Donna Whitney, professor in the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota, USA, is one of the first 74 researchers from 25 countries to be funded within this initiative by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
She will arrive at the University of Potsdam this month and is hosted by the mineralogy group of Prof. Max Wilke at the Institute of Geosciences in Golm. During her stay she intends to develop new concepts for estimating redox conditions in subduction-related rock metamorphism, potentially a key mechanism for oxygen release to the atmosphere in geological history.
The geologist is well known internationally for her outstanding research on the evolution of the Earth’s crust and lithosphere and mantle-surface exchange. To assess the genetic conditions of the outer layers of the Earth, she uses field observations and analyzes the chemical and physical properties of rocks as well as thermodynamic relationships of mineral assemblages. Her findings can help to better understand the control of deep-seated processes on the Earth's surface and the atmospheric system, as well as the long-time evolution of Earth's atmosphere and biosphere.