Elizabeth Niespolo, Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Research Summary: Niespolo combines field work with applications in isotope geochemistry to anchor climatic, fossil, and archaeological records to precise timescales and in relation to environmental changes. The “tool kit” of her group emphasizes radioisotopic dating with additional activities in light stable isotope geochemistry, petrology, field geology, and archaeological excavation. A major focus of her research addresses outstanding questions on the timing and tempo of human evolution, including the development of modern human behaviors and the timing of global-scale human colonization. Other research foci include using petrology and isotopes to understand paleoenvironments, crustal processes, development of new isotopic applications, and in situ measurements to investigate geochemical heterogeneity in natural materials. Niespolo is setting up a laser ablation ICP-MS and U-series geochronology laboratory at Princeton.
Elizabeth Niespolo
Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Biography: Elizabeth Niespolo is an Assistant Professor in Geosciences. She is also Associated Faculty of the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI), a member of the Executive Committee for the Certificate in Archaeology program (Art & Archaeology), and is a Research Associate with the Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI) based at the University of Cape Town (South Africa). Elizabeth completed her undergraduate study (2009) at the University of California Berkeley with a double major in Astrophysics and Classics. After traveling for field work, and teaching, she returned to school to complete a M.S. (2014) in Geology at California State University Long Beach and a Ph.D. (2019) in Earth & Planetary Science at Berkeley. She is from Oakland, California
Related News:
Discarded ostrich shells provide timeline for our early African ancestors, The Leakey Foundation (2021)
How a geochronologist learns to “read rocks,” The Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) (2020)
In The News
Related article: Announcing the latest Quanta Science podcast which features the work from the Lai Research Group in collaboration with colleagues in math at Princeton. (Lai, Wang, Cowen-Breen mention)
A team of international scientists, that includes Gabe Vecchi and Wenchang Yang, found that the heat wave that set a new national record high at 40.3 degrees Celsius (104.5 degrees Fahrenheit) was made stronger and more likely by the buildup of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil…
New Princeton research shows that prehistoric megatooth sharks, the biggest sharks that ever lived, were apex predators at the highest level ever measured. Featured video a YouTube video with Prof. Daniel Sigman and Emma Kast *20.
Gabriel Vecchi, a climate scientist and geosciences professor at Princeton University, told CNN that this is a signal of the climate crisis, and hot extremes outpacing cool extremes has been a notable trend in recent years.
Scientists use Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source to study large, extrasolar planets that can shed light on how planets in our galaxy form and evolve. (Duffy, Dutta mention)
Princeton University just launched The Charge, a new energy and environmental (E/E) newsletter. This month features research on hurricanes from Ning Lin, threats to marine life from Curtis Deutsch and colleagues, and commentary on the price at the pump from Alan Blinder, to name a few highlights. Also includes insights from Michael Oppenheimer and Stephen Pacala on the Supreme court's recent ruling that limits the EPA policies.
The Department of Geosciences has named Srijan Bharati Das as the recipient of the 2022 Elisabeth H. and F. A. Dahlen Fund. The fund was established in 2010 to advance the theoretical…
New Princeton research shows that prehistoric megatooth sharks, the biggest sharks that ever lived, were apex predators at the highest level ever measured. (Kast, Sigman, Rao, Akhtar mention)
More recent articles
Related article: Announcing the latest Quanta Science podcast which features the work from the Lai Research Group in collaboration with colleagues in math at Princeton. (Lai, Wang, Cowen-Breen mention)
A team of international scientists, that includes Gabe Vecchi and Wenchang Yang, found that the heat wave that set a new national record high at 40.3 degrees Celsius (104.5 degrees Fahrenheit) was made stronger and more likely by the buildup of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil…
New Princeton research shows that prehistoric megatooth sharks, the biggest sharks that ever lived, were apex predators at the highest level ever measured. Featured video a YouTube video with Prof. Daniel Sigman and Emma Kast *20.
Gabriel Vecchi, a climate scientist and geosciences professor at Princeton University, told CNN that this is a signal of the climate crisis, and hot extremes outpacing cool extremes has been a notable trend in recent years.