Gokce Ustunisik
Education
B.S., Geological Engineering, Ankara University, 2001
M.S., Geology, Ankara University, 2004
Ph.D., Geochemistry, University of Cincinnati, 2009
Brief Bio
Dr. Ustunisik is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Geology & Geological Engineering and Curator of Minerals at Museum of Geology. Dr. Ustunisik began her career as a terrestrial petrologist and volcanologist applying field, analytical, and thermodynamic modeling to a variety of petrologic problems. She earned her Ph.D. at University of Cincinnati (2009), followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Stony Brook University (2009-2012) where she extended her research to experimental planetary petrology and cosmochemistry. From 2012-2016, she worked as Katherine Davis research fellow at American Museum of Natural History and Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. After joining to SD Mines as a tenure-track faculty in 2016, she built the Experimental Petrology laboratory in the department that serves as her main research facility. Dr. Ustunisik is the lead of IEDA Experimental Community (EARTHCHEM) and manages Library of Experimental Relationships (LEPR) and traceDs databases.
Research Expertise
Dr. Ustunisik is an experimental petrologist and high-temperature geochemist who focuses on the processes that control the chemical signature of igneous materials. Her planetary research emphasis is on the role of magmatic volatiles (water, Cl, F, S, C) in affecting mineral/ fluid stability and primary compositions of the planetary magma oceans; and the importance of processes such as magmatic differentiation, volatile loss, magmatic fluid/rock interactions on the development and modification of lunar and martian crust and chondrule precursor melts. For her terrestrial research she focus on quantifying the geochemical signal of processes such as crystallization, mixing, diffusive re-equilibriation, and degassing that are often preserved in the zoning and reaction rims of minerals; changes in major and trace element composition of phenocrysts and melt; and volatile elements (Cl, F, S, C, H, and OH) in mineral-hosted melt inclusions. Combining experimental, analytical and numerical modeling, Dr. Ustunisik examines processes that take place on the mineral scale (10s of microns) and apply them to processes that occur at the planetary scale (1000s of kilometers). She conducts laboratory experiments (piston cylinder, one-atm quench/gas mixing furnaces) to recreate conditions in regions inaccessible by drilling or other means of direct observation. For analysis of natural samples, meteorites, and experimental run products; she uses a variety of microanalytical tools including electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and Raman spectroscopy. Areas of focus include “Petrology of Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts”, “Carbon Sequestration and Biomineralization”, “Trace Element Partitioning Experiments and Predictive Modeling”, “Big Data Petrology”, and “Planetary Petrology and Cosmochemistry”. Majority of Dr. Ustunisik’s research was funded by several programs under NSF such as MGG/EAR, OCE, EarthCube, Geoinformatics, CBET, MRI; SD Board of Regents; SD Space Grant Consortium; and Institute of Mineral and Library Services.
Teaching
Dr. Ustunisik teaches two required undergraduate courses, GEOL 212/212L Mineralogy and Crystallography/Lab (3 cr, Every Fall) and GEOL 341/341L Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology/Lab (3 cr, Every Spring) for geology and geological engineering majors. She also teaches two graduate-level courses GEOL 744 Volcanology (3cr., Spring Even) and GEOL 721 Planetary Geology (3cr., Spring Odd) for students in geology, geological engineering, paleontology programs in the department in addition to seminars, undergraduate research, and special topics/independent study courses.