The NSF CAREER grant supports early-career faculty as they pursue a lifetime of leadership integrating research and teaching in the sciences. Stevens Goddard, an assistant professor and the Lee J. Suttner Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences within the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB), is also the founder and leader of the fission track lab at IUB.
Andrea L Stevens Goddard, Lee J. Suttner Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
"The NSF CAREER grant supports a study investigating how much erosion rates change in response to vegetation," said Professor Stevens Goddard. She and her research team at the College of Arts and Sciences use the geological record of the past as an experiment spanning millions of years. "We're looking at layers of sedimentary rocks that were deposited on the surface of the earth during times before land plants had evolved, and during different stages of land plant evolution," Stevens Goddard noted. "The rocks give us an experiment at a size and scale and over millions of years that we could never set up in a laboratory."
Stevens Goddard and her team aim to find grains of sand that were deposited when land plants evolved. Those grains of sand hold chemical signatures of how fast they moved from deep in the earth to the earth's surface, providing a way to measure how fast rock was removed. "We want to understand if it's easier or harder to remove earth materials from one region to another through erosion with or without plants."
Stevens Goddard's research will focus on rocks in the Midwest, because, the Midwest's rocks are well preserved and tell a very old story, Stevens Goddard explained. "Whereas if you go to another region to look at rocks the same age as ours, tectonic activity may have smashed them together, or pulled apart, or hot liquids may have destroyed the record of we're looking for. .."
This work is important, Stevens Goddard explained, because it allows scientists to track where earth materials are removed in one place and redeposited somewhere else as sedimentary rock layers. These are the same rock layers we go to for our water resources, our hydrocarbon resources, and increasingly even our mineral resources. "If we can better understand and predict better how this process works, particularly on these timescales of millions of years, that's important for us as a society." It may also inform scientists about how these processes may be applied to other planets like Mars, to see if erosion there may offer clues as to whether vegetation, and thus life, was ever a feature on the planet.
The NSF CAREER grant will support graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher at IU Bloomington. As the study's Principal Investigator, Stevens Goddard and her team will work in her lab, and visit various labs around the country, collaborating with other scientists.
"The NSF CAREER grant is an investment in early career scientists," said Stevens Goddard. "It's important to note that the investment that IU makes in its faculty is essential for the campus to be competitive for these big awards. For example, startup funding support from the University allowed me to build my lab. It was critical to show funders like NSF that I'm in a place in my career, and at an institution, where I can do this cutting-edge research. This investment in the faculty is one of the reasons I came to IU."
About the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington
The College of Arts and Sciences is the beating heart of Indiana University Bloomington and traces its roots to IU's founding in 1820. Part of a leading R1 (Research 1) university, the College has more than 70 academic departments offering undergraduate and graduate degrees within and across the natural and mathematical sciences, the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences. In addition, the College is home to the Media School, the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.
College faculty are groundbreaking researchers and dedicated teachers and mentors to students. With an array of options, opportunities, and experiences to choose from, students are able to prepare for fulfilling work as well as a meaningful life. More than 90 percent of our undergraduates report a successful career outcome six months after graduation. Learn more at college.indiana.edu.
