduate student Bethany Chidester with co-authors from UChicago and NASA-JSC, was published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. This paper demonstrates that the radiogenic heat from uranium partitioning into Earth's core, while greater than expected, is not a major contributor to the power budget of the core.
AGU Meeting (December 2016)
Bethany Chidester, Lily Thompson and Andy Campbell each presented their work at the AGU Fall 2016 Meeting in San Francisco.
Campbell attends COMPRES site visit (November 2016)
Andy Campbell spoke on "Hydrogen in the Deep Earth" at the NSF site visit of COMPRES, hosted at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley.
Davis and Brauser arrive (September 2016)
Welcome to more incoming graduate students! Nigel Brauser joins us from Princeton University, and Anne Davis arrives from Caltech.
Goldschmidt meeting (June 2016)
Lily Thompson presented her recent work on high pressure infrared spectroscopy of hydrous silicates at this year's Goldschmidt meeting.
Zurkowski arrives (June 2016)
Welcome to Claire Zurkowski, an incoming graduate student from San Francisco State University.
COMPRES meeting (June 2016)
Bethany Chidester presented her recent work on XANES measurements of FIB-sectioned diamond anvil cell samples at this year's COMPRES meeting.
Thompson admitted to GROW program (June 2016)
Lily Thompson has been accepted into the Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide program to study in Japan next year, sponsored jointly by the National Science Foundation and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Under this program Lily will return to Ehime University, where she will follow up on her EAPSI-sponsored visit this year, continuing to apply ab initio calculation methods to investigate the properties of hydrous high-pressure mineral phases.
Chicago Mineral Physics in American Mineralogist (May 2016)
"Equation of state of pyrite to 80 GPa and 2400 K," by graduate student Lily Thompson and co-authors, was published in American Mineralogist. This paper places an upper bound of approximately 11 wt% for the sulfur content of Earth's core, based on a comparison between the equation of state of pyrite with the seismologically determined density of the core. In the same issue, Prof. Abby Kavner provided a commentary discussing the importance of our recent work on the W-WO2 system, published by former grad student Greg Shofner.
Campbell attends CIDER workshop (May 2016)
Andy Campbell presented "Mineral physics of Earth's core" at the CIDER 2016 Community Workshop in Point Reyes, CA.
Thompson entering EAPSI program (April 2016)
Lily Thompson has been accepted into the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes, sponsored jointly by the National Science Foundation and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. With this EAPSI award Lily will spend the summer at Ehime University, where she will apply ab initio calculation methods to investigate the properties of hydrous high-pressure mineral phases.
Thompson et al. paper appears in American Mineralogist (March 2016)
"In-situ infrared spectroscopic studies of hydroxyl in amphiboles at high pressure," by graduate student Lily Thompson with co-authors Andy Campbell and Zhenxian Liu, was published in American Mineralogist. This paper reveals a systematic relationship between O-H stretching frequencies and their pressure dependences in amphiboles and sheet silicates.
Campbell visits Caltech (February 2016)
Andy Campbell presented "Chemistry of iron-rich alloys and Earth's core" as the Seismological Laboratory Seminar during his visit to the California Institute of Technology.
Chidester wins Outstanding Student Paper Award (January 2015)
Bethany Chidester was awarded an Outstanding Student Paper Award (OSPA) for her poster titled "Metal-silicate partitioning of lithophile elements at high pressures and temperatures" that she presented at the 2015 AGU Meeting. Congratulations Bethany!
AGU Meeting (December 2015)
Graduate students Bethany Chidester and Lily Thompson presented their work at the AGU Fall 2015 Meeting in San Francisco.
Dr. Fischer (July 2015)
Congratulations to Rebecca Fischer, who defended her Ph.D. thesis on July 15. Great job Rebecca! Dr. Fischer is now an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow jointly between the Smithsonian Institution and UC Santa Cruz. Following her postdoc fellowship, she will join the faculty of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University.
Thompson obtains M.S. (July 2015)
Lily Thompson successfully completed the requirements for an M.S. in Geophysical Sciences on July 22. She will continue her studies as a Ph.D. candidate. Congratulations Lily!
COMPRES Meeting (July 2015)
Graduate students Bethany Chidester, Rebecca Fischer and Lily Thompson all presented their work at the COMPRES Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs. Rebecca Fischer's poster presentation was recognized with a Poster Award at the meeting.
Fischer visits APS (June 2015)
Rebecca Fischer presented a seminar on "Earth's accretion, core formation, and core composition" at the High Pressure Interest Group Meeting at the Advanced Photon Source.
Mattillion leaves for CERN (June 2015)
Undergraduate lab assistant A. J. Mattillion has graduated and is now working on the ATLAS experiment at CERN.
Fischer to join Harvard (June 2015)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer accepted an offer to join the faculty of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. She expects to complete her Ph.D. this summer and begin the Harvard position in 2017, following an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship done jointly between the Smithsonian Institution and UC Santa Cruz.
