The CycloAstro Project is a unique interdisciplinary collaboration that integrates science from paleoclimatology, geophysics and astronomy with five research projects and the early career Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Justice (IDEJ) CycloCohort Program, to trace Solar System evolution, Earth-Moon dynamics, and Earth’s paleoclimate system with state-of-the-art analysis and modeling. The goal of the project is to show how it is possible to acquire fundamental new empirical knowledge of Solar System dynamics and Earth system sensitivity from the sedimentary record that will allow tests of astronomical models and overcome a ~50-million-year-before-present (Ma) limit of predictability imposed by chaos.
Our Philosophy
We see equity as a process, and that working along this process is the basis on which the best science is done. We aim to center the experience of the scientists through an equity lens, such that their careers can be sustainable. We invite you to meet our team, read about our projects and use the resources that we share with the greater scientific community.
News
July 2025 – Dr. Lorraine Lisiecki (PI, UC-Santa Barbara) reports that the LR04 oxygen isotope stack (Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005) has surpassed 10,000 citations in Google Scholar (LINK)!
July 2025 – Dr. Margriet Lantink (Postdoc, UW-Madison) has won a Veni award from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
May 2025 – Dr. Rocio Caballero-Gill (PI, GMU) was awarded the 2025 Randolph W. “Bill” and Cecile T. Bromery Award by the GSA Foundation.
February 2025 – Tiger Lu (PhD student, Yale University) successfully defended his PhD dissertation.
December 2024 - Bethany Hobart (PhD student, UC Santa Barbara) successfully defended her PhD dissertation.
October 2024 – Ridwan A. Ajibade (MS student, U. Wisconsin - Madison) successfully defended his MS thesis.
August 2024 – Dr. Malena Rice (Yale University) joins Project 5.
August 2024 – Alex Villa (PhD student, U. Wisconsin - Madison) successfully defended her PhD dissertation.
July 2024 – Clara Chang (PhD student, Columbia University) successfully defended her PhD dissertation.
May 2024 – Linda Hinnov (PI, GMU) was elected GSA Fellow.
April 2024 – David Tibbits (PhD student, Rutgers) won two fellowship awards from NSFGRFP and NDSEG, accepting the latter one.
Check out some of our recent publications--
The CycloAstro Projects
Project 1 - Earth-Moon Parameters and Solar System Fundamental Frequencies, Precambrian to Present
Project 2 - Astronomical Forcing of the Paleoclimate System,
0-66 Ma
Project 3 - Astronomical Solutions and the Astronomical Time Scale Beyond the 50 Ma Predictability Limit
Project 4 - Solar System Dynamics from Continental Climate Rhythms, 200-240 Ma
Project 5 - Modeling Early Solar System Dynamics
Project 6 - The CycloCohort Program - An Early-Career Springboard for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Justice (IDEJ) Focused Leadership in Geoscience & Astronomy
Highlights
Visit our Highlights section for recent results from the CycloAstro projects:
Highlight 1: Earth’s axial precession frequency, 0-650 million years ago (Project 1)
Highlight 2: Earth’s axial precession frequency and tidal dissipation, 0-2.46 billion years ago (Project 1)
Highlight 3: TRACE (a Time-Reversible Code for Astrophysical Close Encounters) (Project 5)
Highlight 4: Distinct roles for precession, obliquity, and eccentricity in Pleistocene 100-kyr glacial cycles (Project 2)
Highlight 5: Milanković forcing through deep time, 0 to 3.5 billion years ago (Project 3)
Highlight 6: TimeOpt methodologies for cyclostratigraphy (Project 1)
The CycloAstro Project gratefully acknowledges generous financial support from the Heising-Simons Foundation:
The Heising-Simons Foundation is a family foundation based in Los Altos and San Francisco, California. The Foundation works with its many partners to advance sustainable solutions in climate and clean energy, enable groundbreaking research in science, enhance the education of our youngest learners, and support human rights for all people.