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Nicole Xike Nie joined the Earth and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) faculty at MIT in 2023. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Geology from China University of Geosciences in 2010, followed by a Master of Science in Geochemistry from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013. Nicole completed her PhD in Isotope Geo/Cosmochemistry at the University of Chicago in 2019. Before joining MIT, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech from 2022 to 2023 and held the Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Carnegie Institution for Science from 2019 to 2022. Nicole's research focuses on isotopic compositions of planetary materials to elucidate early solar system conditions. Her lab, the Cosmochemical Analysis Testing Lab (CAT Lab), develops high-precision methods for element purification and isotopic measurements using advanced mass spectrometers. She investigates the mechanisms behind volatile element depletion in planetary bodies and the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets and the Moon. Nicole has received multiple honors, including the Alfred O.C. Nier Prize from the Meteoritical Society in 2025 and the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship in 2015.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, MA
Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences focusing on isotope geochemistry and planetary evolution.