State of Flux: USU Inaugural Professor Studies Geochemistry of World's Mountain Ranges

Utah State University geochemist Dennis Newell’s academic and professional path has never followed a straight line.

“I’d describe it as lengthy, not direct and not the way I initially planned it,” says Newell, who grew up in Colorado and New Mexico.

But it’s a path that’s taken him across continents and into the world’s great mountain ranges: The Himalayas, the Andes and the Alaska Range, along with his native Rockies.

“Whatever I’ve done in my life, and whatever I do, will be to take me to places like this,” Newell told guests attending his Nov. 13 presentation, “From Mountain Peaks to Seismic Shifts: A Geochemist’s Perspectives on Volatile Fluxes, Energy and Earthquakes,” during the university’s 2024 Inaugural Professor Lecture Series.

Hosted at USU’s Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Newell’s lecture is among a succession of fall gatherings coordinated by the Provost’s Office to highlight the accomplishments and academic journeys of faculty who have been promoted to full professor during the past year.

Newell, who joined USU in 2013, serves as interim head of USU’s Department of Geosciences — a post he assumed Aug. 1, 2024.

“Taking on that position may be one of the scariest things I’ve ever done,” says the scientist who’s scaled rocky cliffs, flown in helicopters through remote mountain passes and traveled in earthquake-torn cities.

A self-described rockhound, Newell spent hours of his youth collecting stones, rocks and fossils “interesting only to me.” His high school in the small community of Belen, New Mexico, offered few advanced courses, but Newell’s chemistry and physics teacher was a good mentor to the budding scientist and encouraged the teen to pursue university studies.

“I was awarded a physics scholarship to New Mexico State University, but chose to pursue geology at New Mexico Tech, instead,” Newell says.

A downward economy landed the new graduate at a fast-food job, but an internship opportunity at Los Alamos National Laboratory, working in environmental remediation, offered Newell a foothold back into geosciences. From there, he completed a master’s degree in geology from Colorado State University, before returning to Los Alamos.

“Eventually, I decided it was now or never to pursue a Ph.D., and I headed to the University of New Mexico, where my research was focused on study of the geochemistry of carbonic springs of the Rio Grande Rift,” Newell says.

Upon completion of his doctoral degree, he returned, once again, to Los Alamos for a postdoctoral position, followed by a five-year stint as a research scientist.

“Los Alamos has been a significant part of my career, but working at a national lab doesn’t grant as much academic freedom as a university setting,” Newell says. “So, I chose to accept a position at Utah State."

Newell’s current research focuses on field-oriented, aqueous and stable isotope geochemistry to interrogate the origins and history of geofluids in continents, fluid-flow in faults with connections to the earthquake cycle and fluid-rock-biosphere interactions.

At USU, Newell has established Geosciences’ Stable Isotope Laboratory, which is equipped for analyses of the “light stable isotopes” in a wide variety of materials.

“One of my favorite things about the lab is when someone comes in and wants to try something new,” he says. “I’m a tinkerer and I welcome a challenge. We’ve analyzed materials ranging from beetle wings to microplastics.”

As a faculty member, Newell leads the department’s partnership with the American Geophysical Union’s Bridge program, initiated in 2021, which seeks to strengthen student access to the geosciences and bolster recruitment efforts. Through this program, the department has welcomed several graduate students.

This month, Newell turns his attention to a recent collaboration with an interdisciplinary, National Science Foundation-funded group studying earthquake critical zones, including the site of a M7.6 earthquake rupture near Içmeler, Turkey, that occurred in 2023.

“Geoscientists don’t often have opportunity to study recent ruptures like this site,” says Newell, who is preparing for his fourth visit to the locale.

USU, he says, has afforded him multiple opportunities to pursue his academic interests in the world’s most geologically interesting places, including Utah.

“I’m lucky to live in a place where I can work and recreate in amazing landscapes,” Newell says.