Penn State University · Department of Geosciences
PaleoEnvironmental Reconstruction & Surface Earth Dynamics
We study ancient rivers and sedimentary basins to understand how landscapes have responded to environmental change through deep time and support the sustainable development of underground water, mineral, and energy resources. Our work combines fieldwork, remote sensing and subsurface interpretation, physical experiments, and numerical modeling to connect the processes happening on planetary surfaces to the patterns we see preserved in sedimentary rocks.
Central questions driving our research
Active Research
We work at the intersection of stratigraphy, geomorphology, and applied geoscience — from ancient outcrops to modern subsurface resources.
Lake basins preserve some of the most detailed continental climate records on Earth, but the signals they record reflect a complex interplay of tectonics, hydrology, and sedimentation. We use fieldwork, subsurface data, and numerical modeling to understand how climate variability and tectonic activity together govern stratigraphic patterns in ancient lake basins.
Critical minerals — including lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements — often concentrate in sedimentary environments, but the processes controlling their distribution are poorly understood. We investigate how depositional systems govern where and how these resources accumulate, with the goal of improving strategies for sustainable resource development.
Rivers constantly adjust their size, shape, and behavior in response to changes in water and sediment supply — but what traces of that variability survive in the rock record? We combine field measurements, remote sensing, flume experiments, and modeling to understand how river systems respond to environmental forcing and what signals are preserved in ancient fluvial deposits.
The Team
We are a collaborative group of researchers based in the Department of Geosciences at Penn State University.
Principal Investigator
Professor of Geosciences at Penn State. Research focuses on fluvial sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction.
PhD Candidate
Bio coming soon.
PhD Candidate
Bio coming soon.
PhD Candidate
Bio coming soon.
MS Student
Bio coming soon.
Updates
Summer fun
Our team is distributed for the summer. Jasmine Walker and Mingxi Hu are in Houston, interning in the energy industry. Noshin Sharmili is working with the Kansas Geological Survey on water resource modeling and also with NASA on lunar surface geology. Drew Moreland is building experimental deltas in Dr. Anastasia Piliouras' (opens in new tab) SANDBOX facility.
New paper on geoscience & computer science collaboration
Hajek, Hammond & Ewing (2026): Managing Differences in Geosciences and Computer Science: Strategies for Successful Interdisciplinary Collaboration (opens in new tab). Perspectives of Earth and Space Scientists.
Get in Touch
The best way to reach us is by email. Prospective graduate students are welcome to reach out.
pSUPER SED Lab
Department of Geosciences
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
Part of the Penn State Department of Geosciences (opens in new tab).