Faculty
Research interests: continental deformation, field mapping, thermochronology
Fun fact: he developed a planetarium-based movie on plate tectonics for elementary school students.
Who is Nathan Niemi?
This is the more formal term used to describe the density of a mineral.
Alex is a dumbass and attends competitive Super Smash Bros. tournaments. Before making Smash Bros., game director Masahiro Sakurai created a series starring this beloved character: one of the first 12 playable characters in the franchise.
Who is Kirby?
This pizza chain is based in Ann Arbor but was founded in Ypsilanti.
What is Domino's?
At just below 0 degrees Celsius, snow is (sometimes) observed to undergo this physical process - the direct transition from solid into gas.
What is sublimation?
Research interests: geobiology, biogeochemical processes
Fun fact: she has 273 followers on Twitter
Who is Jena Johnson?
This term refers to the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in today's scientific observations applied in the past and apply everywhere in the universe.
What is uniformitarianism?
Mike used to play varsity basketball in high school and is a fan of the local Detroit Pistons. In an event known as the "Malice at the Palace", this small forward from the Indiana Pacers - who has had his name legally changed several times - was shoved by the Pistons center and got egged on by a member of the crowd to start a brawl.
Who is Metta Sandiford-Artest? (aka Metta World Peace, Ron Artest)
This widely renowned "basso profondo" voice actor grew up in Manistee, Michigan and attended the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, & Dance.
Who is James Earl Jones?
Climate scientists are concerned about ice sheets melting because they are better at reflecting sunlight than darker surfaces. This is the term used to describe such a property, with values ranging from 0 to 1.
What is albedo?
Research interests: paleoclimate modeling
Fun fact: He grew up in southwestern Montana.
Who is Chris Poulsen?
This type of rock - typically consisting of quartz, mica, and some feldspars - is formed out of contact metamorphism, is dark in color, and is rich in silicates.
What is hornfels?
Cameron has spent a couple of years in his family's original hometown: Bristol, England. On a ship out of Bristol, this Venetian became the first European to land on mainland America in 1497.
Who is John Cabot?
Ann Arbor was founded in 1825, named after the wives of the founders (who were both named Ann) and the stands of these kinds of trees.
What are bur oak trees?
Road salt (NaCl - halite) is used to de-ice roads through this process, during which the solid/water mixture will reach equilibrium at a lower temperature than with pure water. (Hint: a very literal name)
What is freezing point depression?
Research interests: stable and clumped isotope geochemistry, biogeochemistry
Fun fact: He follows a Twitter account called "Rage Against the Miocene" (paleoclimatologist based in Bristol, Europe)
This event, occurring ~250Ma ago, is widely attributed to ocean anoxia and acidification due to CO2 emissions from the Siberian traps. It is also known as the largest known mass extinction of insects.
What is the Permian-Triassic extinction? (End-Permian; 'Great Dying')
Sally competed in cross country all throughout high school and ran as part of a club in college. The first ever 26.2 mile Olympic marathon was held at the 1908 Olympics in this European world capital.
What is London?
Darren Criss was featured in a rendition of this musical based on a fan-favorite fictional series and originally developed in Ann Arbor.
What is 'A Very Potter Musical'?
The most snow ever recorded from a single storm was estimated to be 189 inches (15.75 feet), which occurred in February 1959 at this location in Northern California.
What is Mount Shasta?
Research interests: petrology, volcanism
Fun fact: ~wild~ guy
Who is Adam Simon?
Magnetostratigraphy is used to date sedimentary and volcanic sequences, and the samples are analyzed to determine this property - the polarity of Earth's magnetic field at the time a stratum was deposited.
What is detrital remanent magnetism (DRM)?
Julia has broken the same tooth six times. Humans have these four types of teeth. (List all 4.)
What are incisors, canines, premolars, and molars?
Ann Arbor is the birthplace of this far-left anti-racist political collective founded in November, 1968.
What is the White Panther Party?
With more than 7,000 known glaciers, this Asian country has more glacial ice than any other country outside the polar regions.
What is Pakistan?