Research Capacity Catalog

The Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education (CIRE) offers one of the first interdisciplinary PhD programs in energy science and engineering. This new degree provides breadth while preserving the depth and rigor of a PhD program. The Bredesen Center brings together extensive and complementary resources at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) and [...]

The newly established Center for Quaternary Paleoclimate Research (CQPR) at the University of Tennessee is a strategic investment to increase external funding by building a community of scholars pursuing research focused on the climates and environments of the Quaternary period. The Quaternary began ca. 2.5 million years ago and includes the “Ice Ages” of the [...]

Atomic-to-continent-scale examination of crustal geometry, deformation, and evolution using field geologic mapping, fabric analysis, geochronology, petrography, geochemical analysis, and geophysical techniques (seismic reflection/refraction, gravity, and aeromagnetic data). Research Interests Structural Geology and Tectonics, and the Evolution of Continental Crust: The mechanisms of emplacement of large thrust sheets in foreland fold-thrust belts and thrusts and strike-slip [...]

Multidisciplinary investigation of the origin and evolution of life, evolution of the Earth’s oceans and atmosphere, and the interactions of physical, chemical, and biological processes in shaping Earth surface evolution. Research Interests Blending geology, chemistry, and biology to address a variety of questions regarding the types of feedback between different Earth systems and the relative [...]

Chemical, thermodynamic, and kinetic characterization of geologic materials in high- and low-temperature systems, using radiogenic and stable isotopes, organic geochemistry, experimental mineralogy, and elemental analysis. Research Interests On-going studies of the chemistry of Martian rocks and soils, as determined by the APXS instrument on the Mars Exploration Rovers and by the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer on the [...]

Research Interests Hydrogeology and Soil Hydrology: water movement and fate/transport of contaminants in a variety of hydrologic settings, including unsaturated soils, fractured clay-rich sediments, karst and streams. Investigations of pathogens and fecal indicator bacteria in aquifers and streams, identification of fecal sources (human, livestock, wildlife) in water samples based on DNA signatures, fate and transport [...]

The Planetary Geoscience Division focuses on extraterrestrial materials through laboratory studies of meteorites and lunar samples, spectroscopic observations of asteroids and Mars, participation in spacecraft missions, and field studies of terrestrial analogs. PGI, within the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, consists of seven faculty members, six postdoctoral research associates, and over a dozen graduate [...]