Olivia Barbee

Background

About Olivia Barbee

I’m a geologist with over a decade of international research experience across academia and industry. I have broad interests in mineral growth, magmatic processes, and (more recently) ice dynamics. I specialize in deciphering crystal records through a detailed forensic approach using integrated textural and geochemical analyses. My latest research focuses on developing applications of novel 3D X-ray imaging modalities to ice and rock-forming minerals. Creativity and acute observational detail are hallmarks of my work. Over the years, I’ve used many analytical techniques, yet problems in contextualizing data persist with conventional 2D methods. I'm currently pioneering the development of correlative, lab-based absorption and diffraction contrast tomography for rocks, a type of 3D imaging that can be integrated with 2D downstream analyses. I've worked with students and scientists of many cultural and educational backgrounds and have built international collaborations across geology and materials science disciplines, between academia and industry. I’m passionate about contextual, observation-driven science and maintaining its place in geoscience research and education. I have acquired funding as a PI from the Innovation Fund of Denmark, U.S. National Science Foundation, Zeiss Microscopy, and the Geological Society of America. My past and current research projects focus on crystal records in silicic magma systems that produce caldera-forming eruptions (with particular focus on the Toba Caldera Complex in Sumatra, Indonesia); caldera resurgence from a geochronological perspective of uplifted lacustrine sediments and post-caldera volcanism; petrological volcano monitoring and eruption response (2021 Tajogaite eruption, La Palma); developing 3D crystallographic X-ray imaging of natural minerals while alpha-testing commercial software (correlative, lab-based absorption and diffraction contrast tomography); and developing 3D correlative X-ray imaging of polar ice-core microstructures (in collaboration with ice and climate scientists at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen). I've taught hundreds of students through numerous teaching assistantships and a Visiting Assistant Professorship at Whitman College (Washington state, USA). Lecture/lab-based courses I've designed and instructed include Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Introductory Geology. Lab courses I taught as a graduate student include Mineralogy, Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, and Introductory Geology. If you are interested in my work or want to collaborate, please get in touch.