I study geological processes involving melting and melt migration. The motivation is three-fold: (1) volcanic eruptions pose a major threat to humans and the environment; (2) magmatism is an important process in the creation of the atmosphere and habitability; (3) samples as products of melting (e.g. lavas) contain information about the nature of the Earth’s interior which is ultimately controlled by long-term planetary evolution.

I would like to build platforms rather than models. Reconciling multidisciplinary observations is the minimum requirement for a quantitative understanding of the geological processes. My thesis built a platform for assimilating first order observations of mid-ocean ridge spreading centers: crustal thickness, fine scale petrological features, compositions of residual solid and erupted melt, and geophysical interpretations of melt distributions. Insights of magmatic processes beneath mid-ocean ridges will benefit the study of other geological settings with melt production. I have interests in and would like to build platforms for synthesizing multidisciplinary observations for hot-spots, subduction zones, cratons, and places on other planets wherever there is magmatism at present or in the past. My career goal is to use intuitive physics to demonstrate the importance of melting-related processes on the evolution of the Earth system.