Elizabeth J Catlos

Areas of Expertise

Tectonics, geochronology, petrology, and metamorphic geology. Garnet and accessory-mineral (zircon, monazite) geochronology and pressure-temperature (P-T) paths. Himalayan lineaments, the Main Central Thrust, and earthquake geohazards in Nepal. Extension, transfer zones, and Hellenic arc subduction in western Anatolia (Turkey). Western Carpathian exhumation and critical minerals (Slovakia). Detrital zircon U-Pb dating of early land biotas, including Cooksonia (UK). Impact chronology (Ames impact structure, Oklahoma; Slate Islands, Ontario). More at https://catloslab.org/

Current Research Programs & Projects

Collaborative Research: Fault or Not? Unraveling the Role of Himalayan Lineaments in Controlling Geohazards and Orogenic Segmentation in Nepal ( view )

Detrital garnet provenance: tracking sediment sources before and after Hurricane Helene

Himalayan evolution from detrital garnet: the Siwalik record

Western Anatolia: extension, transfer zones, and the Hellenic arc

Western Carpathian extrusion, exhumation, and critical minerals

Timing Earth terrestrialization by plants and early animals

Impact chronology in North America

Max Kade Distinguished Visiting Professor - Heidelberg University (2017 - 2017)

Carolyn G. and G. Moses Outstanding Teaching Award for Introductory Geoscience Course (GEO401) - UT Austin (2015)

Outstanding Reviewer, Earth and Planetary Science Letters - Elsevier (2015)

Notable Paper for Catlos (2013) "Generalizations about monazite: Implications for geochronologic studies" American Mineralogist - Mineralogical Society of America (2013)

Texas Exes Teaching Award - Texas Exes (2011)

Fulbright Lecturing Award - Fulbright (2008 - 2009)

Donald D. Harrington Fellowship - University of Texas at Austin (2007 - 2008)

Fellow of the Geological Society of America - Geological Society of America (2007)

Young Scientist Award (Donath Medal) - Geological Society of America (2006)

Junior Faculty Award - Oklahoma State University (2006)

Outstanding Reviewer - Geological Society of America Bulletin (2006)

Fellow - Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics (2000)

Predoctoral Fellowship - Smithsonian Institution (1997)

Summer Research Fellowship - NASA Specialized Center for Research and Training in Exobiology (1994)

Associate Editor, AGU Books, Wiley Publications (2020)

Associate Editor, Editorial Board, International Union of Geological Sciences, Episodes (2015)

Councilor/Chair, Arthur L. Day Medal Awards Committee, Geological Society of America (2015 - 2016)

Associate Editor/Editorial Board member, Geodinamica Acta: The European Journal of Geodynamics, Geodinamica Acta (2015)

Liaison, Student Advisory Council, Geological Society of America (2015 - 2017)

Member, Ad hoc committee focused on IIGs and Divisions, Geological Society of America (2015 - 2017)

Councilor/Conferee (Non-Voting), Diversity in the Geosciences Committee, Geological Society of America (2014 - 2017)

Councilor, Doris M.Curtis Memorial Fund for Women in Science Committee, Geological Society of America (2014 - 2016)

Liaison, Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, Volcanology Division, Geological Society of America (2014 - 2017)

Liaison, Structural Geology and Tectonics Division, Geological Society of America (2013 - 2017)

Elected Councilor, Geological Society of America Council, Geological Society of America (2013 - 2017)

Standing Review Board Member, Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer-Mass Spectrometer (MOMA-MS), Mars Program Office (MPO) Intake/Entrance Review, NASA (2013 - 2014)

Leader, Workshop for Early Career Geoscience Faculty, On the Cutting Edge (2013)

Reviewer, Review of the Faculty Activities Report electronic system, UT Austin (2013)

Reviewer, Selection Committee for Faculty-Led Programs for Summer Abroad, UT Austin (2013)

Chair, South Central Section Management Board, Geological Society of America (2013)

Presenter, Event to promote STEM education/careers for girls through Earth Science education, GirlTalk (2013)

Member-at-Large, Young Scientist Award Committee-Donath Medal, Geological Society of America (2012 - 2015)

Vice Chair, South Central Section Management Board, Geological Society of America (2012 - 2013)

Co-Chair, GSA Annual Meeting Session 207 Advances in Mineralogy and Petrology, Geological Society of America (2012)

