News & People

We are extremely disappointed that our NSF award that supports the AGeS3 initiative was terminated on April 25, 2025.

Please join us on May 7 during the AGeS symposium in which we will focus on cataloguing impacts on geochronology, gathering information about the effects of the AGeS termination, and developing a plan to write a contribution about these impacts.

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29 April, 2025: New Paper in Geology and Feature Highlight in Science Showing How Agricultural Erosion Far Exceeds Glacial Erosion in the Upper Mississippi River Valley.

Congrats to Shanti Penphrase on their new paper in Geology, and feature in the journal Science. This study shows that Euro-American agriculture caused erosion rates in the Upper Mississippi River Valley to increase 8–12 times above natural rates seen during dramatic climate changes of the last 30,000 years. This work was supported by a 2021 AGeS-Grad award. Congrats to Shanti! 

16 April, 2025: New Paper in Lithos on Temporal and Spatial Scales of Garnet Growth Associated with Serpentinization

Congrats to John M. Brigham on their new paper in Lithos on the timing and distribution of garnet growth during serpentinization at Belvidere Mountain, Vermont. The study sheds light on how garnet forms in response to fluid-rock interactions, revealing both the spatial extent and temporal evolution of metamorphic processes in ultramafic rocks. This work was supported by a 2023 AGeS-Grad award. Congrats to John! 

December 16, 2024: AGeS Grad Info session

  • AGeS PIs Becky Flowers and Ramon Arrowsmith, along with AGeS cohort lead Jacky Baughman and previous AGeS-Grad awardee Jonathan Anaya, held an information session by zoom about AGeS-Grad to explain the program, answer questions, and describe previous awardee experiences. Click below for the video recording and the PDF of the slideshow.

December 1, 2024: AGeS-Grad submission portal is now open!

  • The AGeS-Grad submission portal is now open. The proposal deadline is February 4, 2025! For more information about the program and application process, click here.

November 21, 2024: AGeS Steering Committee meeting

  • The AGeS Steering committee met for updates and discussion about the 2024 TRaCE proposal cycle, the upcoming 2025 AGeS-Grad proposal cycle, and rotation of steering committee members.

November 13, 2024: New Paper in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research on the Evolution of Eruption Rate by AGeS awardee Nick Meszaros!

  • Congrats to Nick Meszaros on their new paper in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research on the evolution of eruption rate between two caldera-forming eruptions in the Jemez magmatic system in New Mexico. This work was supported by a 2021 AGeS-Grad award. Congrats to Nick! 

November 12, 2024: Close-out meeting of the 2023 AGeS-Grad Cohort

  • The AGeS-Grad ’23 awardees met for the final cohort meeting associated with their AGeS projects. The meeting included updates and listening sessions in breakout groups.

November 2, 2024: AGeS Geochronology at SACNAS Conference!

  • AGeS Geochronology was at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) National Diversity in STEM (#2024NDiSTEM) Conference in Pheonix, AZ this week! A big thanks to all who stopped by to say hi👋 and learn about the resources AGeS has to offer! 

October 8, 2024: AGeS TRaCE proposal deadline!

September 18, 2024: AGeS Community Spotlight of Kris Hashberger, AGeS-Grad 2024 Awardee

  • Check out new AGeS Community Spotlights! We are currently spotlighting Kris Hashberger. Samantha is an MS student at New Mexico Tech. Their research focuses on sediment transport and tectonics. 

September 5, 2024: AGeS-TRaCE Info session

  • AGeS PIs Becky Flowers and Ramon Arrowsmith held an information session about the new AGeS-TRaCE program on  to explain the program and answer questions. Click below for the video recording and the PDF of the slideshow.

September 5, 2024: New Paper in Quaternary Geochronology on Observations on Luminescence Depth Profiles by AGeS awardee Tristan Bench!

  • Congrats to Tristan Bench on their new paper in Quaternary Geology on observing impacts on luminescence depth profile evolutions from surface altered quartzite using OSL laser scanning and controlled light exposed rock sampling techniques. This work was supported by a 2023 AGeS-Grad award. Congrats to Tristan! 

August 1, 2024: AGeS-TRaCE submission portal is now open!

  • The 2024 AGeS-TRaCE submission portal is now open. The proposal deadline is October 8, 2024! For more information about the program and application process, click here.

