Listed below are the Geology and Planetary Science MS and PhD graduates for the years 2000 to present. Please contact Academic Affairs Secretary Shannon Granahan (granahan@pitt.edu) if you are a graduate who has been left out or you can provide a missing title. We are currently updating our database for theses completed prior to 2000.
2011
Chapman, Elizabeth, PhD
Advisor: Capo
"Fossil Fuel Related Water-Rock Interaction in the Appalachian Basin, Pennsylvania and New York: A Geochemical and Strontium Isotope Investigation"
Hillman, Aubrey, MS
Advisor: Abbott
"A 2500 Year Lake Sediment Record of Drought and Human Activity from Southwestern China"
Hughes, Christopher, PhD
Advisor: Ramsey
"Improved Mapping Accuracy of Planetary Surfaces Using Super-Resolution of Thermal Infrared Data"
Kagy, Holly, MS
Advisor: Skilling
"Interaction of Basaltic Dikes and Wet Lapilli Tuff at Glaciovolcanic Centers: A Case Study of Sveifluháls, Iceland as a Terrestrial Analog for Dike-Cryosphere Interaction on Mars"
Lee, Rachel, PhD
Advisor: Ramsey
"Thermal Emission Spectroscopy of Silicate Glasses and Melts: Applications to Remote Sensing of Glassy Volcanic Environments"
Mercurio, Emily Constantine, PhD
Advisor: Skilling
"Processes, Products and Depositional Environments of Ice-Confined Basaltic Fissure Eruptions: A Case Study of the Sveifluháls Volcanic Complex, SW Iceland"
Reath, Kevin, MS
Advisor: Ramsey
"Hyperspectral Thermal Infrared Analysis of the Salton Sea Geothermal Field"
Simoneau, Elizabeth, MS
Advisor: Skilling
"Eruption and Emplacement Mechanisms and Paleoenvironment of Phreatomagmatic Tephra at Koko Crater Tuff Cone, O’ahu, Hawaii"
Steinman, Byron, PhD
Advisor: Abbott
"Quantitative Drought Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest from Lake Sediment Records and Predictive Models"
Williams, Lindsay, MS
Advisor: Anderson
"Brittle Tertiary Detachments in the Specter Range, Southern Nevada, and their Implications for Groundwater Flow Southward from the Nevada Test Site"
2010
Brubaker, Tonya Michelle, MS
Advisor: Stewart
"Strontium Isotope Systematics of Coal Utilization Byproducts and Their Interaction With Environmental Waters"
Middlecamp, Katherine Marie, MS
Advisor: Elliott
"Isotopic Investigation of Anthropogenic Sources of Atmospheric Nitrogen and Carbon Along Spatial Gradients"
Morealli, Sarah Angelina, MS
Advisor: Anderson
"Extension-Related Breccias: Implications for Groundwater Flow From Pahute Mesa to Near Beatty, Nevada"
Rose, Shellie, PhD
Advisor: Ramsey
"Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing of Active Basaltic Volcanoes: A Thermal and Spectral Deconvolution Approach"
Wolfe, Amy Lynn, PhD
Advisor: Stewart
"Oxidative Dissolution of Pyrite: A Combined Experimental and Iron Isotope Investigation"
2009
Bird, Broxton Williams, PhD
Advisor: Abott
"Millennial- To Annual-Scale Holocene Climate Change in the Alaskan Arctic and Tropical Andes Inferred from Physical Sedimentology and Geochemical Indicators Preserved in Finely Laminated Alpine Lake Sediment Archives"
Scheidt, Stephen Paul, PhD
Advisor: Ramsey
"Aeolian System Dynamics Derived from Thermal Infrared Data"
Stansell, Nathan, PhD
Advisor: Abbott
"Rapid Climate Change in the Tropical Americas During the Late-Glacial Interval and the Holocene"
2008
Carter, Adam Joseph, PhD
Advisor: Ramsey
"Quantitative Thermal Infrared Analyses of Volcanic Processes and Products: Application to Bezymianny Volcano, Russia"
Cassidy, Brianne Michelle , MS
Advisor: Abbott
"A 94-Year Lake Sediment Record of Industrial Pollutants in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area"
Kaminskiy, Vladislav F., PhD
Advisor: Harbert
"Geophysical Surveys Aimed To Save Human Lives By Facilitating Safety Assessment"
LaMoreaux, Kristen, MS
Advisor: Skilling
