Randall T. Cygan
Biography
Randall T. Cygan received his MS in 1980 and PhD in 1983, earning both degrees in
Geochemistry and Mineralogy from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Pennsylvania
State Univeristy. He is a Senior Scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New
Mexcio.
In 1977 he received his B.S. degree cum laude in Chemistry with a minor in Geology from the
University of Illinois at Chicago. While attending undergraduate school he taught elementary
chemistry and assisted with research in an experimental petrology laboratory. In 1980 he spent
the summer with the United States Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado investigating the
chemistry and kinetics of rock-water interactions. Cygan joined the Geochemistry Department
of Sandia National Laboratories in 1983. He also spent two years as an assistant professor in the
Geology Department at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois.
His research interests are varied, including investigations of mineral equilibria, chemical
kinetics, surface chemistry of minerals, adsorption and dissolution of minerals, shock
metamorphism, interfacial behavior of materials, structure and transport properties of battery
materials, and molecular modeling of minerals and geochemical processes. Randall Cygan has
published extensively in various geological, chemical, and materials science journals, and has
received numerous honors including membership in Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi honor
societies. He is a Centennial Fellow of the College of Earth and Minearal Science at
Pennsylvania State University and a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America. He
recently received the Brindley Lecture Award from the Clay Minaerals Society. He is married to
Donna Skeels Cygan and has two daughters, Kate and Nora.