People
NCF is run by a multidisciplinary team that operates and maintains the instruments and provides guidance on sample preparation and useful analytical methods for given research needs.
If you are interested in using our facilities, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Professor Adrian Brearley
Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
NCF Director
Education: Ph.D., University of Manchester, Great Britain, 1984
Phone: 505-277-1641 or 277-4163
Office: PAIS Building, Room B210 or Northrop Hall Room 206
Research Areas:
Geochemistry/Petrology/Mineralogy, Planetary Sciences
Angelica Saenz-Trevizo, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
NCF Laboratory Manager - Microscopy
asaenztrevizo@unm.edu
Education: Ph.D., Advanced Materials Research Center (CIMAV), Mexico, 2016
Office: PAIS Building, Room B220
Research Areas:
Materials Science, Electron Microscopy
Tyler Mackey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
MicroCT Laboratory
tjmackey@unm.edu
Education: Ph.D., University of California-Davis, 2016
Office: Northrop Hall Room 216
Research Areas:
Geochemistry/Petrology/Mineralogy, Sedimentology/Stratigraphy/Paleoclimate/Paleontology
Research and Academic Interests:
Sedimentology, geobiology, carbonate geochemistry, diagenesis. My research uses the tools of sedimentology to understand what evidence of microbial communities can enter the rock record, how we recognize these deposits, and what sorts of observations in modern microbial ecosystems can give us useful search patterns to bring back to the rock record. The majority of Earth's history is microbial, so these sediments serve as a window to key evolutionary transitions and changes in habitats through time. Current research projects integrate field studies and laboratory analysis to explore microbial habitats of modern ice-covered Antarctic lakes and assess Neoproterozoic (1000–541 million years ago) environments surrounding the expansion of complex life. For more information on these and other areas of work, please visit my personal website.
Eric Peterson, Ph.D.
X-ray Diffraction Laboratory
ejpete@unm.edu
Education: B.S. Geology University of New Mexico 1978, Ph.D. Nanoscience and Microsystems Engineering 2014
Phone: 505-470-1076
Office: PAIS Building, Room B215
Research Areas:
X-Ray Diffraction, Catalysis
Research and Academic Interests:
Work at Los Alamos National Laboratory that included synthesis and characterization of high-temperature cuprate superconductors, and X-ray diffraction analysis of actinide alloys. Work at UNM has been primarily focused on the synthesis and characterization of single-atom precious metal catalysts as well as X-ray diffraction analysis supporting work in Chemistry, Engineering, and Earth Sciences. This includes projects such as the study of gold and mine waste in the environment, the effects of wildfire on water chemistry, the study of terrestrial analogs for comparison to Martian geology and geochemistry, the study of thin films for electronic applications, and the study of terrestrial impact structure mineralogy.