"Recognizing Ice-Contact Trachyte-Phonolite Lavas at The Mount Edziza Volcanic Complex, British Columbia, Canada"
Laó-Dávila, Daniel Alberto, PhD
Advisor: Anderson
"Serpentinite Emplacement and Deformation in Western Puerto Rico and Their Implications for The Caribbean North America Plate Boundary Tectonic History"
Mohammad, Redha, MS
Advisor: Harbert
"Geographical Information System Based Analysis of Paleofluvial Systems in the Kuwait Region"
2007
Lipinski, Brian, PhD
Advisor: Harbert
"Integrating Geophysics and Geochemistry To Evaluate Coalbed Natural Gas Produced Water Disposal, Powder River Basin, Wyoming"
Piaschyk, Damian, MS
Advisor: Anderson
"Detachment Faults Between the Specter Range and Southern Spring Mountains: A Transpressional Fault Zone Along the Las Vegas Valley Shear Zone, Southeastern Nevada"
Robinson, Kevin, MS
Advisor: Rosenmeier
"A Holistic Paleolimnological Study of North-Central Mongolian Lakes"
Spivak-Birndorf, Lev, MS
Advisor: Stewart
"Sequential Leaching Of Coal Utilization By-products: Geochemistry and Strontium Isotope Systematics"
Stafford, Sherry, PhD
Advisor: Capo
"Precambrian Paleosols as Indicators of Paleoenvironments on the Early Earth"
2006
Cooke, Colin, MS
Advisor: Abbott
"Lake Sediment Archives of Atmospheric Pollution from the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes"
2005
Hamel, Barbara, MS
Advisor: Stewart
"Application of Strontium Isotope Ratios as Tracers of Coal Mine Drainage Provenance and Abatement Efficiency in the Omega Mine, Morgantown, West Virginia"
Stansell, Nathan, MS
Advisor: Abbott
"Last Glacial Maximum Equilibrium-Line Altitude Reconstruction, Paleo-Temperature Estimates and Deglacial Chronology of the Mérida Andes, Venezuela"
Walden, Katherine, MS
Advisor: Stewart
"Neodymium and Strontium Isotope Investigation of the Precambrian Kalkkloof Paleosol, South Africa"
Zorn, Erich, MS
Advisor: Anderson
"Meso- and Micro-scale Analysis of Foliated Rocks of the Southern Coast Belt: A Transect from Whistler to Lillooet, British Columbia"
2004
Bluth, Jessica, MS
Advisor: Skilling
"Syn-eruptive Incision of Koko Crater, Oahu, Hawaii by Condensed Steam and Hot Cohesive Debris Flows: A Re-interpretation of the Type Locality of 'U-Shaped' Channels"
Mest, Scott, PhD
Advisor: Crown/Ramsey
"Evolution of the Martian Highlands Geomorphic and Morphometric Analysis of Drainage Basins and Valley Networks & Multispectral Remote Sensing and Field Analyses of Channel Morphology and Bed Deposits of Intermittent Streams in Sub-arid and Arid Regions"
Nelson, Daniel, MS
Advisor: Abbott
"Holocene Paleoenvironmental History from Stable Isotopes in Lake Sediment, North-Central Washington State"
Osgood-Kutchko, Barbara, MS
Advisor: Abbott
"Late Holocene Climate Inferred From Varved Sediments: Blue Lake, Brooks Range, Alaska"
2003
Beatty, William, PhD
Advisor: Rollins
"The Role of Spinose Ornament in Predator Deterrence and Epibiont Colonization: the Bivalve Arcinella, Pinecrest (Pliocene) of Florida"
Coyle, Paul, MS
Advisor: Anderson
"Structural and Stratigraphic Controls on the Distribution of the Buhrstone Siliceous Iron Ore, Allegheny Plateau, West Central Pennsylvania"
Deemer, Danielle, MS
Advisor: Anderson
"Structural History of Transpressional Deformation at a Constraining Bend at the Northern Terminus of the Las Vegas Valley Shear Zone, Mercury, Nevada: Implications for the Formation of the Yucca Mountain Region"
Grgich, Paula, MS
Advisor: Harbert
"Delineating the Subsurface: Using Surface Geophysics to Define Groundwater Flow Paths in a Carbonate Aquifer"
Homsey, Lara, MS
Advisor: Capo
"Geochemical Characterization of Archaeological Sediments at Dust Cave, Alabama"
Kairies, Candace, PhD
Advisor: Capo
