Eric Mittelstaedt (Group Director) - Eric is an Associate Professor at the University of Idaho.  He earned his Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Hawaii in 2008.  Subsequently, Eric was an NSF International Research Fellow with Anne Davaille at Université Paris Sud in Orsay, France and then a Post-Doctoral Investigator with Adam Soule and Dan Fornari at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.  Eric arrived at the University of Idaho in January of 2013 where he has since established the Idaho Geodynamics Group.  Undertaking studies into a wide range of topics including mantle plume dynamics, plume-ridge interaction, faulting, the role of Large Low Velocity Provinces on Earth cooling, hydrothermal circulation, and the interior structure of the Earth using neutrinos. Eric and his students employ field work, laboratory models, state-of-the-art numerical simulations, and innovative cross-disciplinary methods to push the boundaries of our knowledge of the Earth.
Daniel King (graduate student, PhD) Danny began work with Dr. Mittelstaedt as an undergraduate researcher working on the 2016 Popping Rocks cruise and acting as the Science Expert and Sound Manager on Pakicetus the first marine-geology video game to be developed by Dr. Mittelstaedt as part of his NSF CAREER award. In his PhD work, Danny is implementing a method for dynamic dike injection to enable quantification of the role of physical magma emplacement during diking on the formation of mid-ocean ridge jumps. 
Yael Hernandez-Deniz (graduate student, PhD) is creating a new, cross-disciplinary tool: Neutrino Oscillation Tomography of the Earth (NOTE). This new tool will leverage the sensitivity of neutrinos (low mass, elementary particles) to the composition (ratio of atomic number to atomic mass) and density of matter. Yael will integrate existing geophysical constraints into this framework, yielding a unified method for estimating LLSVP properties
Maria-Clara (MC) Rapoza  (graduate student, PhD) is using 3D numerical simulations to unravel the role of magmatic heating of the off-axis lithosphere on the formation and propagation of new ridge segments after a jump of a mid-ocean ridge.  MC did her undergraduate work at Colgate University, graduating in the Spring of 2023.  She joined the Idaho Geodynamics group in the Fall of 2023. 
Maddie Young  (graduate student, PhD) is working as part of an interdisciplinary team at the University of Idaho and UC Berkeley to to develop a new, cross-disciplinary tool with the potential to transform approaches to studying interactions between biological evolution (colonization, speciation, extinction) and geological development of volcanic island habitats (island emergence, growth, and subsidence) with a focus on the Galapagos hotspot track. Maddie graduated with her B.S. from University of Wisconsin-Madison in Spring 2023 and joined the Idaho Geodynamics group in Fall 2023. 

Former Group Members

Former members of the Idaho Geodynamics Group.
Jordan Pentzer​
Graduating with his B.S. in Geology in 2022, Jordan continued the work of Emma Niedholdt on the entrainment of deep mantle materials into upwelling mantle plumes.​  Jordan performed both numerical and laboratory experiments during his time with the Idaho Geodynamics Group.
Emma Niedholdt
David Behrens
Thomas Morrow
Emma graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in Geology. As a member of the Idaho Geodynamics group, she performed laboratory experiments of entrainment in mantle plumes.
David completed his degree in geology at the University of Idaho and is now working on a MS in hydrology.  David identified microplastics in deep-sea sediment cores collected during a 2016 expedition to the the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
In August of 2019, Thomas graduated with a PhD from the Department of Geological Sciences. He used numerical models, gravity measurements, and structural observations of the sea floor to understand mantle plumes, transform faults, and fracture zones.

Kate Kaminski

Aurore Sibrant

Derek Neuharth
Kate complete her Masters of Science in Geological Sciences at the University of Idaho in December of 2016.  She studied the relationship between deformation and noble gas content in peridotite shear zones of the Josephine Ophiolite, in SW Oregon.
Aurore worked in the Idaho Geodynamics group as a GeoPRISMS post-doc studying controls on the distribution of magmatism in the East African Rift valley and laboratory experiments with Anne Davaille at U. Paris Sud on the evolution of mid-ocean ridges. Aurore started a new post-doc at the University of Brest in October 2017.
Derek  completed his Masters Degree in Geological Sciences at the University of Idaho in Summer, 2018. He studied how deep-mantle dynamics may affect surface volcanism along hotspot island chains. He is currently working on a PhD at GFZ in Potsdam, Germany.