Scripps Welcomes Five New Faculty

This academic year Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego welcomes five new faculty members to its academic team. Their diverse research interests span the wide scope of Scripps science, including studies of earth science, marine ecology, and ocean acidification.

Geoffrey Cook

Geoffrey Cook is a new Scripps lecturer. Cook received his Ph.D. in geology from Washington State University's School of Earth and Environmental Stud­ies in 2008. He has served as a lecturer in the University of Rhode Island's Department of Geosciences since 2007. A passionate and experienced teacher, Cook will help Scripps expand its course offerings in UC San Diego's Earth Sciences major and enhance the visibility of the program. Although he specializes in igneous petrology and volcanology, Cook has a broad range of knowledge of earth sciences. He comes to Scripps equipped to teach, among other areas, physical geology, environmental geology, geologic haz­ards, volcanoes and society, mineralogy, tectonics, and volcanology. Also, he is well suited to design and implement new courses in the future.

James Day 

James Day is a new assistant professor in Scripps' Geosciences Research Division. Day, currently a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maryland, will be joining Scripps to main­tain the institution's long tradition of excellence in geochemistry and cosmochemistry. He's experienced both in the field and in the lab as a petrologist, field geologist, geochemist, and cosmochemist studying planetary evolution and mantle geochemistry. Day is interested in understanding solar system formation and the internal dynamics and formation of planets, especially Earth. His current research includes the use of precise isotopic analysis and diverse petrological techniques to understand high-temperature igneous systems, such as ocean island basalt magmatism, lunar formation and evolution, core-mantle interaction, and the differentiation of planets and asteroids.

Darcy Ogden

Darcy Ogden is a new assistant professor at Scripps' Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Plan­etary Physics. Currently a Stanford University postdoctoral fellow in geophysics, Ogden is a theoretical geophysicist who studies the dynamics of explosive volcanic eruptions. Her current focus involves com­plex numerical simulation studies and she specializes in adapting cutting-edge computational models to address research problems. Working in a highly interdisciplinary area that blends geology, physics, applied math, computer science, and aerospace and mechanical engineering, Ogden takes advantage of super­computing power to help solve complex geoscience problems. When she joins Scripps early next year, Ogden hopes to build a research group focused around computational solutions to geoscience problems related to fluids and solids.

Stuart Sandin

Stuart Sandin is a new assistant professor in Scripps' Marine Biology Research Division. His research focuses on community ecology, investigating how organisms interact in complex marine com­munities. His particular interests involve fish and fisheries, with the goal of determining the best way to bal­ance fishing demands today with the perpetuity of fisheries for generations to come. Currently an assistant research marine ecologist at Scripps, Sandin is highly skilled in translating the importance of his research and findings to the public. Most of his research is conducted in tropical coral reef ecosystems of the Pacific and Caribbean. Sandin has coordinated multiple ship- and land-based expeditions to the remote islands of the central Pacific Ocean, with much work conducted in the Line Islands archipelago. Of particular interest in the Line Islands is the gradient of human disturbance across the archipelago-from uninhabited, pristine reefs to moderately inhabited and human-impacted ecosystems.

Martin Tresguerres

Martin Tresguerres is a new assistant professor in Scripps' Marine Biology Re­search Division. Currently a comparative physiologist and postdoctoral associate at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Tresguerres conducts research on a wide range of organisms. His interests include the evolutionary relationships between basic cellular functions and complex "whole animal" physiology. Augmenting Scripps' leadership in ocean acidification, Tresguerres' research at Scripps will include how marine organisms sense and adjust to acid/base disturbances arising from environmental and metabolic variations in carbon dioxide, protons, and bicarbonate ions. His studies have included physiology, cell and molecular biology and biochemistry, but also cover marine invertebrate ecology, marine mammal tax­onomy, and fisheries. Thus, Tresguerres has indicated that these experiences have trained him to always consider the "big picture," even while studying processes at the molecular level.