Laura Crossey
Laura J. Crossey is the 2019 Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer for the Hydrogeology Division of the Geological Society of America. She is a professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico. She received her Bachelor’s degree in geology at Colorado College (1977) and Master’s degree at Washington University in St Louis (1979). She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming (Laramie, Wyoming, USA) in 1985 on the Origin and Role of Organics During Burial Diagenesis under the direction of Dr. Ronald C. Surdam. She joined the faculty at UNM in 1986. Her research group explores applications of low-temperature geochemistry to problems in hydrochemistry, diagenesis, geomicrobiology, and geothermal processes. Her research approach combines field examination of modern environments (water, gas, geomicrobial materials and sediments) with laboratory analysis as well as core and outcrop study to evaluate paleohydrology, spring sustainability and reservoir/aquifer characteristics. Related activities include geoscience outreach, K-12 outreach, and science education research as well as programs to increase the participation of under-represented groups in science. Her research on carbonic springs has taken her to the Great Artesian basin of Australia, the Western Desert of Egypt, and the Tibetan Plateau Laura has served the hydrogeologic and broader geoscience communities on proposal and academic program review panels and volunteer boards. She has been a member of GSA since 1997 and a Fellow since 2012. She was awarded Lifetime Membership to the New Mexico Geological Society on the basis of her service. She has served as President and past-President of the Sedimentary Geology Division, convened many topical sessions at GSA national meetings, and served as Technical Program Chair for the Rocky Mountain Division. She has served as Associate Editor for GSA Bulletin, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta and Applied Geochemistry, and was editor of SEPM Special Publications. She and her husband Karl Karlstrom were awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award by the American Institute of Professional Geologists in 2015 for designing and building the Trail of Time, a geoscience exhibition at the Grand Canyon (funded by the National Science Foundation, and recognized as Best Wayside Exhibit by the National Association for Interpretation in 2011).
Abstracts this author is presenting: