Summary
Rood is a leader in the application of cosmogenic isotopes and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) to studies in the Earth sciences, specifically as applied to Earth surface processes, active tectonics, climate change, and earthquake hazards. His expertise combines quantitative field and laboratory methods to produce high-quality innovative research, which is funded by public agencies and industry (~£2M since 2008, including 3 NERC and 3 NSF awards). In his time at Imperial, he has raised >£100K in research funding per year. He has published in the highest-profile international journals in his field and across the sciences (113 peer-reviewed papers since 2009, averaging >10 papers per year for the last 6 years, including 1 in Nature, 3 in Science, 2 in PNAS, 2 in Nature Geoscience, and 6 in Geology, with a total of 3650 citations and h-index 35). He is currently the Director of the CosmIC Laboratory at Imperial, organizer of the Surface Processes Research Group, and a founding member of the Imperial Centre for Geohazards. He coordinates teaching of 4 undergraduate courses (including 2 field classes, and 2 courses that he has designed from scratch), all with excellent student feedback (>90% average student satisfaction in his lecturing). He has supervised 1 postdoc, 2 technical staff members, 4 PhD students, and 11 MSci students to completion, and currently supervises 1 postdoc, 3 PhD and 1 MSci students at Imperial. His prestigious early career awards include a NSF Earth Science Postdoctoral Fellowship (2010) and Lawrence Scholar Fellowship (2005).
BIOGRAPHY
Professional Preparation
University of California at Santa Barbara, Geological Sciences, Ph.D., 2010
Dissertation title: Spatiotemporal patterns in glaciation and deformation across the Sierra Nevada—Walker Lane transition (Advisor: Dr. Douglas Burbank)
Wesleyan University, Earth and Environmental Science, B.A., 2002
APPOINTMENTS
Senior Lecturer in Earth Science, Imperial College London, (Lecturer for Surface Processes class, advanced sedimentology and structural geology field class in the Spanish Pyrenees, and Applied Geomorphology class that includes GIS-based practicals and a field trip in southern Wales), 2019-present
Lecturer in Earth Science, Imperial College London, 2015-2019
Research Fellow, University of Glasgow & AMS Laboratory, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (Advisor to undergraduate and graduate students and lecturer for undergraduate courses, including field classes), 2012-2014
Associate Research Geologist, University of California at Santa Barbara, Earth Research Institute (Advisor to graduate student researchers), 2010-present
Post Doctoral Research Staff Member, Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2010-2011
NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California at Irvine (Instructor for undergraduate course: Natural Disasters), 2010-2011
Lawrence Scholar, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, (Mentor: Dr. Bob Finkel), 2006-2010
Teaching Assistant, Undergraduate courses: Introduction to Field Methods, Optical Mineralogy, and Sedimentary Petrology, Department of Earth Science, University of California at Santa Barbara, 2003-2005
Teaching Assistant, Summer Field School, Department of Earth Science, University of California at Santa Barbara, 2003, 2005
Postgraduate Researcher, Institute for Crustal Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, 2002
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Bierman, P.R., Shakun, J.D., Corbett, L.B., Zimmerman, S.R., Rood, D.H., 2016, A persistent and dynamic East Greenland Ice Sheet over the past 7.5 million years, Nature, 540(7632), 256, doi: 10.1038/nature20147.
Hurst, M.D., Rood, D.H., Ellis, M.A., Anderson, R.S., Dornbusch, U., 2016, Recent acceleration in coastal cliff retreat rates on the south coast of Great Britain, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 113(47), 13336-133341, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1613044113.
*Portenga, E.W., Rood, D.H., Bishop, P., Bierman, P.R., 2016, A late Holocene onset of Aboriginal burning in southeastern Australia, Geology, doi:10.1130/G37257.1.
*Reusser, L., Bierman, P.R., Rood, D.H., 2015, Quantifying human impacts on rates of erosion and sediment transport at a landscape scale, Geology, 43, 2, 171-174, doi:10.1130/G36272.1.
Johnson, J.S, Bentley, M.J., Smith, J.A., Finkel, R.C., Rood, D.H., Gohl, K., Balco, G., Larter, R.D., Schaefer, J.M, 2014, Rapid and sustained thinning of Pine Island Glacier in the early Holocene, Science, 343, 999-1001, doi:10.1126/science.1247385.
Bierman, P.R., Corbett, L., Graly, J.A., Neumann, T., Lini, A., Crosby, B., Rood, D.H., 2014, Preservation of a preglacial landscape under the center of the Greenland Ice Sheet, Science, 344, 402-405, doi:10.1126/science.1249047.
Rood, D.H., Burbank, D.W., Finkel, R.C., 2011, Spatiotemporal patterns of fault slip rates across the central Sierra Nevada Frontal Fault Zone, Earth and Planetery Science Letters, 301, 457-468, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.11.006.
*Indicates student first author
IN THE NEWS
EARTHQUAKE FORECASTING CLUES UNEARTHED IN STRANGE PRECARIOUSLY BALANCED ROCKS
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/205493/earthquake-forecasting-clues-unearthed-strange-precariously/
CLIFF EROSION RATES IN SUSSEX HAVE ACCELERATED TEN-FOLD IN THE PAST 200 YEARS
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/175967/cliff-erosion-rates-sussex-have-accelerated/
GREENLAND'S ICE SHEET CLOSELY TRACKS GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGES
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/176546/greenlands-sheet-closely-tracks-global-climate/
MOUNTAIN RANGE IS BEING CREATED AND DESTROYED BY EARTHQUAKES
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_14-11-2014-8-51-53
TRUE IMPACT OF SETTLERS ON EROSION RATES IN NORTH AMERICA REVEALED
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_14-1-2015-10-28-36
ANCIENT ABORIGINALS' USE OF FIRE HAD LITTLE EFFECT ON EROSION
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/170491/ancient-aboriginals-fire-little-effect-erosion/
Publications
Journals
Shadrick J, Rood D, Hurst M, et al., 2023, Constraints on long-term cliff retreat and intertidal weathering at weak rock coasts using cosmogenic ¹⁰Be, nearshore topography and numerical modelling, Earth Surface Dynamics, Vol:11, ISSN:2196-6311, Pages:429-450
Balco G, Brown N, Nichols K, et al., 2023, Reversible ice sheet thinning in the Amundsen Sea Embayment during the Late Holocene, Cryosphere, Vol:17, ISSN:1994-0416, Pages:1787-1801
Rood AH, Rood DH, Balco G, et al., 2022, Validation of earthquake ground-motion models in southern California, USA, using precariously balanced rocks, Gsa Bulletin, ISSN:0016-7606, Pages:1-21
Adams JR, Johnson JS, Roberts SJ, et al., 2022, New Be-10 exposure ages improve Holocene ice sheet thinning history near the grounding line of Pope Glacier, Antarctica, The Cryosphere, Vol:16, ISSN:1994-0416, Pages:4887-4905
Shadrick J, Rood D, Hurst M, et al., 2022, Sea level rise will likely accelerate rock coast cliff retreat rates, Nature Communications, Vol:13, ISSN:2041-1723