Our International Rep represents the international TSG community at the TSG annual meetings, and offers ideas and initiatives for TSG that would be attractive or supportive to international members. They also offer a link to the international community’s interests and activities relevant to the TSG. Moreover, they promote and liaise with potential international (European based) hosts for our AGM.

Alyssa Abbey (since 2020)

Alyssa Abbey is a postdoctoral fellow at the Berkeley Geochronology Center and the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, she earned a BS in Geosciences and a BA in French from the University of Arizona, Followed by a PhD from the University of Michigan. Working with Dr. Nathan Niemi at the University of Michigan she used thermochronometric and geochronologic methods to explore processes related to both continental rifting and long-lived topography by studying the development of the Rio Grande rift, and the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Alyssa’s current research interests revolve around crustal and surface deformation related to active tectonics and fault growth. To explore confounding large-scale tectonic questions related to the development of continental rifts, fold-thrust-belts, and relict landscapes she uses field-based approaches in combination with low-temperature thermochronometry and cosmogenic radionuclide dating methods. Her work aims to address the timing and rates of mountain building and erosional responses related to different processes at different but often overlapping timescales. Her existing projects include studying fault growth and paleo-erosion in the Andean Precordillera (San Juan, Argentina), exploring heat flow and records of water-rock interaction in the Sierra Nevada (CA, USA), paleo-topography preservation and river incision in the Colorado Rocky Mountains (CO, USA), extensional deformation in the western most Basin and Range (CA & NV, USA), and thermochronometry modeling methods testing (QTQt & HeFTy). She is also interested in science communication efforts and is actively involved in programs dedicated to enhancing youth science learning (“Be a Scientist” & storytelling/narrative writing and research), as well as increasing informal education to the public (The Biota Project).

Email | Webpage