Timothy M Shanahan

Areas of Expertise

climate variability, climate change, paleoclimatology, geochemistry, stable isotopes, organic geochemistry, sedimentology, environmental science If you are interested in learning more, please visit research website.

Research Locations

Knebel Distinguished Teaching award - Department of Geological Sciences (2020)

Kavli Fellow - National Academy of Sciences (2012)

NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship - NOAA (2006)

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Postdoctoral Fellowship - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (2006)

NSF-IGERT research traineeship in Anthropology (2003)

McGinnies Fellowship for Arid Lands Studies, U. Arizona (2002)

NSF research traineeship in hydrology (1997)

Outstanding Graduating Senior, Dept. of Geosciences, Brown U. (1994)

National Association Of Geology Teachers Undergraduate Award (1994)

Sigma Xi (1994)

Director, EVS (Environmental Science) Academic Program, (2022)

Graduate Assembly Admissions & Enrollment committee, (2022)

Graduate Assembly member, (2022)

Postdocs

Shannon Loomis, 2013 - 2015
Development of a new calibration for the MBT5ME' paleotemperature index using branched GDGTs in African Lake sediments.

Michael Toomey, 2013 - 2015
Pacific Atoll carbonate sedimentology.

Graduate Students

Erin M Keenan Early (Co-supervisor)
My research explores the use of geomolecular and biomolecular methodologies to address paleoenvironmental and paleoecological questions. Specifically I am researching the use of proteomics as applied to faunal material as a means of species identification and I am exploring the applications of brGDGTs recovered from various sources to aid in paleotemperature reconstruction. My work is largely restricted to the Quaternary,...

Victoria L Todd (Supervisor)

Sophia Bautista (Supervisor)
Sophia Bautista is a PhD student in the Shanahan Lab. Her doctoral research aims to better understand drivers of southern hemisphere hydroclimate over the past glacial-interglacial cycle. She uses geochemical proxies, such as br-GDGTs as a paleotemperature indicators and hydrogen isotopes of leaf waxes as a proxy for precipitation. Her research areas include New Zealand, Australia, and the Southern Rockies.

Natasha Piatrunia, Ph.D., 2022 (Supervisor)
Variations in the Southern Hemisphere westerlies and paleotemperature variations in the southern mid-latitudes from the hydrogen isotope composition of sedimentary leaf waxes and the MBT5ME' paleotemperature index in Lake Pupuke, New Zealand.

Chijun Sun, Ph.D., 2021 (Supervisor)
Controls on the development of storms in the southern Great Plains using hydrogen isotope composition of leaf waxes preserved in Hall's Cave, Texas combined with climate model simulations.

Veronica Anderson, Ph.D., 2015 (Supervisor)
Late Miocene uplift of the eastern cordillera of Colombia using branched GDGT inferred paleotemperatures.

Andrea Miller-Hannah, Ph.D., 2015 (Supervisor)
Stratigraphic and geochemical signatures of past climate change and sedimentology of the Colville Delta, Alaska over the last two millennia.

Travis Wicks, M.S., 2013 (Supervisor)
The use of stable isotope variations in leoporid teeth to reconstruct past climate variations in sedimentary deposits.

Vera Stoynova, M.S., 2012 (Supervisor)
Development of the IP25 sea ice proxy using surface sediments from the Bering Sea. The IP25 index is based on the abundance of a particular alkene produced by diatoms living in sea ice. Abundances of this biomarker in marine sediments can provide a quantitative proxy for the duration of sea ice extent in the surface ocean over a...

Curtis Bixler, M.S., 2012 (Supervisor)
Paleoclimate reconstructions from scanning XRF elemental analysis and branched GDGTs in sediment cores spanning the last two millennia from Lake Chingaza. Colombia.

