Marek Locmelis
Marek Locmelis is an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Bureau of Economic Geology in the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. He is an economic geologist with expertise in geochemistry, petrology, planetary evolution and analytical chemistry.
His research focuses on the genesis of magmatic, hydrothermal and sedimentary ore deposits and the development of novel mineral exploration strategies. Locmelis' research also investigates pathways towards increasing the domestic supply of critical minerals, including the enhancement of critical mineral recovery from existing production streams, reprocessing of historic mine waste materials, and through improving economic geology-related STEM education.
Locmelis is a fellow of the Society of Economic Geology (SEG) and the Chair of the SEG Graduate Student Fellowship Program. He received a 2014 NASA postdoctoral fellowship award to investigate the processes that control the toxicity/habitability of planetary atmospheres and a 2020 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award for his research on translithospheric metal transport by magmatic-hydrothermal fluids.
Prior to joining UT Austin in August 2024, he was an Assistant and then Associate Professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri (2016-2024) and a postdoctoral fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland (2014-2016) and the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia (2011-2014). Locmelis holds a Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and a Diploma (MSc equivalent) and Pre-Diploma (BSc equivalent) in Geosciences from the University of Hannover, Germany
Areas of Expertise
Critical minerals, economic geology, ore deposits, empirical and conceptual exploration targeting, translithospheric mass transfer, ethical and sustainable mining
Research Locations
Faculty Research Award - Missouri University of Science & Technology (2023 - 2023)
Fellow - Society of Economic Geologists (2022 - 2022)
CAREER Award - National Science Foundation (2020)
Junior Faculty Award - Missouri University of Science & Technology Mines and Metallurgy Academy (2018)
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship Award - NASA (2014)
Postdocs
Bolorchimeg Tunnell, 2023 - 2024, Missouri University of Science & Technology
Graduate Students
Shelby Clark , Ph.D., expected 2027 (Supervisor)
Regan Swain , M.S., expected 2026 (Supervisor)
Shelby Clark, M.S., 2024
(Supervisor)
Missouri University of Science & Technology
Fe-Ni-Cu-PGE Sulfide Transport Mechanisms and Carbon-Sulfur Interactions in Lower Crustal Magmatic Settings: A Study from the Valmaggia Ultramafic Pipe, Ivrea-Verbano Zone, Italy
Brandon Sullivan, Ph.D., 2023
(Supervisor)
Missouri University of Science & Technology
A Comparative Geochemical Study of Oxide Mineralization in IOA and IOCG Deposits in Southeast Missouri
Gabriela Ramirez, M.S., 2022
(Supervisor)
Missouri University of Science & Technology
Using Lake Sediment Chemistry in the Exploration for Nickel Laterite Deposits in Tropical Regions
Bolorchimeg Tunnell, Ph.D., 2021
(Supervisor)
Missouri University of Science & Technology
The Pilot Knob, Shepherd Mountain, and Cedar Hill Iron Oxide Deposits in Southeast Missouri - Local Expressions of a Magmatic-Hydrothermal Plumbing System?
Kaylin Tunnell, M.S., 2020
(Supervisor)
Missouri University of Science & Technology
Mineral Compositions of Meteorite Samples ALHA 77005, NWA 7397, NWA 5480 and Ausson: Implications for Geodynamic Processes on their Parent Bodies and Reclassification
Daniel Warbritton, M.S., 2019
(Supervisor)
Missouri University of Science & Technology
Exploration for Alteration Halos Around the Ag-W Deposits in Southeastern Missouri, USA