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    WHO WE ARE

    Missouri State Tectonics requires hardworking student-geologists for our team to succeed. 

    FIELD TEAM STUDENTS

    Sam DeYoung

    M.S. Graduate Student

    EDUCATION: B.S. (Grand Valley State University, 2017)

    I will be conducting field mapping and geochronology to link mid-crustal rocks in western Idaho with potential unmetamorphosed sedimentary protoliths. My work might help to redefine the boundary of North America prior to accretion of island arcs and will contribute to our understanding of how we bury and exhume metamorphic rocks.

    Sage Denali Muttel

    M.S. Graduate Student

    EDUCATION: B.S. (University of Houston-Downtown)

    I am working to understand the link between magmatic system plumbing and pre-existing geologic structures by conducting high-precision geochronology and geochemistry and field mapping in remote wilderness areas within the Washington Cascades.

    Derek Spurgeon

    M.S. Graduate Student

    EDUCATION: B.S. (Missouri State University, 2017)

    Derek studies the evolution of orogenic belts through geologic mapping, zircon thermochronology, and the study of the sedimentary record as an archive of ancient tectonic and climatic events.

    Derek has worked in western Idaho, the  Cascades, southern Appalachians, and Rocky Mountains. 

    Simin Wu

    B.S. Undergraduate Student

    Missouri Space Grant-NASA Intern

    Simin uses meteorite impacts as analogues for orogenic events. She is studying ancient impact structures around Decaturville and Weaubleau, MO and working to determine a high-precision geologic age for the impact structure using radioisotopic dating and characterize deformation around the impact. 

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    Jordan Cruzan

    B.S. Undergraduate Student

    MO Space Grant-NASA Intern

    Jordan is creating sediment dispersal models to investigate the evolution of North American drainage systems from the Paleozoic to present, with emphasis on resolving tectonic and climatic processes recorded in the sedimentary record.

    Tessa Mills

    B.S. Undergraduate Student

    MO Space Grant-NASA Intern

    Tessa is working to link Quaternary volcanic deposits along the Salmon and Snake Rivers in western Idaho to potential volcanic sources in the Cascades using U-Pb zircon geochronology and zircon geochemistry.

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    Dr. Matthew McKay

    Assistant Professor of Structural Geology and Tectonics at Missouri State Univ.

    EDUCATION: Ph.D. (West Virginia University, 2015), M.S. (University of Alabama, 2011); B.S. (University of Alabama, 2009).

    Dr. McKay's research focuses on one big question: how long does it take to build a mountain?  Dr. McKay integrates concepts from tectonics, stratigraphy, structural geology, petrology, and radioisotope geochemistry with field geologic mapping to detail the tectonic history of mountain belts, basins, and magmatic arcs. He has worked on rocks from 6 of the 7 continents (watch out Australia! You're next!) and is currently studying the Rocky Mountains, Mississippi & Missouri Rivers, Gondwanide mountain belts, Appalachian Mountains, and Taiwan.

    GRADUATES

    Sourav Krishna Nandi

    M.S. (Missouri State, 2018)

    B.S. (Missouri State, 2016)

    Follow Sourav on Research Gate and LinkedIn

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    Dalton Breeding

    Brunton Outdoors

    B.S. (Missouri State, 2017)​