Crystals, Continents and Cryosphere Dynamics
Structural Petrology and Electron Microscopy at Utrecht University
dr. Alissa Kotowski
Alissa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University. Originally from Boston, MA, she is a first-generation college student who earned her BSc from Boston College in 2014, and then her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019. At UT Austin she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and studied metamorphic rocks from exhumed subduction zones. Her primary interests are in reconstructing structural evolution and rheological properties of ancient plate boundaries, and interrogating mechanisms of steady-state and transient slip in rocks and minerals. She then moved to Montréal, Canada where she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at McGill University. At McGill, she learned how to use nanoindentation experiments to probe mineral plasticity. Now at UU, she leads an active research group that focuses on the flow behavior of solid earth materials including ice and silicate rocks, but with emphasis on initiation and maintenance of subduction plate boundaries on the modern earth and deep in Earth’s history.
Current Team Members
Members of the "CCD" group are studying flow behavior of solid earth materials, from ice sheets to subduction zones, from modern day to the ancient Earth. Get to know us here!
Postdoctoral Researcher
Hugo van Schrojenstein Lantman
Structural Geology, Metamorphic Petrology, Nanoindentation Techniques
PhD Student - Expected Spring 2028
Ben Mayor
Geological expressions and dynamics of subduction initiation into the Precambrian
PhD Student - Expected Fall 2027
Kyra Darányi (née Streng)
Effects of grain-size sensitive flow on ice sheet dynamics
MSc Student - Expected Spring 2026
Julia Geerinck
Timing and conditions of garnet growth in the Taconic-Acadian overlap zone, CT, USA
BSc Student - Expected Spring 2026
Wolle van Hattem
Structural development of the Low-Temperature sole beneath the Mont Albert Ophiolite Complex
BSc Student - Expected Summer 2026
Kseniya Kozodaeva
Thermodynamic modeling of komatiite metamorphism in Archaean greenstone belts
BSc Student - Expected Summer 2026
Finn Straver
Kinematic context of mantle carbonation from subduction to obduction
Alumni
MSc July 2025
Geochemical evidence of melting during subduction initiation
MSc December 2026
Subduction modeling in ASPECT
MSc GR December 2025
Streamlined approaches to analyzing nanoindentation data
MSc July 2024
Strain localization in peridotites during subduction initiation
Laurens Kleijbeuker
MSc May 2024
Epidote-amphibolite rheology in warm subduction zones
Jippe van Broekhoven
MSc November 2023
Signatures of serpentinization during ophiolite obduction
MSc August 2023
Rheology of garnet-amphibolites during subduction initiation
MSc May 2023
Metasomatism and deformation of a proto-forearc mantle wedge
Romana Timkova - UU BSc Thesis 2025 - Quantifying strength changes during exhumation of high-pressure/low-temperature metamorphic rocks with quartz paleopiezometry (Syros and Tinos, Greece)
Femke Glasbeek - UU BSc Thesis 2025 - Constraints on stress and strain rates during exhumation of a high-pressure/low-temperature subduction complex (Syros, Greece)
Noor van Vuuren - UU BSc Thesis 2024 - Evolution of shear zone strength during subduction initiation from quartz microstructures (Mont Albert, Québec, Canada)
Mirre van Dinteren - University College Utrecht BSc Thesis 2024 - Quantifying stress during subduction and exhumation from natural quartz microstructures on Syros Island, Greece
Julia Geerinck - UU BSc Thesis 2023 - Major and Trace Element Signatures of Acadian Metamorphism in Garnet-Bearing Rocks from Roxbury, Connecticut, USA
Sofie van Driel - UU BSc Thesis 2023 - Peak Pressure-Temperature of the Low-Temperature metamorphic sole beneath the Semail ophiolite (Oman) from thermodynamic models
Mathijs Sierveld - UU BSc Thesis 2023 - Formation and destruction of the Iapetus Ocean during the Ordovician in the southern Québec Appalachians
* Jan Veenhof - UU BSc Thesis 2023 - Applying a composite rheology flow law to a 2D cross section in the northwestern Greenland ice sheet using a finite element solver [Primary Supervisor: dr. Cedric Thieulot, UU]
Anneke Royakkers - UU BSc Thesis 2022 - Geochemical zonation and temperatures of garnet growth during subduction of high-pressure rocks on Kampos Belt, Syros Island, Greece
* Danielle Richard - McGill BSc Thesis 2022 - Effects of Retrogression and Rehydration on Meta-Mafic Rock Deformation during Subduction Infancy: Evidence from the Sub-Ophiolite Metamorphic Rocks of Mont Albert (Gaspé Peninsula, Québec, Canada). [Primary Supervisor: Prof. James Kirkpatrick, McGill].
Co-supervised students are shown with an asterisk (*).
Interested in being part of the team? Reach out!
If you are a BSc or MSc student at Utrecht University, there are opportunities to fund research through the Olaf Schuiling scheme for geochemistry.
Stay tuned for openings for PhD positions!
Interested Postdocs may consider Marie Curie mobility grants and should reach out to discuss potential projects.