CrUStal Processes (CUSP) Lab at Fredonia
Welcome to my website!
PI: Wentao Cao
(CV, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Department webpage)
Email: cao@fredonia.edu
Phone: 716-673-3884
Address: 122 Houghton Hall, Department of Geology & Environmental Science, SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, NY 14063
I am an Assistant Professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia. My group's current research examines metamorphic rocks to unravel associated petrological and tectonic processes in the crust. Current projects include:
Formation, differentiation, and exhumation of orogenic lower crusts
Modeling melting of crustal lithologies
Development of retrograde textures
Metasomatism and fluid-rock interactions
Petrogenesis of REE phosphate
If you'd like to collaborate, are interested in conducting a project, or have any research ideas, feel free to get in touch with me.
News:
A new paper on the differentiation of serpentine minerals using machine learning has been published in American Mineralogist. See the link here for more details. Spring 2024.
New paper on the exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks from North-East Greenland in Tectonics. See here for the paper. Spring 2024
The department has added several instruments in the past year. CUSP lab members have access to the Shimadzu ED-XRF, Tescan SEM with Oxford EDS and other detectors, and instruments in the Thin Section Lab, along with a variety of binocular microscopes. Fall 2023
Congrats to Sarah O'Leary for winning the first-place undergraduate presentation at BAPG (Buffalo Association of Professional Geologists) Scholarship Event! Nov. 2022
New paper on the exhumation of orogenic lower crust from the Grenville Province in GSA Memoir 220. See here [PDF] for the paper. Nov. 2022
Our NSF MRI proposal for an integrated SEM-EDS system has been funded! See here for more details. Fall 2022