Group

AKA The SIMulators

Dr Shi Joyce Sim (PI, She/her)

  I am a geodynamicist working on two-phase flow magma dynamics at tectonic boundaries such as subduction zones and mid-ocean ridges and am expanding this research into the planetary realm with the goal to understand dynamic habitability. Currently, I am a assistant professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology. At Scripps Institution of Oceanography, I worked on understanding the depth of mid-ocean ridges through Earth’s evolution and the two-phase study of melt focusing at mid-ocean ridges with advisors Dave Stegman, James Day and Marc Spiegelman. As a Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Institution for Science, I worked on carbon fluxes at subduction zones employing a combination of two phase flow and geochemical thermodynamics with the late Erik Hauri. My CV is here.

• ORCID.
• Google Scholar.
• Geophysics@GeorgiaTech.
• People of FEniCS.
• Modeling Collaboratory for Subduction

I highly encourage everyone in Geoscience to take a look at the online program for Unlearning Racism in Geoscience or URGE. It is an 8-session “community-wide journal reading and policy-design curriculum to help Geoscientists unlearn racism and improve accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (AJEDI) in our discipline.” Even if you did not get to take part, all the paper readings, video interviews and deliverables by all the Pods across the country/globe are posted on the website. I am happy to chat/discuss if you want as I am continually learning too.

Here is the living group vision document that serves as a guide with regards to expectations, vision and policies in the group.

Mitchell McMillan (Postdoctoral Scholar May 2022 – Present)

  I am a geologist interested in the interactions among tectonics, lithology, and erosion that control the evolution of Earth’s surface. My research includes geologic mapping and eolian geomorphology in the Central Andes, geodynamic modelling, and low-temperature thermochronology. My current focus is on understanding the behavior of aqueous fluids in continental subduction zones, especially as they facilitate chemical reactions in the upper plate. Reactions such as eclogitization and flux melting may be significant drivers of the geodynamics of mountain belts. Website

Chazerae (Ayo) Pierce-Walker (PhD student Fall 2023 – Present)

*working on Europa icy shell melt water transport

Brandon J. Lopez (PhD student Fall 2023 – Present)

*working on magma ocean-atmospheric dynamics on Earth, Venus and exoplanets

Abdulaziz Alajlan (Georgia Tech Undergraduate Fall 2024 – Present)

My name is Abdulaziz Alajlan. I am from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I’m a Computer Science major with a minor in Environmental Science. I’m passionate about research, bioinformatics, and Data Science! I’ve had lots of great experiences in the EAS department, and hope that more opportunities will arise.

Amita Anand (Georgia Tech Undergraduate Fall 2024 – Present)

I am a 4th year mathematics major from New Jersey. Within math I am interested in probability theory, statistics, and dynamical systems. I want to apply the pure math I have learned to geophysics to understand how the Earth works through modeling and simulation.

[Your name and picture here! Join us!]

Collaborators

Ross Parnell-Turner (SIO)
Jean-Arthur Olive (CNRS, France)
Marc Hirschmann (University of Minnesota)
Adina Pusok (University of Oxford, UK)
Mousumi Roy (University of New Mexico)
Dave Stegman (SIO)
Cian Wilson (Carnegie Institution for Science)
Chris Havlin (University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign)
Marc Spiegelman (Columbia University)
Alex Tye (Utah Tech University)
Lindsay Schoenbohm (University of Toronto)
Marissa Tremblay (Purdue University)
Saswata Hier-Majumder (DOE)
Alex Robel (Georgia Tech)
Maelis Arnould (University of Lyon, France)

Alumni

Shradha Ravikumar (Summer UNAVCO RESESS Programme 2023) – Onwards to intern program at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

Shradha Ravikumar is a recent graduate of Arizona State University (B.S. Astrobiology & Biogeosciences). She is interested in studying how the Earth evolved into a habitable planet from a geologic perspective. She will be doing geodynamics modeling at Georgia Tech, and she will present the results of this research at the 2023 AGU Fall Meeting.

Rosen Ting-Ying Yu (Georgia Tech Undergraduate research Fall 2021 – Spring 2023) PURA award Fall 2022 - Currently a graduate student at MIT

I am a junior at Georgia Tech majoring in Electrical Engineering. My passion for computational simulations and eath science inspired me to apply my engineering background to learn more about the geophysics of the Earth. Website

Allen Moore (Georgia Tech Undergraduate research Spring 2022 – Fall 2022) PURA award Fall 2022

I am a third-year Physics major at Georgia Tech, with particular interests in computational physics and nonlinear dynamics. I am excited to see how my physics education can be applied to geophysical systems!

Casey Vigil Smith (Summer REU Programme 2022) Currently a Geoscience undergraduate at University of Arkansas, Fort Smith

Hey! I am Vigil Smith, from Harding University. I will be working on understanding how regularization of bulk viscosity affect melt transport beneath mid-ocean ridges here at Georgia Tech for the Summer REU. See ya Planetside!

Keneni Godana (Summer REU Programme 2021) Currently a graduate student at UCSB

Keneni is a rising Earth Science senior at University of illinois, Chicago and will be working on understanding how radiogenic heating affected seafloor subsidence and therefore ocean basins during the early Earth as part of the Georgia Tech EAS Summer REU program. Keneni will be presenting this work at AGU Fall meeting 2021.

Susan Harrison (Georgia Tech EAS Undergraduate Summer research 2021) Now a graduate student at Georgia Tech

Susan is an EAS undergraduate who will work on understanding spectral differences from magma waves between symmetric and asymmetric two-phase flow mid ocean ridge models. Susan will be presenting this work at AGU fall meeting 2021.