The Lead Scientists

Dr. Robert Hatfield (Assistant Professor, Geological Sciences, University of Florida)
Rob is a paleomagnetist, marine geologist, and sediment stratigrapher interested in investigating and understanding the timing of, and processes that contribute to, the evolution of the earth system. His research focuses on developing new chronological, paleomagnetic, and environmental magnetic records from sediments to develop an improved understanding of past environmental change. He has worked on these problems across the globe including work in the United Kingdom, Peru, Guatemala, and Greenland, along the margins of Chile and Greenland, and in the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He publishes these findings in scientific journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Communications, Geology, Quaternary Science Reviews, and Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Rob is the Co-Chief Scientist of the Research Cruise to Baffin Bay.

Dr. Shannon Klotsko (Assistant Professor of Geology, Department of Earth and Ocean Science and Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington)
Shannon is a marine geologist with research focuses on continental margin evolution during the late Quaternary and understanding the impacts of processes such as sea level fluctuations, tectonics, and climate. Previous and current research topics include, glacial lake outburst floods, submerged paleolandscapes and fluvial drainages related to the peopling of the Americas, and recent tectonic deformation. Her research has been undertaken in the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic, California (Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Northern Channel Islands, SoCal Borderlands), Oregon, North Carolina, and New England. She uses seafloor mapping tools (multibeam bathymetry, sidescan sonar) and high resolution subbottom data (Chirp), along with sediment cores to study these topics.

Dr. Brendan Reilly (Assistant Research Professor, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University)
Brendan is a seagoing geological oceanographer, and he explores the deep sea to uncover clues about how the Earth works. He’s worked in locations such as Greenland, Antarctica, the North Pacific, Arctic, and Indian Oceans.  Brendan’s research focuses on the mud that accumulates on the seafloor over time, which provides a unique window into the Earth’s history. By studying this mud, he can observe how the Earth’s systems have changed over time, from the dynamics of ice sheets to the behavior of the planet’s magnetic field. Brendan is also the Director of the Lamont-Doherty Core Repository, a massive collection of deep sea sediment cores from around the world. These cores provide researchers with invaluable insights into the Earth’s past.