Research

Interests

If you could see inside the Earth, what would it look like? My primary research interest revolves around the deep interior of the Earth. I am particularly drawn to large scale processes, including plate tectonics and the exchange of materials between surface and deep geochemical reservoirs. These are fundamental processes for making Earth the habitable "blue marble" that it is. 

Much of my immediate research has used diamonds as a window into the deep Earth. Through my role at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) I have been able to see a river of diamonds, including rare and expensive ones not normally accessible for scientific examination. This access overcomes some of the sample selection bias of traditional diamond research, which has necessarily stemmed from small and inexpensive diamonds that could be sacrificed or donated for science. In examining particularly large and expensive diamonds, we have now seen they do provide a somewhat different perspective into the mantle. These spectacular gemstones have yielded invaluable geologic insights into the Earth, hundreds of kilometers below our feet. No other mineral contains the kind of information we see inside diamonds.