Lee Drake

Background

About Lee Drake

I specialize in scientific instrumentation, principally X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF). I've worked with multiple XRF instrumentation in art conservation, archaeology, geology, and agronomy, among others. I current work for Bruker as a trainer for XRF instruments; I travel to locations all around the world to install these systems and tailor their use to various research problems. This includes developing applications, quantitative calibrations, research protocols, and when applicable hardware modifications to the instrument. I have worked with a diverse range of materials, including mounted paintings, sculptures, frescos, wall paintings, pigments, glass, obsidian, archaeological ceramics, modern art, stratigraphic profiles, industrial materials, coating thickness, biological materials, nanotubes, manuscripts, liquids, and radioactive materials. I also built and currently maintain an XRF users website, which includes animated tutorials, online videos, and multiple manuals, documents, and other materials: My research interests include geochemistry and how past climate change has affected human societies. I have published multiple papers in peer-reviewed journals, including PNAS, PLoS One, the Journal of Archaeological Science, Radiocarbon, and the Holocene. One paper, concerning the collapse of civilization in the Late Bronze Age, has been referred to by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, LiveScience, and Eric Cline's best-selling book 1177 B.C: The Year Civilization Collapsed. In the past I have taught college courses at the University of New Mexico, including World Archaeology (220), Data Analysis in Anthropology (450), and a graduate-levels course in Advanced Problems (597). My course work has focused on world history, basic and advanced statistics, and writing for both graduates and undergraduates.