2009-present: Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, UNC Charlotte

2003 – 2008: Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences, UNC Charlotte

2002: PhD Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico

1997: MS Geology, New Mexico Tech

1993: BS Geology, Washington and Lee University

My research and interests lie in the study of weathering and surface processes, and the effects that they have on landscape s, particularly in light of what we know about ongoing and past global climate change. I struggle daily with the balance of pursuing these interests and the rearing of my children. Both endeavors inspire me to no end.

My mother never believed me when I told her I wanted to be a geologist. Not after I declared my major, not after I summered in Colorado hail-storms for my Senior Thesis, not even after I moved to Nowhere, New Mexico for graduate school. After all of the adventure and accomplishment, she was still convinced that I might go to Law School . Only when I was well into my PhD, with a few publications under my belt, did she finally admit that I was utterly committed, even if she did not know why.

Who can blame her? Such scientists are often viewed as something out of film, the nerdy old guy prophesying the “big one”. Even my PhD advisor, in our first meeting, felt it was his duty to remind me that I would likely go through all of this education only to end up unemployed.

In choosing scientific professions, we as women often encounter these obstacles; a heavy burden to move aside in order to move forward in our careers, and in our own personal confidence and fulfillment. What has held me on course through it all? I, personally, am fascinated by Earth and her secrets. I am obsessed with some of them. What other job would allow me the pursuit of such hidden knowledge? I love what I do, and I am truly lucky to be a geologist.