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 plume-ridge interaction, faulting, and hydrothermal circulation, Eric and his students employ field work, laboratory models, and state-of-the-art numerical simulations to push the boundaries of our knowledge of the Earth.
Felix Thieme (Doctoral Student): A first-year PhD student whose work will focus on the evolution of the Earth's mantle through different convective routines to help constrain the onset of plate tectonics on Earth and other planets. Felix will use the numerical model ASPECT to simulate billions of years of mantle evolution.
Daniel King (undergraduate researcher) is a senior at the University of Idaho earning a degree in Environmental Science. Danny is working with Dr. Mittelstaedt to constrain 46 Myrs of faulting and crustal thickness variations along a ship transect in the Atlantic Ocean.  Danny is using gravity, magnetic, and bathymetry data collected during the 2016 Popping Rocks cruise.  Additionally, since June, Danny has been 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.
Jordan Pentzer (undergraduate researcher) is working to complete his degree in geology at the University of Idaho.  Jordan is continuing work began by former Idaho Geodynamics Member Emma Niedholdt on the entrainment of deep mantle materials into upwelling mantle plumes.

Former Group Members

Former members of 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.