What I do
I make earthquakes in the lab to figure out what's going on in the Earth. I am a PhD student in the McLaskey Research Group at Cornell University.
Education
- Current: PhD Student - Cornell University
- MSc. Materials Science - Delft University of Technology, 2023
- BSc. Mechanical Engineering - Michigan Technological University, 2021
Active Pursuits
Science: These days I am passionante about the mechanisms within geomaterials that cause the speed of seismic waves to change.
Career: I am applying for postdoctoral fellowships at the intersection of seismology and material science. Particuarly how the structure of geomaterials responds to external petrturbations, and how this can be measured with seismic waves.
Hobbies: I'm usually just outside. I am an avid telemark skier, road cycle racer, mountain biker, inland lake sailor and regular Lake Ontario surfer.
Why earthquakes?
The booming rupture of an earthquake makes this planet ring like a bell. The rupture rips through an imperfect discontinuity in the Earth's crust, a fault. Much like a canyon's ridge, faults have kinks, bends, moving water, and varying minerals. Unlike a canyon, earthquakes happen deep in the ground. To study these processes I create earthquakes at the meter length scale in the lab to uncover a fault's story inside the Earth's crust. This approach allows me to tackle the problem of what creates expansive earthquakes that can topple buildings, while minute others are unfelt at our feet.