I am really a generalist when it comes to geological research, but I mostly utilize sediment and sedimentary rocks to interpret environmental, tectonic and climatic processes and histories.

As a teacher, I try to focus on the big picture of how different parts of the Earth System interact and in doing so, try to guide students toward understanding consequences of human impacts on the Earth System.

Right now, I am focused on two research projects:  1) interpreting climatic change from Late Paleozoic continental deposits, and 2) the formation and anthropogenic change of shell beds within Lake Tanganyika, Africa.

Over the past several years I have also worked on other fluvial, lacustrine and eolian systems of varying ages and tectonic settings.

My main research methods lie in field-oriented data collection, however, I have, with colleagues increasingly employed geochemistry, computer imaging, shallow seismic methods, and computer modeling to supplement the field data.

My field areas include East Africa and the Southwestern U.S.–both wonderful places to work!