Undergraduate Advisor, Dept. Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences (2012 - 2013)

Lead Science Instructor, 10th Grade Arizona GeoForce Field Trip, GeoForce (2012)

Reviewer, Committee to interview and mentor UT students applying for the Fulbright Study Abroad program, UT Austin (2012)

Undergraduate Advisor, Environmental Science program, Environmental Science Institute-Dept. Geol. Sciences (2012 - 2013)

Lead Science Instructor, 10th Grade Arizona GeoForce Field Trip, GeoForce (2011)

Reviewer, Committee to interview and mentor UT students applying for the Fulbright Study Abroad program, UT Austin (2011)

Panel Member, Mars Science Laboratory Participating Scientist Review, NASA (2011)

Independent Review Team Member, Independent Review of the MOMA - Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometer (LDMS), NASA (2010)

Invited participant, Workshop Planning Activity to highlight best practices that integrate across multiple dimensions of university internationalization, particularly in science and engineering areas, NSF-Office of International Science and Engineering (2010)

Expert Witness, 93rd Judicial District, Hidalgo Country, Texas, Griffith and Garza, L.L.P. (2010)

Panel Member, Astrobiology Science & Technology for Exploring Planets, NASA (2010)

Lead Science Instructor, 10th Grade Arizona GeoForce Field Trip, GeoForce (2010)

Reviewer, Committee to interview and mentor UT students applying for the Fulbright Study Abroad program, UT Austin (2010)

Board Member, South Central Section Management Board, Geological Society of America (2009)

Campus Representative, Campus Representative for the Fulbright Program for the University of Texas, Austin, Fulbright (2009)

Vice President, Austin Chapter of the Fulbright Alumni Association, Fulbright Alumni Association (2009)

Panel Member, Review of instruments Urey: Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector and Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA), NASA (2007)

Panel Member, Planetary Instrument Definition and Development Program, NASA (2007)

Co-Chair, Fall AGU Meeting, Extensional Tectonics in the Basin and Range Province of North America and the Aegean Region of Eastern Europe and Western Anatolia Session, American Geophysical Union (2007)

Co-Chair, GSA Annual Meeting Session T53 Teaching Instrumentation to Geoscience Students: Course Design, Objectives, and Presentations, Geological Society of America (2006)

Co-Chair, Fall AGU Meeting, Post-Collisional Extension Session, American Geophysical Union (2006)

Lead Science Reviewer, Planetary Instrument Definition and Development Program, NASA (2005)

Lead Science Reviewer, Mars Science Laboratory/Sample Analysis at Mars, NASA (2005)

Panel Member, Interdisciplinary Exploration Science Review, NASA (2005)

Co-Chair, Fall AGU Meeting, Extensional Tectonics and Metamorphic Core Complexes: Their Metamorphic, Petrographic, and Kinematic Evolution Session, American Geophysical Union (2005)

Co-Chair, GSA Annual Meeting Session T87 Recent Advances in Himalayan Geology, Geological Society of America (2004)

Panel Member, Mars Science Laboratory Panel, NASA (2004)

Panel Member, Mars Instrumentation and Development Panel, NASA (2003)

Panel Member, Tectonics Panel, National Science Foundation (2002)

Co-Chair, GSA Annual Meeting Session 6 Metamorphic Petrology I, Geological Society of America (2001)

Co-Chair, Fall AGU Meeting, Thermal Structure of Tibetan and Himalayan Lithosphere: Implications for Geodynamic Models of the India-Asia Collision Session, American Geophysical Union (1999)

I mentor undergraduate, M.S., and Ph.D. students in field, laboratory, and data-driven geoscience. I am recruiting one fully funded M.S. or Ph.D. student for the NSF-supported Fault or Not? Himalayan Lineaments project in Nepal (2026-2029). Details, application steps, and registration for the prospective graduate student information session are at https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/himalayan-lineaments/student-opportunities/ . Current lab members are listed at https://catloslab.org/lab-members/

Graduate Students

Tori Burnette , M.S., expected 2028 (Supervisor)

Jessica Clarke (Supervisor)

Thomas Etzel, Ph.D., 2020 (Supervisor)
Department of Geosciences, UT Austin

Andrew Parisi, M.S., 2018 (Supervisor)
Department of Geosciences, UT Austin

Kate Atakturk, M.S., 2014 (Supervisor)
Department of Geosciences, UT Austin
Kate's research focused on obtaining pressure-temperature conditions and ages from garnet-bearing rocks from the southern portion of the Menderes Massif in western Turkey. Her research included a field season in Turkey, and geochemical work at UT Austin. She is currently employed as a geologist by Hess Corporation.

