Tracy Frank (PhD in Geology, 1996, University of Michigan) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research focuses on understanding the evolution of Earth's climate and oceans through the study of ancient marine deposits. Recent fieldwork has taken her to the Great Barrier Reef, Antarctica, and the Australian outback. She has also participated on research excursions run by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program to the Bahamas, to Shatsky Rise in the northern Pacific, and to the Porcupine Basin off SW Ireland. When not geologizing, Tracy enjoys spending time outdoors, tending her vegetable garden, and trying out new recipes on her husband, Chris, who is also a geologist.
Jesse Koch received his M.S. degree in geology from the University of Iowa in 2007. Currently, he is working on his Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research focuses on reconstructing ancient sedimentary environments through the use of field and geochemical data. Jesse’s dissertation is an investigation of how the late Paleozoic ice age (~300 million years ago) impacted tropical carbonate environments. His field area is in south-central New Mexico, which was located in the tropics during the late Paleozoic ice age. Besides geology, Jesse loves to play his guitar and spend time outdoors with his wife, Amber, as well as his two Australian Cattle Dogs. The picture to the left is from a recent class field trip to the Grand Canyon and southern Utah.
Zi Gui received her B.S degree in geology from Beijing University in China in 2007. Now she is a second-year master student working with Dr. Tracy Frank at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research aims to better understand controls on diagenesis and fluid flow in sediment cores from ANDRILL’s Southern McMurdo Sound Project in the Ross Sea of Antarctica. Her current research interests include sedimentary petrography and geochemistry. Zi's hobbies are traveling and movies. The picture at left shows Zi pointing out a Pennsylvanian black shale during a field excursion to southeastern Nebraska.
Jessica Pritchard received her bachelor's degree in geology from Baylor University in 2006. She is currently pursuing a Masters degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she is working on the stable isotope geochemistry of Early Permian carbonates in Western Autralia, with the hopes of shedding some more light on the near-ice demise of the late Paleozoic Ice Age. When not looking at rocks or imparting geologic knowledge to the less aware, Jessica practices her bowling skills and snuggles with her cat, Sasquatch.