July 24, 2024: New Paper in PNAS on the Variability of Southeast Asian Autumn Monsoon Rainfall by AGeS awardee Elizabeth Patterson!

  • Congrats to Elizabeth Patterson on her new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on glacial changes in sea level modulating millennial-scale variability of Southeast Asian autumn monsoon rainfall! This work was supported by a 2020 AGeS-Grad award. Congrats to Elizabeth! 

July 22, 2024: New paper in the Journal of Petrology on Magma Storage Preceding the Last Caldera-Forming Eruption of the Bandelier Magmatic System by AGeS awardee Nicholas Meszaros!

  • Congrats to Nicholas Meszaros on his new paper in the Journal of Petrology on Ten Thousand Years of Magma Storage Preceding the Last Caldera-Forming Eruption of the Bandelier Magmatic System, New Mexico, USA! This work was supported by a 2021 AGeS-Grad award. Congrats to Nicholas! 

May 7, 2024: Virtual AGeS Community Symposium

  • AGeS scholars met for an open community symposium on Advancing Geochronology Science, Spaces, and Systems on May 7th. The meeting comprised of invited talks, presentations from AGeS projects, and rountable discussions on geochronology community activitites and geochronology advances! Recordings of the session have been made available here. 

May 6, 2024: AGeS-Grad Cohort Meeting 

  • AGeS-Grad ‘23 and ‘24 awardees met for a Spring AGeS-Grad Chort Meeting on May 6th! 

May 1, 2024: AGeS Community Spotlight of Samantha Dunn, AGeS-Grad 2023 Awardee

  • Check out new AGeS Community Spotlights! We are currently spotlighting Samantha Dunn. Samantha is an MS student at Cal State Fullerton and a new member of the AGeS Network Committee. Her research focuses on magmatic systems. 

April 19, 2024. 2024 AGeS-Grad awardees announced! 

  • Congratulations to this year's group of 22 AGeS-Grad awardees! The 2024 projects were funded at an average award amount of $8690. You can find the list of the awardees, their project titles, and the geochronology techniques that they will be using on the AGeS website here, as well as details of the review process here.

April 19, 2024. 2024 AGeS-TRaCE solicitation release

  • The 2024 AGeS-TRaCE solicitation has been released! AGeS-TRaCE is a new funding mechanism that seeks and supports community-driven ideas for addressing geochronology needs, such as capturing, formalizing, and disseminating not-yet-standardized geochronology knowledge, and providing opportunities for collaborative discussion on key geochronology challenges related to human-, technical-, or cyber-infrastructure.
  • These awards will provide up to $10,000 (no overhead) for projects aimed at addressing needs in training and community engagement within the broad field of geochronology. Deadline is October 8, 2024. The proposal submission portal will open on the TRaCE-How to Apply page approximately two months before the proposal deadline.

April 1, 2024. New paper in Tectonophysics on the Neogene-Quaternary initiation of the Southern Malawi Rift published by AGeS awardee Oyewande Ojo!

  • Congrats to Oyewande Ojo on his new paper out in Tectonophysics on the initiation of the Southern Malawi Rift and linkage to the reactivated Carboniferous-Jurassic Shire Rift. This work was supported by a 2020 AGeS-Grad award. Let's go Oyewande! 

March 5, 2024: AGeS Community Spotlight of Dr. Gilby Jepson, Head of the STOUT (Structure, Tectonics and OU Thermochronology) Lab

  • Check out new AGeS Community Spotlights! We are currently spotlighting Dr. Gilby Jepson. Gilby is an assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma and head of the STOUT Lab, one of the newest AGeS labs! The STOUT Lab specailizes in laser ablation fission-track thermochronology (LAFT), which allows for FT, U-Pb and trace element analysis of a single spot. Check out STOUT Lab and all the other Chronology Labs that support AGeS proposals!

February 13, 2024: New paper in GSAB on the history of the Muddy Creek Basin published by AGeS awardee Haley Thoresen!

  • Congrats to Haley Thoreson on her new paper out in GSAB on a stratigraphic and geochronologic investigation of the Muddy Creek Basin, and its implications for the Eocene tectonic evolution of southwest Montana. This work was supported by a 2021 AGeS-Grad award. Congrats to Haley! 