Karen Black, M.S., 2012 (Supervisor)
Department of Geosciences
Karen Black completed her Master's Thesis in 2012 (Geochemical and Geochronological Relationships between Granitoid Plutons of the Biga Peninsula, NW Turkey). She conducted fieldwork in Turkey in 2011 and used the UCLA ion microprobe to date zircon grains in situ in the rocks. To understand the meaning of the ages, she used cathodoluminescence equipment in the Bureau of Economic Geology...

Kathryn Huber, M.S., 2011 (Supervisor)
Department of Geosciences
Katie completed her Master's Thesis in 2011, titled "Geochemistry and geochronology of meta-igneous rocks from the Tokat Massif, north-central Turkey." She collected highly-altered meta-igneous rocks from a region in north-central Turkey that records the closure of two ancient oceans. The goal of the research was to directly date the samples to determine their sources and ages, and to develop a...

Lauren Jacob, M.S., 2011 (Supervisor)
Department of Geosciences
Lauren graduated with her Master's degree in 2011. Her thesis is titled: "Remote Sensing, Geochemistry, Geochronology, and Cathodoluminescence Imaging of the Egrigoz, Koyunoba, and Alacam Plutons, Northern Menderes Massif, Turkey." She conducted fieldwork in the northern Menderes Massif in western Turkey in 2010, and dated zircons in the rocks using the UCLA ion microprobe. She spent the rest of that...

Courteney Baker, M.S., 2009 (Supervisor)
Oklahoma State University
Courteney was a student of mine when I was at Oklahoma State University and her thesis is titled: "Timing Extension in the Menderes Massif in Western Turkey Using Electron Microprobe, Ion Microprobe and Cathodoluminescence." She was also supervised by Dr. Anna Cruse. Her project involved dating monazite from two detachment-exhumed granites in western Turkey to determine the timing of extension...

Cenk Ozerdem, M.S., 2004 (Supervisor)
Oklahoma State University
Cenk was my graduate student when I was at Oklahoma State University. His thesis is titled: "Thermobarometric constraints on the Evolution of the Menderes Massif (western Turkey): Insights into the Metamorphic History of a Complexly-deformed Region." He generated peak pressures and temperatures from garnet-bearing rocks collected from a large-scale metamorphic core complex in western Turkey to understand the tectonic history...

Undergraduate Students

Current undergraduate researcher:
Sana Virani (Petroleum Engineering; minors in Computer Science and Data Science), 2025-present. Classifies internal textures and zoning in cathodoluminescence images of zircon grains and builds standardized geological datasets for quantitative analysis.

I have mentored 30 undergraduate researchers since 2011, several of whom co-authored peer-reviewed papers. A full list is at https://catloslab.org/lab-members/ .

New insights into the uplift of the Himalayas through advances in metamorphic petrology, Heidelberg University, Institute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg, Germany (2017)

New insights into the uplift of the Himalayas through advances in metamorphic petrology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Dept. Earth and Environmental Sciences, Munich, Germany (2017)

Response to slab roll-back: Revealing the geodynamic history of western Turkey from the Biga Peninsula to the Menderes Massif, Geological Society of America 2016 GSA Topical Session, Denver, Colorado (2016)

Timing subduction processes via in situ (in thin section) zircon and baddeleyite geochronology: Examples from northern Turkey, Geological Society of America 2015 GSA Topical Session, Baltimore, Maryland (2015)

Invited Seminar, Louisiana State University, Dept. Geological Sciences, (2013)

Invited Seminar, Undergraduate Geological Society, UT Austin, Dept. Geological Sciences, (2011)

Invited Seminar, Pennsylvania State University, Geosciences Department (departmental talk), (2010)

Invited Seminar, Pennsylvania NASA Space Grant Consortium (general talk to broader community), (2010)

Invited Seminar, University of Arkansas, Department of Geology, (2008)

