Details for: Susan Brantley

Susan Brantley is Distinguished Professor of Geosciences in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. She also serves as director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI). She has been on the faculty at Penn State since 1986. Dr. Brantley’s career as a geochemist focuses on the chemistry of natural waters both at the surface of the earth and deeper in the crust. Much of her research is an attempt to understand what controls the chemistry of natural water, and how water interacts with the rocks through which it flows. Dr. Brantley and her research group investigate chemical, biological, and physical processes associated with the circulation of aqueous fluids in shallow hydrogeologic settings. Investigations incorporate field and laboratory work, and theoretical modelling of observations. Of particular interest are questions concerning the measurement and prediction of the rates of natural processes, including chemical weathering with and without micro-organisms. Recent work has focused on measuring and modeling how rock turns into regolith and water quality issues in areas with hydraulic fracturing. Brantley is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, the Geochemical Society, the European Association for Geochemistry, and the International Association of GeoChemistry. She is a recipient of the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society, the Arthur L. Day Medal of the Geological Society of America, and the Presidential Award of the Soil Science Society of America. She holds honorary doctorates from the Paul Sabatier University (Toulouse III) in France and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. In addition, she has been appointed to the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Brantley earned her B.A. in chemistry (magna cum laude) and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Geological and Geophysical Sciences, all from Princeton University.