Melese Getenet

My doctoral research, supervised by Prof. Juan Manuel Garcia-Ruiz, dealt with

• mineral precipitation processes and hydrochemical evolution of hypersaline and hyperalkaline soda brines

• testing mineral self-assembly in carbonate-rich soda lakes of the East African Rift Valley to learn about the plausibility of mineral self-assembly on alkaline oceans of early Earth

• precipitation processes and dynamic diffusions across tubular calcium carbonate mineral membranes synthesized in soda lake water and carbonate solution and their implication to prebiotic chemistry

The scientific findings have been published in 4 peer-reviewed articles and presented at more than 7 scientific conferences and seminars.

During my doctoral study, I was part of the European Research Council-funded PROMETHEUS project led by Prof. García-Ruiz. As a member, I have participated in the scientific expedition to the hyperacidic hydrothermal field of Dallol, Danakil Depression (Ethiopia), and Rio Tinto, an acidic mine drainage site in southwestern Spain. I am also a member of the Dallol Project, a project aimed at monitoring the actively changing Dallol hydrothermal field based on citizen science. 

My research at Berkeley Lab focuses on the roles of interfacial water in chemical-mechanical processes accompanying rock formation, deformation, and utilization for energy and climate goals. Specifically, I study carbonate minerals' interfacial energy, thermodynamics, and stress-driven dissolution-precipitation processes. I utilize a gas adsorption analyzer (3Flex, Micromertics), calorimeter (CalvetPro, Setaram), and atomic force microscopy (Multimode 8 AFM, Bruker) to explore the interfacial energies of minerals. 

I have a broad interest in geosciences research, mainly:

• Mineral self-assembly

• CO2 removal and mineralization

• Carbonate geochemistry

• Fluid-CO2-rock interaction

• Environmental Geochemistry

My long-term career plan is to serve as a consultant in environmental services, climate, and sustainability sectors. 

I developed skills in experimental crystallization, natural and synthetic materials characterization with powder/synchrotron X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Raman and Infrared spectroscopies, and geochemical modeling of mineral equilibria with PHREEQC code. I have experience in hydrochemical analyses with titration and UV-VIS spectrophotometer. I have intermediate skills in Python and R programming, specifically applied to statistical data analyses and visualization.