Invited Seminar, Texas Earth Science Revolution program, Austin, TX (2008)

Invited Seminar, Yale University, Department of Geology and Geophysics, (2007)

Invited Seminar, University of Michigan, Department of Geological Sciences, (2007)

Invited Seminar, UT Austin Jackson School of Earth Sciences, (2007)

Invited Seminar, Virginia Tech., Blacksburg, Department of Geosciences, (2006)

Invited Seminar, San Francisco State University, Department of Geology, (2005)

Invited Seminar, University of Houston, Department of Geosciences, (2005)

Invited Seminar, University of Missouri-Columbia, Dept. of Geological Sciences, (2005)

Invited Seminar, Utah State University, Department of Geology, (2004)

Invited Seminar, University of Kansas, Department of Geology, (2004)

Invited Seminar, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Department of Geosciences, (2004)

Invited Seminar, UT Dallas, Department of Geosciences, (2004)

Invited Seminar, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Department of Geology Seminar Series, (2003)

Invited Seminar, UT Austin, Jackson School of Earth Sciences, (2003)

Invited Seminar, Arkansas-Oklahoma Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, (2002)

Invited Seminar, Oklahoma State University-Phillips Petroleum, Electron Microprobe Presentation, (2002)

Invited Seminar, Kansas State University, Department of Geology, (2002)

Invited Seminar, University of Kansas, Department of Geology, (2002)

Invited Seminar, University of Oklahoma, School of Geology and Geophysics, (2002)

Invited Seminar, University of California, Riverside, Dept. of Earth Science, (2001)

Invited Seminar, Florida State University; Dept. Geological Sciences; 2 talks, (2001)

Invited Seminar, Oklahoma State University; Boone Pickens School of Geology, (2001)

Year	Semester	Course
2026	Spring	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks
2025	Fall	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks
2025	Spring	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks
2024	Fall	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks
2024	Fall	GEO 381F	Microstructrs/Rock Rheology
2024	Spring	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks
2023	Fall	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks
2023	Fall	GEO 302Q	Gems And Gem Minerals
2023	Fall	GEO 347K	Gems And Gem Minerals
2023	Spring	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks
2023	Spring	GEO 341F	Microst And Rock Rheology
2022	Fall	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks
2022	Fall	GEO 302Q	Gems And Gem Minerals
2022	Spring	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks
2022	Spring	GEO 341F	Microst And Rock Rheology
2022	Spring	GEO 381F	Microstructrs/Rock Rheology
2021	Fall	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks
2021	Spring	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks-Wb
2021	Spring	GEO 390R	Anly Meth: Elec-Microbeam Tech
2021	Spring	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series
2021	Spring	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series-Wb
2020	Fall	GEO 302N	Geology Of National Parks-Wb
2020	Fall	GEO 416K	Earth Materials
2020	Fall	GEO 416K	Earth Materials-Wb
2020	Fall	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series-Wb
2020	Spring	GEO 401	Physical Geology
2020	Spring	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series
2019	Fall	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series
2019	Fall	GEO 302K	Geology Of National Parks
2019	Spring	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series
2018	Fall	GEO 416K	Earth Materials
2018	Fall	GEO 391	Thermodynamics Petrologic Sys
2018	Fall	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series
2018	Spring	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series
2018	Spring	GEO 394	Rsch In Geological Sciences
2018	Spring	GEO 401	Physical Geology
2018	Spring	GEO 171T	International Learning Seminar
2017	Fall	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series
2017	Fall	GEO 394	Rsch In Geological Sciences
2017	Summer	GEO f401	Physical Geology
2017	Spring	GEO 386	Metamorphic Petrology
2017	Spring	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series
2017	Spring	GEO 394	Rsch In Geological Sciences
2016	Fall	GEO 193	Technical Lecture Series
2016	Fall	GEO 394	Rsch In Geological Sciences
2016	Fall	GEO 416K	Earth Materials
2016	Spring	GEO 401	Physical Geology
2016	Spring	GEO 171T	International Learning Seminar
2016	Spring	GEO 193	Technical Sessions
2015	Spring	GEO 401	Physical Geology
2015	Spring	GEO 386	Metamorphic Petrology
2014	Fall	GEO 416K	Earth Materials
2014	Spring	GEO 401	Physical Geology