The Florida Planets Lab

Profiles

Steve Elardo

Assistant Professor

PhD: University of New Mexico
Post-Doc: Geophysical Lab,
Carnegie Institution for Science

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My C.V.

I joined the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Florida in fall 2018 as an Assistant Professor of planetary geochemistry. I use a variety of techniques, including high-pressure and -temperature experiments, studies of planetary samples, and stable isotope geochemistry to learn about how planets separate into a core, mantle, and crust, and how differentiation affects the magmatic evolution of planets.

Daniel Astudillo

PhD Student

BSc: Universidad de Chile, Santiago

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Daniel joined the Planetary Geochemistry group in August 2019 after doing an undergraduate thesis on the 2015 eruption of the Calbuco volcano in Chile. For his PhD, he’s working on the origin and inter-sample relationships between lunar plutonic crustal rocks from Apollo 17 and what those relationships mean for the age of the lunar crust, experimentally investigating phase transitions in high-Ti magma ocean cumulates in the deep mantle, and expanding the use of phase equilibria software to planetary compositional systems.

Elizabeth Pesar

PhD Student

BSc: Queens College

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Liz joined the Department of Geological Sciences with a UF Graduate School Preeminence Award in Fall 2020. She is interested in using geochemical and petrological lab techniques to study early Earth and planetary formation. For her PhD, she is studying iron isotope variations found in terrestrial peridotites and lunar basalt samples to better understand the evolution of the Earth-Moon system.

McKayla Meier

PhD Student

BSc: Oregon State University
MS: University of Idaho

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Personal Site

McKayla joined UF and the Florida Planets Lab in 2023, but has worked with UF on the GeoSPACE Project for a couple of years. She has broad research interests in petrology and geochemistry of planetary lavas, planetary volcanism, terrestrial analogs, and lava-water interactions. In her PhD work, McKayla will be focusing on developing new methods to assess the origin of lunar silicic magmatism and on exploring the lithologic diversity of the lunar crust.

Emily Sonnenberg