Campbell receives faculty award (June 2015)
Andy Campbell received the University of Chicago's 2015 Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring.
Campbell visits HPSTAR (May 2015)
Andy Campbell visited the Shanghai Laboratory of HPSTAR, where he spoke on "Chemical reactions in Earth's deep interior" as part of their symposium New Frontier in Studying Chemistry under Extreme Conditions: Applications of FIB Technology. He also toured the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility during the visit.
Fischer visits Caltech (May 2015)
Rebecca Fischer presented "Earth's accretion, core formation, and core composition" as the Seismological Laboratory Seminar during her visit to the California Institute of Technology.
Fischer visits MIT (May 2015)
Rebecca Fischer visited the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, where she presented a seminar on "Earth's accretion, core formation, and core composition."
Thompson receives Sigma Xi grant (April 2015)
Congratulations to Lily Thompson, who received a Grant-In-Aid of Research from Sigma Xi to support her investigations of the physical properties of iron hydride at high pressures.
Wendy Mao visits (April 2015)
We hosted a visit from lab alumna Wendy Mao, now at Stanford University. Wendy presented the Geophysical Sciences departmental seminar, "Imaging planetary interiors in a diamond anvil cell."
Fischer visits Harvard (March 2015)
Rebecca Fischer visited the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, where she presented seminars on "Earth's accretion, core formation, and core composition" and "Thermal structure of the deep Earth: Insights from melting."
Campbell visits Northwestern (March 2015)
Andy Campbell gave a talk on "Chemical reactions in Earth's deep interior" at the NUANCE Center at Northwestern University, as part of their symposium From Extraterrestrial Nanoparticles to Deep Planetary Interiors: a Symposium on Advanced Microscopy Applications in the Earth Sciences.
Campbell visits UIC (February 2015)
Andy Campbell visited the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at University of Illinois at Chicago, where he presented a seminar on "The composition of Earth's core."
Fischer visits USC (February 2015)
Rebecca Fischer visited the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California, where she presented seminars on "Earth's accretion, core formation, and core composition" and "Phase relations of Fe-rich systems with applications to Earth's core."
AGU Meeting (December 2014)
Graduate students Bethany Chidester, Rebecca Fischer and Lily Thompson all presented their work at the AGU Fall 2014 Meeting in San Francisco.
Chidester visits NASA-JSC (November 2014)
Bethany Chidester visited NASA Johnson Space Center, where she gave a presentation about her work on uranium and thorium partitioning between metal and silicate melts.
GSA Meeting (October 2014)
Graduate student Lily Thompson presented her work on OH stretching modes in amphiboles at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Vancouver.
Fischer visits Wash U (October 2014)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer visited the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, where she presented a seminar on "Earth's accretion, chemical evolution, and core composition."
Fischer visits Berkeley (October 2014)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer visited the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at University of California, Berkeley, where she presented a seminar on "Earth's accretion, chemical evolution, and core composition."
Fischer receives MRP Graduate Research Award (September 2014)
The Mineral and Rock Physics focus group of the American Geophysical Union recognized graduate student Rebecca Fischer with its 2014 Graduate Research Award. The award was presented at the AGU meeting in San Francisco in December. Congratulations Rebecca!
COMPRES Meeting (June 2014)
Graduate students Bethany Chidester and Rebecca Fischer presented their work at the COMPRES Annual Meeting in Stevenson, Washington.
Fischer gives keynote talk at Goldschmidt (June 2014)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer was a Keynote speaker in the "Formation, Evolution, and Composition of Earth's Core" session at this year's Goldschmidt conference in Sacramento.
ACCRETE workshop (May 2014)
Andrew Campbell and Rebecca Fischer presented their work at the "Accretion and Early Differentiation of the Terrestrial Planets" workshop in Nice, sponsored by the ACCRETE project.
Fischer receives dissertation fellowship (April 2014)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer has been awarded an American Fellowship from the American Association of University Women. Congratulations Rebecca!
Thompson receives NSF Fellowship (April 2014)
Graduate student Lily Thompson has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations Lily!
Fischer visits Harvard (March 2014)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer visited the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, where she presented a seminar on "Earth's accretion, chemical evolution, and core composition."
Fischer receives Plotnick Fellowship (March 2014)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer received a Plotnick Fellowship from the University of Chicago's Physical Sciences Division for the 2013-2014 academic year. The Plotnick Fellowship is named for Harvey Plotnick, a supporter of the PSD and member of the UChicago Board of Trustees. Congratulations Rebecca!
Fischer visits Carnegie (March 2014)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer visited the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Instutition of Washington, where she presented a seminar on "Earth's accretion, chemical evolution, and core composition."
AGU talks (December 2013)
Andy Campbell and graduate students Bethany Chidester and Rebecca Fischer each presented their work at the Fall AGU meeting in San Francisco.
