Dr. Carmichael joined the department in 2007, after exploring the bottom of the ocean in the DSV Alvin and with the ROV Jason while a postdoc at the University of New Hampshire. Although a metamorphic petrologist by training, she does not conduct research on traditional metamorphic systems. Instead, she uses the methods commonly employed by traditional metamorphic petrologists (such as reactive transport theory) to model mineral replacement and crystallization in low-temperature fluid-rock systems, particularly in carbonates and supergene ore deposits. A lover of high tech lab equipment, her work heavily involves scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and cathodoluminescence microscopy, as well as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and a variety of X-ray techniques.

Her current research explores the geomicrobiology of cave mineral deposits, the role of microbes in ore formation, geochemical records of ancient fluid flow in Cambrian sediments in the Appalachians, the mineralogy and petrogenesis of carbonatite and silica deficient volcanic rocks in east Africa, and the geochemistry of Devonian sediments in Asia.

Education

• B.A. Smith College
• M.A. Johns Hopkins University
• Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University

Courses Taught

• GLY 1101 - Introduction to Physical Geology
• GLY 2745 - Preparation of Geologic Reports
• GLY 3715 - Petrology & Petrography
• GLY 2301 - The History of Coal from the Pennsylvanian to the Present (cross-listed with Appalachian Studies)