Dr. Alex Pullen joined the faculty of Clemson University in August 2017 as an Assistant Professor. Alex earned an M.S. and Ph.D. from the Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona before doing postdoctoral research at the University of Rochester and the University of Arizona. His research during graduate school concentrated on the tectonic evolution of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. A hard rock geologist and geochronologist by training, his current research interests cross traditional disciplinary boundaries to engage scientists in paleoclimatology and ocean-atmospheric sciences. Dr. Pullen’s current research focuses on: the spatial-temporal relationships between the formation of orographic barriers through mountain building, aridification, wind-erosion, and dust emission; the methods and application of U-Th-Pb geochronology to sediment provenance; eolian processes and landscape evolution; and collisional orogenesis and rollback tectonics.
Dr. Andrew Metcalf joined Clemson University as an Assistant Professor in August 2017. His research focuses on measurements of atmospheric air pollution across scales – from microscale experiments in the laboratory to large-scale field projects to characterize pollutants in the ambient atmosphere. Dr. Metcalf earned a B.S. and M.S. in meteorology from Penn State University and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering from Caltech, specializing in measurements of black carbon aerosol particles. He completed postdoctoral work at the University of Minnesota where he developed microfluidic tools to measure thermodynamic properties of atmospherically-relevant aerosol liquid samples. At Clemson, Dr. Metcalf’s research group will continue developing the microfluidic platform for ambient aerosol measurements towards lab-on-a-chip solutions for miniaturizing air pollution measurements. His research will also use emissions from management practices at the Clemson Experimental Forest to understand how small biomass burning sources contribute to local air quality.
