Brandon is a PhD candidate interested in understanding the controls on postfire sediment transport in steep landscapes of Southern California. Prior to Penn State, Brandon worked at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project where he was in charge of the installation and calibration of stormwater bioretention weirs. He received his B.S. in Environmental Sciences at the University of California Riverside in 2020 researching sediment and microplastic transport in concrete rivers. He enjoys mountain biking, hiking, and reading about the late Roman Republic, and supporting Duck's Donuts #41.

I am interested in granite petrology broadly. I am currently working to understand how felsic magma chemistry evolves at the latest stages of crystallization. My samples come from all over the world and across geologic time. The goal is to eventually apply these findings to the Early Earth to gain new perspectives on the evolution of continental crust from formation to the present. I currently operate the LionChron laser ablation lab, analyzing multiple minerals, rocks, and other materials for my own work and other projects. 

A plant person