Megadroughts in the tropics: insights from the geological record, National Academy of Sciences Kavli Symposium: Indonesia, Solo, Indonesia (2012)

New constraints on the use of IP25 as a paleo-sea ice proxy, First workshop of the PAGES Sea Ice Proxy (SIP) working group on the basis of sea ice proxies, Montreal (2012)

Megadroughts, abrupt climate changes and ecosystem feedbacks in the West African monsoon, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, New York (2011)

Ecosystem feedbacks and changes in the West African monsoon, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY (2011)

Abrupt climate change and ecosystem feedbacks in the West African monsoon, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY (2011)

Abrupt climate change and ecosystem feedbacks in the West African monsoon, Texas Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas, TX (2011)

Megadroughts, abrupt climate changes and ecosystem feedbacks in the West African monsoon, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK (2011)

ICDP Drilling at Lake Bosumtwi: Progress and challenges, Workshop on drilling of East African Lakes, Brown University, RI (2011)

Late Holocene megadroughts and temperature changes in the tropics: coherent century-scale climate variability across the tropics, American Geophysical Union annual meeting, San Francisco, CA (2011)

Lakes as archives of environmental change in Southeast Asia, Greater Mekong Delta meeting, Cambodia (2010)

Two millennia of climate change in tropical West Africa: a review., First workshop of the PAGES Africa 2k working group, Ghent, Belgium (2010)

Year	Semester	Course
2024	Spring	EVS 311	Field Smnr In Sustainability
2024	Spring	GEO 382C	Groundwater Field Methods
2024	Spring	GEO 376L	Field Meths In Groundwtr Hydrl
2023	Fall	EVS 141	Envir Sci Professionalism I
2023	Fall	GEO 391	Paleoclimatology
2023	Fall	GEO 371T	Paleoclimatology
2023	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2022	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2022	Summer	GEO f382C	Groundwater Field Methods
2022	Summer	GEO f376L	Field Meths In Groundwtr Hydrl
2021	Fall	GEO 398W	2-Paleoclimate
2021	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2021	Fall	GEO 338W	Paleoclimate
2021	Spring	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2021	Spring	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology-Wb
2020	Fall	GEO 391	Paleoclimatology-Wb
2020	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology-Wb
2020	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2019	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2019	Spring	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2018	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2018	Fall	GEO 391	Paleoclimatology
2018	Fall	GEO 371T	Paleoclimatology
2018	Spring	GEO 394	Rsch In Geological Sciences
2018	Spring	GEO 291	Paleoclimate Seminar
2018	Spring	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2017	Fall	GEO 394	Rsch In Geological Sciences
2017	Fall	GEO 291	Paleoclimate Seminar
2017	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2017	Spring	GEO 394	Rsch In Geological Sciences
2017	Spring	GEO 291	Paleoclimate Seminar
2017	Spring	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2016	Fall	GEO 391	Paleoclimatology
2016	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2016	Fall	GEO 371T	Paleoclimatology
2016	Fall	GEO 191	Paleoclimate Topics Seminar
2016	Fall	GEO 394	Rsch In Geological Sciences
2016	Spring	GEO 391	Paleoclimatology
2016	Spring	GEO 291	Current Topics Paleoclimate
2016	Spring	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2015	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2015	Spring	GEO 302C	Climate: Past, Present, Future
2014	Fall	GEO 394	Rsch In Environmental Change
2014	Fall	GEO 391	Paleoclimatology
2014	Fall	GEO 303	Introduction To Geology
2014	Spring	GEO 302C	Climate: Past, Present, Future

Undergraduate Positions

Stable isotopes as hydroclimatic indicators
I am looking for an undergraduate student researcher to work on the analysis of stable isotopes in natural waters and plant materials. No experience necessary. The student researcher will be trained in extracting water samples on a vacuum system and analysis of stable isotopes using a laser spectrometer. Depending on progress, there may be opportunities to publish this research

Paleoclimate reconstructions in the southern Rocky Mountains
I am looking for one or more undergraduate student researchers to work on paleoclimate reconstructions in the southern Rockies using geochemical indicators in lake sediments. No experience necessary. Depending on progress, there will be opportunities to publish.

Shanahan Research Group Website

Analytical Laboratory for Paleoclimatic Studies (ALPS)