Working at the Colorado School of Mines
Having finished my thesis at Caltech I have moved to the Colorado School of Mines where I will be working with Prof. Jeffrey Andrews-Hanna. Andrews-Hanna and I have been collaborating for a number of years, trying to couple his groundwater modeling with my climate modeling. We are particularly interested in the Noachian-Hesperian transition on ancient Mars, which is a period of time when Mars appears to have transitioned from a wet environment to a dry environment.
After twelve years in the southland, I am looking forward to the change of scenery. Although I will miss the ocean, the Rocky Mountains should make up for the loss. The biggest transition will be moving from the extensive planetary science program at Caltech to the small planetary geophysics group at Colorado School of Mines. Although the Geophysics department at Mines seems to be very supportive of their budding planetary group, planetary science is clearly a minor subject area. This means a smaller intellecutal peer group with whom I can spitball research ideas and debate recent results. On the other hand, I hope to get a new perspective on geology and geophysics from the professors and researchers at the School of Mines.
Utlimately, the move to Colorado should be good for the soul, both personally and professionally. The only thing I need to worry about is publishing. Same as it ever was.