"Characterization of Iron Hydroxide Precipitates Associated with Abandoned Mine Drainage in the Bituminous and Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania"
Kuhn, Sally, MS
Advisor: Ramsey
"Characterization of Dome Processes at Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat: Synthesis of Infrared Remote Sensing Data with a Multi-parameter Database"
Love, Erica, MS
Advisor: Harbert
"Utilization of Airborne Thermal Infrared Imagery and Helicopter Mounted Electromagnetic Conductivity to Delimit Abandoned Mine Drainage and Abandoned Mine Pools in the Kettle Creek Watershed in North Central Pennsylvania"
Misner, Tamara, MS
Advisor: Ramsey
"Multi-frequency, Multi-temporal, Brush Fire Scar Analysis in a Semi-arid Urban Environment"
Piatek, Jennifer, PhD
Advisor: Hapke
"Size-dependent Scattering Properties of Planetary Regolith Analogs"
Wright, Shawn, MS
Advisor: Ramsey
"Thermal Infrared Data Analyses of Meteor Crater, Arizona: Implications for Mars Space-borne Data from the Thermal Emission Imaging System"
2002
Bryant, Elizabeth, MS
Advisor: Capo
"Geochemical Modeling of Coal Mine Drainage From a Bituminous Coal Field in Western Pennsylvania"
Byrnes, Jeffrey, PhD
Advisor: Crown
Thesis title not available
Fouzan, Alfouzan, MS
Advisor: Harbert
Thesis title not available
Hellman, Melanie, MS
Advisor: Ramsey
"Analysis of Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park Using ASTER and AVIRIS Remote Sensing"
Hobbs, Gina, MS
Advisor: Evans
"Characterizing Paleofluids in the Western Valley and Ridge Province of West Virginia: Uncovering the Path of Migrating 'Warm' Fluids"
Kim, Ann, PhD
Advisor: Stewart
"Fluid Extraction of Metals from Coal Fly Ash: Geochemical Simulation of Natural Leaching"
Lydy, Kristen, MS
Advisor: Evans
"Strain Partitioning, Mineralogy, and Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) of the Oriskany Sandstone of Northeastern West Virginia"
2001
Dembosky, John, PhD
Advisor: Anderson
"Paleotectonic Restoration of Miocene Estensional Strain of Crystalline Rock Provinces and Terranes in Southwestern North America"
Minervini, Joseph, MS
Advisor: Stewart
"Radiogenic Isotope Investigation of Sources, Transport, and Deposition of Rare Earth Elements in the Owens Lake Drainage Basin, Eastern California"
Pierce, Timothy, MS
Advisor: Crown
"Morphologic and Topographic Analyses of Martian Debris Aprons"
Reynolds, Amanda, MS
Advisor: Capo
"Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Permo-Pennsylvanian Dunkard Basin: Geochemical Evidence for Lacustrine Core and Associated Paleosols"
Schatzel, Steven, PhD
Advisor: Stewart
"An Evaluation of the Origin and Post-Depositional Modification of Coal Mineral Matter Using Rare Earth Elements and Neodymium Isotopes"
2000
Hale, Amy, PhD
Advisor: Hapke
"A Time Dependent Model of Radiative and Conductive Thermal Energy Transport in Planetary Regoliths with Applications to the Moon, Mercury and Io"
Lauffer, Sharon, MS
Advisor: Harbert
"Fault Sets, Systems and Basins, Yucca Mountain Region, Nevada: A Geographic Information Systems-Based Kinematic Analysis"
Pretti, Victoria, MS
Advisor: Stewart
"Geochemistry and Strontium Isotope Composition of Eastern Sierra and Western White-Inyo Mountain Streams: Solute Sources in Sierra Nevada Stream Water"
Sleeman, Garrett, MS
Advisor: Donahue
"Holocene Depositional History of Bac Ninh Provence, Vietnam: Effects of Geomorphic Development on Site Distribution"
Winters, William, MS
Advisor: Capo
"Hydrogeologic and Geochemical Evolution of a Bituminous Coal Basin, Irwin Syncline, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania"
Zimmerman, Sarah, MS
Advisor: Harbert
"GIS Analysis and Stress Modeling of Tectonic Blocks at Cape Kamchatka, Russia Using Principal Stress Proxies From High Resolution SAR: New Evidence for the Komandorksiy Block"
