I am an experimental planetary geophysicist broadly interested in how the mechanical behavior of geologic materials controls active geodynamic processes on planetary bodies. I combine laboratory experiments and fundamental theory with analytical and numerical modeling and machine learning.

 

My research has largely been motivated by geophysical controls on ocean worlds habitability: how does the grain-scale behavior of planetary ices control tectonic-scale processes (e.g., faulting and melt migration) that can transport the ingredients for life (e.g., energy and organics) on ocean worlds?

 

My approach takes a comparative planetology perspective. My goal is to understand how the same fundamental processes compare across different settings and how doing so can enhance our understanding of both our own world and others. Specifically, I'm interested in how the mechanical behavior of ice and the resulting dynamics (1) systematically differ across glacial, planetary, and sea ice conditions and (2) can both draw from and inform analogous silicate systems (e.g., crustal seismicity [friction], mantle melt extraction [flow], and enhanced geothermal systems [fracture]).

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