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Louis Derry received a B.A. in Geology from Colorado College in 1981 and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Harvard University in 1990. He has worked in mineral exploration with Homestake Mining Company and in the petroleum sector with Chevron. Following his doctoral work, Derry was a post-doctoral researcher at the Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques (CNRS) in Nancy, France. He came to Cornell as a Snee Research Fellow in 1994 and joined the faculty in 1996. Derry is a Senior Scientist at the Kohala Center, Hawaii, and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. His research focuses on biogeochemical processes across multiple time scales and modern environments, examining the coupling of biogeochemical cycles with Earth's history. Recent projects include studying elemental speciation and cycling in soil-plant-water systems and the role of atmospheric deposition. Derry's long-term research addresses quantifying CO2 elemental fluxes in Himalayan island arc systems, as well as models interpreting carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and strontium isotopic variations in ancient oceans to understand major environmental conditions during evolutionary and extinction events. In teaching, he integrates quantitative methods with observational studies to enhance students' understanding of coupled biogeochemical processes.
Department of Architecture