I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences of the University of Wollongong (UOW). In my research, I use a combination of isotope geochemistry techniques and numerical modelling. My main field of interest is the analysis of cosmogenic nuclides — minute amounts of isotopes produced in rocks at the Earth’s surface as a result of cosmic ray bombardment. I use these rare isotopes to study the physical and chemical processes that shape the Earth’s surface, and how these interact with tectonics and climate over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.

Together with research collaborators from all over the world and from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), I am studying how a destructive process such as erosion can build the very thing that it is destroying — mountains —, and how the product of this process — dirt — can alter our climate by consuming atmospheric carbon dioxide as a result of its decay.  Key to studying the interactions and feedbacks between erosion, mountain building, and the global climate system, and therefore to understanding the triggers and drivers of erosion processes, is our ability to measure the rates at which landscapes erode.

Apart from the obvious significance to the discipline of Earth sciences, my research has broader societal implications. My work improves our ability to measure the rates at which mountain slopes are stripped of their soil cover by natural erosion processes. Accurately quantifying natural rates of erosion is key to evaluating how human-induced land use practices have accelerated soil erosion, and what measures are necessary for restoring these rates to their natural benchmark levels. 

education

2003 - 2008
Doctor of Philosophy (Geomorphology)
Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, The University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland UK
Thesis: Single grain detrital cosmogenic neon-21 analysis: A new tool to study long-term landscape evolution

1998 - 2003
Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours in Environmental Science)
Faculty of Geography, Babes-Bolyai University (UBB), Cluj-Napoca, Romania
As part of my undergraduate studies I was a visiting student at The University of Glasgow and at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest.

POSITIONS PREVIOUSLY HELD

01.2010 – 09.2013
Assistant Professor (W1) of Cosmogenic Nuclide Geochemistry
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
(joint appointment with Potsdam University)

07.2009 – 12.2009
Post-doctoral Research Associate
Department of Physical Geography & Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

09.2008 – 05.2009
Post-doctoral Research Associate
Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, The University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland UK

12.2006 – 03.2007 & 06.2002 – 10.2003
Geographic Information Specialist
Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations HQ, New York NY, USA