Fischer gives invited talks (October 2013)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer has been invited twice recently, at the Goldschmidt Conference in Florence, Italy and the GSA Meeting in Denver, Colorado, to give talks on the phase diagrams of FeO and Fe-Si alloys. Her talk at GSA is part of a session honoring Lab alum Wendy Mao, who is receiving this year's MSA Award.
Thompson arrives (June 2013)
Welcome to Lily Thompson, an incoming graduate student from the University of New Orleans.
Fischer et al. paper appears in EPSL (May 2013)
"Phase relations in the Fe-FeSi system at high pressures and temperatures," by graduate student Rebecca Fischer and co-authors, was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. This experimental study places bounds on the temperature of Earth's outer core, and suggests that the solid inner core could be a mixture of hcp and B2 (CsCl-type) crystal structures.
Chidester receives NSF Fellowship (March 2013)
Graduate student Bethany Chidester has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations Bethany!
New position for Reaman (March 2013)
Postdoctoral scholar Daniel Reaman has been offered a position at the Army Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, MD. Dan will begin his new position at the end of April. Congratulations Dan!
Fischer receives Crystallography Award (January 2013)
Congratulations to graduate student Rebecca Fischer, who was awarded a 2013 Ludo Frevel Crystallography Scholarship. This scholarship is presented by the International Centre for Diffraction Data to support education and training of promising graduate students in crystallography-related fields.
Fischer featured in Inquiry (December 2012)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer is featured in the cover story of the Fall/Winter issue of Inquiry, the Physical Sciences Division newsletter.
Fischer et al. paper appears in EPSL (October 2012)
"Equation of state and phase diagram of Fe-16Si alloy as a component of Earth's core," by graduate student Rebecca Fischer and co-authors, was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. This experimental study puts a new constraint on the maximum silicon content of Earth's core.
Chidester arrives, Valdes moves on (August 2012)
Welcome to Bethany Chidester, an incoming graduate student from the University of Toledo. Farewell to lab tech Maria Valdes, who has entered graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis.
Fischer receives Outstanding Student Paper Award (April 2012)
Congratulations to graduate student Rebecca Fischer, who received an Outstanding Student Paper Award for her presentation at the 2011 Fall AGU Meeting in San Francisco.
Fischer et al. paper mentioned in Science News (January 2012)
Our recent GRL paper was mentioned in a Science News article on chemistry at high pressures.
Fischer et al. paper appears in GRL (December 2011)
"Phase transition and metallization of FeO at high pressures and temperatures," by graduate student Rebecca Fischer and co-authors, was published in Geophysical Research Letters. This study employed synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction to establish that FeO undergoes an isostructural metallization under the conditions of Earth's lower mantle.
Shofner defends Ph.D. thesis (September 2011)
Greg Shofner defended his Ph.D. thesis, "High-pressure redox geochemistry in metal-silicate systems: Implications for core formation in the Earth," at the University of Maryland. Dr. Shofner is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris.
Reaman joins the Laboratory for Mineral Physics (September 2011)
Daniel Reaman, who recently earned his Ph.D. in the Mineral Physics Research Group at The Ohio State University, has joined our research group as a postdoctoral scholar.
Lanni leaves for Akuna Capital (September 2011)
Lab assistant Caitlin Lanni has accepted a position as Junior Trader at Akuna Capital, a boutique trading house in Chicago that specializes in derivatives market-making and arbitrage.
Campbell named COMPRES Distinguished Lecturer (June 2011)
COMPRES, the Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences, named Andrew Campbell one of their two Distinguished Lecturers for 2011-2012, along with Abby Kavner of UCLA. At this year's COMPRES Annual Meeting, Campbell was also elected to serve as Chair of the Facilities Committee.
Fischer awarded ISGC fellowship (June 2011)
Graduate student Rebecca Fischer has been selected to receive a fellowship from the Illinois Space Grant Consortium to support her ongoing Ph.D. research.
Fischer et al. paper appears in EPSL (March 2011)
"Equation of state and phase diagram of FeO," by graduate student Rebecca Fischer and co-authors, was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. This study employed synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction to determine important physical properties of FeO, and used these to constrain the maximum oxygen content of Earth's core to 7.7 ± 1.1 wt%.
Fischer & Campbell paper appears in American Mineralogist (October 2010)
"High-pressure melting of wüstite," by graduate student Rebecca Fischer with co-author Andrew Campbell, was published in American Mineralogist. The melting curve of wüstite, an important component of the Earth's mantle and possibly its core, was determined to 77 GPa using a radiometric method developed earlier by Campbell.
Campbell Arrives (July 2010)
Andrew Campbell joined the Department of the Geophysical Sciences as Associate Professor, arriving from the University of Maryland. Graduate student Rebecca Fischer, an NSF Graduate Fellow, also transferred from Maryland. Chicago's Laboratory for Mineral Physics is being renovated and expanded to accommodate these new arrivals and future growth.
