Meet the team!

What do we do?

My research group uses geochemistry, microbial ecology, paleontology, and soil biogeochemistry to address a variety of questions relevant to element cycling in modern and ancient systems, the composition and structure of modern and fossil bone, and the roles that microorganisms play in bone alteration (and preservation). Our work spans various depositional settings, geologic times, and disciplines to better understand our Earth. 

Current Graduate Students

• Hannah Maddox (PhD Geology, Aug. 2025)

• Hannah Walker (MS Geology, Aug. 2025)

• Samantha Khatri (PhD Geology, Aug. 2024 to present)

• Claire Wolfe (MS Paleontology, Aug. 2024 to present)

  • Thesis title: Analyzing the role of scavengers in carrion dispersal in the Great Plains

• Morgan Nystuen (MS Paleontology, Aug. 2024 to present)

  • Thesis title: Taphonomic analysis of the Big Buffalo Quarry, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Current Undergraduate Students

• Riley Kortenbusch (May 2024 to present)

Former Postdoctoral Researcher

• Dr. Rachel Laker (NSF Postdoctoral Fellow based at the University of Cincinnati with Dr. Josh Miller, Sept. 2023 to Sept. 2025)

  • Is there a taphonomic clock? Assessing the progression of terrestrial bone alterations across environments and time

Former Graduate Students

• Jared Fisher (MS Paleontology, 2025)

  • Thesis title: Effects of burial on fish carcass disarticulation

• Amelia Van Winkle (MS Geology, 2025)

  • Thesis title: Developing a remote sensing process to identify coltan artisanal mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

• Logan McCutcheon (MS Paleontology, 2024)

  • Thesis title: How varied are bones? Intraskeletal trace element variability in modern horses

• Dorothy Rodarte (MS Paleontology, 2024)

  • Thesis title: The effects of microbial activity on bone microstructure and collagen

• Andy Rich (MS Paleontology, 2023)

  • Thesis title: Lithological influences on mosasaur fossil taphonomy within the Pierre Shale Formation of South Dakota

• William Whittenberg (MS Paleontology, 2023)

  • Thesis title: Analysis of ammonoid shell wall thickness as a response to predation

• Jessica O'Neall (MS Paleontology, 2022)

  • Thesis title: Comparing the accuracy and precision of pXRF and ICP-MS in determining fossil bone geochemistry

• Michael Cyrier (MS Paleontology, 2022)

  • Thesis title: The influence of carbon availability on microbial diversity in epigenic cave systems in the Black Hills

• Colleen Sullivan (MS Paleontology, 2022)

  • Thesis title: Fossil dissolution rates at varying pH: a pilot study

• Grace DeVault (MS Paleontology, 2021)

  • Thesis title: Using fossil bone geochemistry and age reports to reconstruct diagenesis at the Pig Dig Site, Badlands National Park, SD

Former Undergraduate Students

• Hannah Walker (2024-2025): Analysis of microbial responses to lithium amendments in different soil types

• Morgan Nystuen (2023-2024): Evaluating the depositional environment and sedimentology of the Big Buffalo Quarry, Badlands National Park, South Dakota through thin section analysis

• Dylan Lau (2023-2024: Using thermodynamics of minerals in manganese nodules and inoceramid shell preservation as indicators of Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway geochemistry

• Colette McAndrew (2022 to 2023): Effect of carcass size on decomposition biogeochemistry

  • 3rd place prize in the SD Mines Undergraduate Research Presentation competition

• Sawyer Hagen (2021-2022): Growth rates of speleothems in Rushmore Cave using thin section analysis

• Aynsley Melancon (2020-2021): Elemental analysis of Rushmore Cave speleothems

• Michael Nieland (2020-2021): Estimating MAT values of the Hell Creek Formation in eastern Montana and northwestern South Dakota using CLAMP

• Michael Cyrier (2019-2020): Impacts of seasonality on subsurface conditions in Rushmore Cave, Keystone, SD

• Zakary Jewel (2019-2020): Carbon cycling in soils at Hermosa, SD

• Seth Vandenberg (2018-2019): Taphonomy of vertebrate fossils from the Pierre Shale, SD

  • 2nd place prize in the SDSMT Student Research Poster competition

For Prospective Students

I am always looking for motivated, curious, and qualified students to join my research group. This research is interdisciplinary, and students with a strong background in geology, geochemistry, paleontology, microbial ecology, and/or biogeochemistry are encouraged to contact me for more information.