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A new year, a new blog team! During the virtual EGU, we managed to find a lot of new people for the blog. In addition, some oldies but goldies will stay on, and, unfortunately, some editors also resigned (but they might still pop up every once in a while with a cheeky post). So, without further ado, here are the superstars of the blog team for the 2020-2021 EGU blog year who will provide you with weekly content!
The Blog Team
Iris van Zelst
Hi everyone! I am a postdoc at the university of Leeds in the United Kingdom *dances around excitedly*. My research is interdisciplinary as I combine methods from geodynamic, dynamic rupture, and tsunami modelling to decipher how earthquakes in subduction zones work. I am very excited and happy to live in the UK, as this has been a long-standing dream of mine! After a bit more than two months of freedom where I started to explore the UK and went to all the theatre shows I wanted, I am now enjoying lockdown life with many movie nights, virtual board games, and lots of books and puzzles. As editor-in-chief, I will try my best to manage this motley crew and to make sure that only the best posts are published every Wednesday and Friday! You can reach me via e-mail.
Menno Fraters
Hello everyone! I am a postdoctoral fellow at UC Davis, USA. As a numerical modeller, I focus my investigations on the interaction between the Earth’s crust and the mantle, which makes subduction zones a very interesting place for me to investigate! Until my move to the US, I used to organize international crisis simulations with my student association (who doesn’t love a good pretend crisis in which you can save or doom the world? And no, they were not about pandemics). Since moving to Davis, I have been trying many new things including the sport Kendo (turns out it involves a lot of shouting) and joining a board game group which has now gone fully online during the current stay-at-home orders! You can reach me via e-mail.
Anne Glerum
Hello readers, I am a postdoctoral researcher at GFZ Potsdam, Germany. With numerical models, I investigate the link between local stress and strain observations and far-field forcing in the East African Rift System. Other modelling interests include surface evolution during continental extension and the geothermal potential of rifts. Outside of research, I love to go on walks with my dog, try out every glutenfree bakery in Berlin, and read books on all possible topics. I’m excited to show you the variety of geodynamics and its overlap with other disciplines as an editor of the GD blog team. You can reach me via e-mail.
Anna Gülcher
Hi there! I’m a PhD student in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics group at ETH Zürich, Switzerland. For my current research, I am trying to unravel the chemical recipe of the deep Earth (with an emphasis on trying). I do this by integrating numerical modelling results with geophysical, geological, and geochemical observations. Since I traded in my flat home country (the Netherlands) for the mountainous Switzerland, I tend to escape as much as possible to the Alps for hiking, snowboarding, camping, etc. This is obviously only when I am not doing science, of course… Besides being an editor for the GD blog team, I also represent all early career scientists of the EGU Geodynamics Division as an ECS Rep. You can get in touch with me via e-mail or find my tweets at @AnnaGeosc.
Jyotirmoy Paul
Hello readers! I am a PhD student at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. My research is to investigate the dynamics of the early earth, particularly the origin and evolution of cratons. Other than geodynamics, I consider music as my co-academics. I am deeply interested in bowing instruments and have learnt a few of them. If not a geodynamicist, I might have been an art historian. Understanding various socio-political philosophies has always been interesting to me. I am an avid traveller and explore people’s psychology. Some of these aspects might be reflected in my blog writings. You can reach me via e-mail.
Lucía Pérez Díaz
Hello all! New blog editor here 🙂 I am an industry-based technical specialist in geodynamics, and associate researcher at the University of Oxford. I spend most of my time breaking and shuffling tectonic plates around the globe, finding ways in which to improve current plate modelling techniques and, ultimately, trying to understand the mechanisms driving plate tectonics. I love science communication and you can often find me bringing geodynamics closer to the general public through my role as vicepresident of the Geologists’ Association. I am originally from Galicia, in northern Spain, but I have been living in the UK since 2011. As a keen road cyclist, I greatly miss Galician “fuel” (food!) but quite enjoy the change from leg-breaking mountain climbs to peaceful rolling hills. I do my best to continue practicing my country’s traditions, and can report that siesta is equally good regardless of where you are. You can reach me via e-mail or tweet me @DrPerezDiaz.
Tobias Rolf
Hi geodynamics people (and those who are also passionate about this science), I am a researcher at the Center for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED) at the University of Oslo. I am fascinated by the largest and longest scale around in geodynamics and therefore focus my research on understanding planetary evolution from early on until present-day (yes, computers are obviously my main tool in doing so). I started off doing this for the Earth mostly, but then got excited about the diversity of the other planetary worlds out there, too. Away from the office and planetary evolution, I very much enjoy exploring all corners of a badminton court (actually, even more letting those on the other side of the net explore them!), being outside in nature on foot or bike, or just relaxing with a good book. You can reach me via e-mail.
Antoine Rozel
Hello readers! I am a senior researcher at ETH Zürich. After studying physics (nobody is perfect), I have been working on numerical simulations of mantle convection involving absurd rheologies for quite a while now. I am getting old. I am also interested in crust and craton production in all solar system planets. To make life even more beautiful, I have also finished the conservatory in classical piano and I organised some painting exhibitions in the last years (you can find my gallery here). I have also found recently that – when I do not play pinball or videogames – I can save time by doing both music and sport at the same time by playing Japanese drums (taiko)! You can reach me via e-mail.
Grace Shephard
Hello again, dear readership! I am a researcher at the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED) at the University of Oslo, Norway. My work generally involves having one foot planted on plate tectonics, and the other foot somewhere in the deep mantle, looking for a foothold in structure and composition. If that gives an awkward image, well that’d be about right. I’m Aussie but have been in Norway for 7 years. And, look, I wish I could say I love skiing by now but it still scares the brunost out of me. Else, weissbier, animal facts, chocolate, and splashing around in the ocean is where it’s at. You can reach me via e-mail or over on Twitter @ShepGracie.
The Sassy Scientist
Dear reader, I am still employed at a first tier research institute where I continue to work with the greatest minds to further our understanding of the solid Earth system. Obviously. Whether it is mantle or lithosphere structure and dynamics, solid Earth rheology parameters, earthquake processes, integrating observations with model predictions or inversions: you have read papers of mine. Even if you are working on a topic I haven’t mentioned here, I still know everything about it. Everything. Do you have any problems in your research career? I have already experienced them, though such problems have a way of eluding me. Do you struggle with your work-life balance? Been there, done that. Honestly, this usually works out for me pretty splendidly too. For the second year in a row, I restrain myself to one hobby, and one hobby alone: helping you out by answering the most poignant questions in geodynamics, research, and life. Get inspired, enlightened or marvelled; I am still waiting for you right here.
