Timothy M Shanahan

Timothy M Shanahan
Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences

Email: tshanahan@jsg.utexas.edu
Work: +1 512 232 7051
Office: JGB 5.202
Mailcode: C1100

Tim Shanahan (he/his) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and the Director of the Environmental Science Program (Undergraduate Major). His research is focused on understanding climate change and climate variability and the impacts of climate changes on landscapes, ecosystems and hydrogeology. He uses a variety of geochemical tools (stable isotopes, organics, sediments) to reconstruct past climate changes on a range of timescales, and uses paleoclimate data and climate model simulations to understand the causes of past climate changes. His teaching interests include climate change and water resource availability, sustainability and environmental science. He is also the primary instructor for GEO303 - Introduction to Geology.

You can learn more about the Shanahan research group here:

Click here for the Shanahan Research Group Website

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

Alexander Janelle , Ph.D., expected 2027 (Committee Member)
I am broadly interested in the intersection between karst, water resources, and natural and anthropogenic climate change. Texas' climate is at the convergence between the wet southeast and arid southwest. While this transition historically occurred at the 100th Meridian, it has been moving eastward bringing drier conditions to central Texas. My dissertation research compares proxy data produced from speleothems (cave...

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)

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