Get Herald RSSAssociate Professor of Geological Science Gregory Hirth MSc'87 PhD'91 has traveled around the globe to perform research in geology, but now, his research has led him back to College Hill.
A former Brown doctoral student, he received his master's and doctoral degrees in geological sciences, conducting research in rock rheology, the study of the flow of material and the processes that allow rocks to form at high temperatures.
After completing post-doctoral work at the University of Minnesota, Hirth worked as a research scientist in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1993 until last summer.
"The big goal is to predict the behavior of the Earth by understanding the snapshots of today and making predictions from the past about what is going to happen in the future," Hirth said. "It is a bit of archaeology and history studies applying physics to fieldwork."
Hirth is not finished with fieldwork. With twenty years of research experience under his belt, Hirth is excited to have this opportunity to continue his research while teaching undergraduates.
He said he came back to Brown for two reasons - "the Brown philosophy that brings together (a) liberal arts college with top-notch research university" and "the Brown faculty and students that challenge and help me to re-evaluate what I have learned from the field."
Hirth's short-term plan is to gradually move back to the lab and re-assess the data garnered from his years of fieldwork. His long-term goal is the practical application of lab theories that have resulted from his continued geological fieldwork.
Hirth was previously a research affiliate in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work has been published in journals including Geology, Nature, Earth and Planetary Sciences and Tectonophysics. He is also a member of the American Geophysical Union and a fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America.
