Katharine Huntington, nee Ruhl
assistant professor
university of washington - department of Earth & Space sciences
tectonics, landscape
evolution & Climate
I study the interactions of tectonics, landscape evolution and climate, and how the evolution of Earth’s surface and shallow crust both reflect and record these interactions. The research tools my group uses & develops draw from the fields of regional tectonics, structural geology, geomorphology, sedimentology, and geochemistry (both geochronology and isotope geochemistry) and include field-based, laboratory, and numerical modeling approaches.
I am particularly enthusiastic about the application of carbonate clumped isotope thermometry and detrital mineral thermochronology of modern river sediments. Together, they shed light on erosion, surface processes, the thermal evolution of the crust, and the elevation and climate history of Earth’s surface.
My latest interests include paleo-topography and paleo-climate reconstructions, temporal and spatial scales of erosion and sediment delivery, transients in mountain ranges related to climate change, and regional geology including Himalaya-Tibet, western North America, and the Andes.
CONTACT
EMAIL: kate1 @ uw.edu
FIND ME: Office - Johnson Hall 353
Lab - Johnson Hall 318; IsoLab (3rd Floor Johnson)
Phone - 206.543.1750
Fax - 206.543.3836
MAIL: University of Washington Box 351310
Seattle, WA 98195-1310
NEWS
5/2013: Congrats to grad student Karl Lang, whose paper on megaflood erosion has been accepted for publication in Geology! Karl also just won the Coombs Teaching Award and Departmental Service Award.
1/2013: Grad student Landon Burgener completed field season in the Andes in Chile. Kate and grad students Karl Lang and Mike Turzewski, together with WWU grad student Graham Messe, completed field season in the Himalaya of NE India.
12/2012: Congratulations to grad student Karl Lang who submitted a paper on erosion of the Tsangpo gorge by megafloods.
11/5/2012: Kate received the Geological Society of America’s Young Scientist Award (Donath Medal) for 2012, presented at fall GSA.
http://www.geosociety.org/awards/index.htm#donath
9/15/2012: Welcome new grad students Mike Turzewski and Landon Burgener.
8/21/2012: Check out this article featuring Kate’s ACS-PRF project in collaboration with students Sarah Bergman, Gerd Winterleitner, and David Birlenbach, and colleague Juliet Crider.
6/8/2012: Congratulations to Sarah Bergman and Nathan Peters, who successfully defended their Masters research projects and submitted their papers to EPSL and AJS!
5/7/2012: Lab member Katelyn Atakturk was named this year’s College of the Environment Undergraduate Dean’s Medalist!
3/21/12: Grad student Karl Lang gave Seattle Town Hall lecture on “How to build a mountain range”
9/26/11: Kate was one of 14 scientists nationwide invited to a White House ceremony hosted by Michelle Obama and the National Science Foundation. Even cooler: NSF makes changes to allow early-career faculty to more easily care for dependents while continuing their work.
LINKS: Washington Post OpEd
