I have completed my PhD at UBC and am a Postdoctoral Associate in the Rock and Mineral Physics Laboratory at the University of Minnesota (new email: ryan0933(at)umn.edu). At UMN I am using high temperature, high pressure experiments to determine the deformation conditions necessary for melt migration within crystal mushes.
I am an experimental volcanologist. I conduct high temperature experiments to explore how the physical and transport properties of volcanic materials change as a result of deformation.
Some of my past research topics include: retrograde solubility of water in rhyolitic melts; vesiculation dynamics in silicic melts; relationship between country rock competence and kimberlite pipe morphology; effective viscosity of bubbly magmas; rheology and permeability of deforming magmatic foams.
During my doctorate I used high temperature experimentation to study the conditions for and timescales of solid-state sintering and associated permeability loss in crystal-rich rock powders.
Here is a short invited blog post describing my primary PhD project.
