High Temperature Isotope Geochemistry LaboratoryAntonio Simonetti
RECENT NEWS (2015-2021)
Corinne Kuebler successfully defended her PhD Thesis entitled, "Boron isotope signatures of carbonatites: novel insights into magmatic carbonate processes and deep mantle carbon flux" on Friday, April 9, 2021. Committee members were Drs. Jeremy Fein and Clive Neal (UND) and Troy Rasbury (Stony Brook). On June 1, 2021, Corinne begins her NNSA Postdoctoral Fellowship position at Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM. Congratulations Corinne on a job very well done and wishing you the very best in your future endeavors!
Professor Simonetti is appointed one of 11 Associate Editors of the journal Minerals on March 16, 2021.
Omer Ozkaya successfully defended his MS Thesis entitled, "Geochemical, isotopic and geochronological investigation of the Magnet Cove Carbonatite Complex, Arkansas, USA" on Friday, November 20, 2020. Committee members were Drs. Jeremy Fein and Clive Neal (UND). Omer is pursuing his professional career as a Geological Engineer in the Department of Mineral Research and Technology, Ankara, Turkey. Congratulations Omer on both achievements!
Corinne Kuebler is awarded the highly prestigious and competitive 2020 Harriet Evelyn Wallace Scholarship by the American Geosciences Institute (AGI). This yearly scholarship is awarded to women pursuing graduate degrees in geosciences who demonstrate a commitment to excellence in their studies and the pursuit of a career in geosciences.
Corinne Kuebler successfully passed her PhD Candidacy Oral Exam on Friday, April 3, 2020. Congratulations Corinne on a job well done!!
Corinne Dorais successfully defended her PhD Thesis on Friday, March 22, 2019!!! Congrats Corinne on a job very well done, extremely proud of you! Picture below was taken after the defense and Corinne is sandwiched inbetween her co-advisors, Dr. Amy Hixon and myself.
Corinne Kuebler successfully passed all 4 of her PhD qualifying exams with "flying colors" in January 2019!!! Never doubted it for one moment!
Prof. Simonetti presented an invited lecture at the "International Symposium on Carbonatites and Alkaline Rocks, and Associated Economic Mineral Deposits" held in Vadodara, Gujurat, India, Dec. 8-11th, 2017. The Symposium was followed by a 2-day field excursion to the Amba Dongar Carbonatite Complex.
Congrats to Tyler Spano, who successfully defended her PhD Thesis entitled, "Uranyl vanadate mineralogy and nuclear forensic analysis of uranium-rich materials", on September 19th, 2017!
Prof. Simonetti receives Certificate of Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing from the Editors of the journal Lithos (awarded August, 2016).
Prof. Simonetti receives the Citizen's Award for Exceptional Service from the U.S. Geological Survey, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the mission of the U.S. Geological Survey to provide, unbiased, accurate, high quality natural science information (March 25, 2016). web link
Prof. Simonetti has been elected to serve as a Councillor on the Council of the Mineralogical Association of Canada for a 3-year term beginning June 2016. web link
Corinne Dorais, PhD candidate, was awarded a prestigious and lucrative 1-year doctoral fellowship ($56,000) from the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) Graduate Fellowship Program (NGFP) (http://ngp.pnnl.gov/fellowships.stm). The program provides fellows with specialized training and professional development opportunities, while simultaneously providing support for NNSA's global nuclear mission. NGFP Fellows will assist with programs that involve a variety of national security challenges. Corinne will begin her NNSA fellowship in June 2016.
Congratulations to Tyler Spano who received the Patrick and Jana Eilers Graduate Student Fellowship for proposing to conduct energy-related research. The fellowship comes with a $6,500 award. Tyler will be working on a project entitled, “Materials Properties of Synthetic Uranyl Vanadate Mineral Analogues”. Representing a fulfillment of basic science needs, Tyler’s project will be carried out by synthesizing and characterizing chemically pure uranyl vanadate mineral analogues of varying composition.
We wish Dr. Enrica Balboni all the best in her new postdoctoral position at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (March 2016).
Congrats to Sam Hulett, who successfully defended his MS Thesis entitled, "Boron abundances and isotope systematics of carbonatites from worldwide sources", on December 4th, 2015!
Prof. Simonetti is invited to give lectures at China University of Geosciences, State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Wuhan, and at the Dept. Earth Sciences and Environmental Engineering, Nanjing University (China) - Oct. 17-24, 2015. He also participated on a field excursion to the Miaoyi Carbonatite Complex, Hubei province.
Dr. Elizabeth Koeman begins her postdoctoral position at the University of Hawaii in July 2015.
Elizabeth Koeman successfully defended her PhD dissertation on Thursday, May 28th, 2015! Thesis title, "A multi-analytical approach for developing nuclear forensic methods for source attribution using Trinitite post-detonation material"
Corinne Dorais begins her PhD research work on nuclear forensics (February 2015) and is co-supervised by Drs. Hixon and Simonetti.
Dr. Enrica Balboni begins her postdoctoral position (in January 2015) related to the nuclear forensics research sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security.
Tyler Spano begins her PhD research work on nuclear forensics (January 2015) and is co-supervised by Drs. Burns and Simonetti.
Professor Simonetti - Feb. 2015 - joins ND Energy's Faculty Fellows - web link
Professor Simonetti - Feb. 2015 - joins the Editorial Board of journal 'Minerals' - journal web link