January 10, 2024: AGeS Community Spotlight of Dr. James Metcalf, Lab Manager of CU TRaIL

  • Check out new AGeS Community Spotlights! We are currently spotlighting Dr. James Metcalf. James is the manager of the University of Colorado's Thermochronology Research and Instrumentation Laboratory. Check out CU TRaIL and all the other Chronology Labs that support AGeS proposals!

December 20, 2023: AGeS-Grad Info session

  • Project team members Becky Flowers and Ramon Arrowsmith, along with AGeS cohort lead Jacky Baughman and previous AGeS-Grad awardee Haley Thoreson, held an information session about AGeS-Grad on December 20, 2023  to explain the program, answer questions, and describe previous awardee experiences. Click below for the video recording and the PDF of the slideshow.

December 3, 2023: AGeS-Grad submission portal is now open!

  • The AGeS-Grad proposal submission portal is now open! The proposal deadline is February 1, 2024. For more information about the applicaton process go to the How to Apply page.

December 1, 2023: AGeS Community Spotlight of New Mexico Tech PhD Student, Jon Anaya

  • Check out new AGeS Community Spotlights! We are currently spotlighting Jon Anaya, a PhD Student at New Mexico Tech. Jon is an AGeS-3 Awardee studying provenance, exhumation, and deformation of the Mongolian Altay using detrital zircon U/Pb and (U-Th)/He double dating. The 2024 AGeS-Grad Submission Portal opens on December 1, 2023 and proposals are due February 1, 2024.

September 11, 2023. New paper in Tectonicson the history of the Denali fault system in Alaska published by AGeS awardee Trevor Waldien!

  • Congrats to Trevor Waldien on his new paper out in Tectonics on suture reactivation, slip partitioning, and a protracted strike-slip rate gradient in the Denali fault system of southern Alaska. This work was supported by a 2015 AGeS-Grad award. Trevor is now an Assistant Professor at South Dakota Mines and currently serves on the AGeS Steering Committee.

September 1, 2023: AGeS Community Spotlight of the Cal Poly Humboldt Tectonics Research Cohort

  • Check out new AGeS Community Spotlights each month! The September Spotlight is for Liz Aparicio, Jane Martinez, Dennis Lindelof, Emily Shiver, Jacob Aguilera, and Lisa Elconis - all undergradute Cal Poly Humboldt students that participated in thermochronology reserach with Profs. Jacky Baughman and Melanie Michalak. The 8-member cohort was funded by an inaugural AGeS-DiG award - the AGeS-DiG submission portal is now open!

August 29, 2023. New paper in GSAB on the Sierra Nevada batholith construction published by AGeS awardee Maddie Lewis!

  • Congrats to Maddie Lewis on her new paper out in GSAB on the record of mantle inputs and crustal thickness from mafic intrusions in the Sierra Nevada batholith. This work was supported by a 2019 AGeS-Grad award. An added congrats to Maddie on starting her new Assistant Professor position at the University of Wyoming!

August 29, 2023: AGeS-DiG Information Session

Project team members Becky Flowers and Ramon Arrowsmith, along with previous AGeS-DiG awardees Bella Bennett and Jacky Baughman, held an information session about AGeS-DiG on August 29, 2023 at 11 am-12 pm Mountain Time to explain the program, answer questions, and describe previous awardee experiences. Click below for the video recording and the PDF of the slideshow.

August 23, 2023: AGeS-DiG Info session scheduled for Tuesday August 29

  • We will be holding an information session about AGeS-DiG on Tues August 29, 2023 at 11-12 am Mountain Time to explain the program and answer questions as proposals are contemplated and prepared. Previous AGeS-DiG awardees will discuss their experiences.  The session will be by ZOOM and will be recorded, posted on the website, and available for review afterwards:
    • https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/96384992180
    • Meeting ID: 963 8499 2180
    • Passcode: 524531

August 4, 2023: AGeS-DiG submission portal is now open!

  • The AGeS-DiG proposal submission portal is now open! The proposal deadline is October 1, 2023. For more information about the applicaton process go to the How to Apply page.

August 1, 2023: AGeS Community Spotlight of PhD Candidate, Megan Gillen  

  • Check out new AGeS Community Spotlights each month! The August Spotlight is Megan Gillen, a PhD candidate of the MIT-WHOI joint program. Megan is an AGeS-3 Awardee studying coastal geomorphology using OSL. 

July 17, 2023: New paper in PNAS about the Cambrian explosion by AGeS awardee Lyle Nelson!

