It is a pleasure to welcome you to Virginia Tech.

 

Our university is known for outstanding research and teaching in science, engineering and the arts.  The Department of Geosciences is amongst these distinguished groups with an internationally recognized faculty focused on studies of earth history, processes, and materials.

 

In our earth materials research group, we are investigating how minerals grow and transform in natural and engineered surface environments that include oceans, soils, sediments, and living tissues.  

 

We are particularly interested in biological mineralization, the processes by which animals control the timing and placement of mineral crystals to produce the skeletons and other functional structures.