School of Earth Sciences
External Program Review Team Bios
Robin E. Bell, Doherty Senior Research Scientist
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
Research Interests
Linkages between ice sheet processes and subglacial geology, interaction of ecosystems and geologic
systems from microbes to benthic habitats within the Hudson River, tectonic uplift and feedback
mechanisms, study of subglacial environments.
Jean M. Bahr, Professor of Hydrogeology
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Research Interests
The interactions between physical and chemical processes that control mass transport in groundwater
are of particular interest to me. My students and I employ a combination of field studies through
which we can observe the effects of solute transport and transformation processes in real time, core
and outcrop studies that provide data on hydrologic and geochemical properties of aquifer materials,
and numerical modeling with which we can test our hypotheses about how groundwater s ystems
operate. We have applied these techniques to questions related to groundwater/surface water
interactions, naturally occurring and anthropogenic contaminants in shallow and deeper aquifers, and
groundwater as a resource for both humans and ecosystems.
David J. Bottjer, Professor of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences
University of Southern California
Research Interests
Professor Bottjer is a paleobiologist and paleoecologist who has worked broadly on organism-sediment
interactions and the ecological history of life. His current research focuses on two broad paleobiological
questions. The first includes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the paleobiology and
paleoecology of early metazoan life, with field work conducted in eastern California and China. The
second emphasizes obtaining a detailed understanding of the paleoecology of the recovery from the endPermian mass and end-Triassic extinctions, with extensive work on Triassic strata throughout the western
U.S., Europe, Japan and China. This Triassic research project has led to involvement in the Paleobiology
Database, which has undertaken the development of large databases with web-based access to solve major
outstanding paleobiological and evolutionary problems.
Alexandra Navrotsky, Distinguished Professor and Director, NEAT-ORAU
University of California, Davis
Research Interests
Her research interests have centered about relating microscopic features of structure and bonding to
macroscopic thermodynamic behavior in minerals, ceramics, and other complex materials. She has made
contributions to mineral thermodynamics; mantle mineralogy and high pressure phase transitions; silicate
melt and glass thermodynamics; order-disorder in spinels; framework silicates; and other oxides; ceramic
processing; oxide superconductors; nanophase oxides, zeolites, nitrides, perovskites; and the general
problem of structure-energy-property systematics. The main technical area of her laboratory is high
temperature reaction calorimetry. She is dirctor of the UC Davis Organized Research Unit on
Nanomaterials in the Environment, Agriculture and Technology (NEAT-ORU).