AGeS awardee Lyle Nelson published a new paper in PNAS that more accurately constrains the timing and duration of the Cambrian explosion. This work was supported by a 2020 AGeS-Grad award. Congrats to Lyle! 

June 29, 2023: AGeS is now on Twitter!

  • Please follow us on Twitter @AGeSGeochron

June 1, 2023: AGeS Community Spotlight of Dr. Nicolas Perez-Consuegra 

  • Check out new AGeS Community Spotlights each month! The June Spotlight is Dr. Nicolas Perez-Consuegra, a Postdoc at MIT and soon to be Asst. Professor at Weber State Univeristy in Utah. Nicolas is an AGeS-2 Awardee, and an inaugral member of the AGeS Network Commitee. 

May 17, 2023: New paper in Geology about the Andean arc by Lisa Zieman

  • Lisa Zieman (formerly Lisa Grohn) published a new paper in Geology on research that better constrains the thermal and density structure of the modern northern Andean arc. This work was supported by a 2019 AGeS-Grad award.

May 10, 2023: New DiG project profile of Bella Bennett

  • Check out the new project profile by Bella Bennett on her AUGR (Authentic Undergraduate Geoscience Research) project funded by DiG centered around using cosmogenic nuclides to measure erosion rates in Puerto Rico.

May 3, 2023: First meeting of the 2023 AGeS-Grad cohort

  • The 2023 AGeS-Grad cohort gathered on zoom with AGeS project team members Jacky Baughman, Becky Flowers, and Ramon Arrowsmith to discuss their projects and get to know each other.

May 1, 2023: AGeS Community Spotlight of Bryce Belanger 

  • Check out new AGeS Community Spotlights each month! The May Spotlight is Bryce Belanger, a PhD student at the Vanderbilt University and AGeS-Grad 2021 awardee.

April 19, 2023: AGeS Steering Committee meeting

  • The AGeS3 Steering Committee met for updates on the AGeS-Grad proposal cycle and for detailed discussion, input, and edits on the AGeS-DiG program solicitation.

April 2, 2023: 22 new AGeS-Grad Awardees announced for the 2023 cohort!

  • 22 graduate students are awarded up to $10k each to carry out collaborative reserach in AGeS Geochronology labs! Check out the funded projects here. 

April 1, 2023: AGeS Community Spotlight of Haley Thoresen 

  • Check out new AGeS Community Spotlights each month! The April Spotlight is Haley Thoresen, a PhD student at the University of Idaho, AGeS-2 Awardee, and an inaugral member of the AGeS Network Commitee. 

Feb 22, 2023: First AGeS Steering Committee meeting

Feb 13, 2023: New blog post by DiG undergraduate student Nailah Johnson about her research project

  • Check out this blog post by undergraduate student Nailah Johnson, who worked on research that was funded by the AGeS-DiG program! Nailah was part of an AGeS-DiG project lead by Dr. Chuck Bailey (College of William & Mary) and worked in the geochronology lab at the University of Texas at Austin.

Feb 1, 2023: AGeS-Grad Proposal Deadline

  • The AGeS-Grad proposal submission portal will open December 1, 2022. The proposal deadline is February 1, 2022. For more information about the applicaton process go to the How to Apply page.

Dec 1, 2022: AGeS-Grad Information Session

Project team members Becky Flowers, Ramon Arrowsmith, and Jacky Baughman, along with previous AGeS-Grad awardees Haley Thoreson and Nicolas Perez, held an information session about AGeS-Grad on December 1, 2022 at 10-11 am Mountain Time to explain the program, answer questions, and describe awardee experiences. Click below for the video recording and the PDF of the slideshow.

October 26, 2022: New article about AGeS-DiG undergraduate research project at the UVM cosmogenic lab on erosion rates in Puerto Rico

New article on a DiG-supported undergraduate research program at the University of Vermont lead by DiG awardee Bella Bennett. The project created an experiential learning opportunity for underrepresented students in geology and geochronology. Multiple undergraduate participants presented their research at the Geological Society of America meeting in Denver.

October 7-8, 2022: AGeS-Geochronology workshop

Project team members Becky Flowers, Ramon Arrowsmith, and Jim Metcalf organized an AGeS Geochronology workshop for 1.5 days before the GSA National Meeting in Denver. Go to the AGeS Reports & Presentations page to see the workshop summary, pdfs of invited presentations, and workshop schedule.