Email Address:

behnazhosseini@montana.edu Behnaz Hosseini

Website:

https://behnazhosseini.weebly.com/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/behnazhosseini/

Education:

2024: Ph.D. Earth Sciences, Montana State University

2017: B.A. Geology, minor in Geospatial Information Science
           and Technology, University of California, Berkeley

Research Project:

The Chronicles of Okmok Volcano: Integrating Diffusion Timescales with Monitoring Data to Reveal the Pre-Eruptive Processes Behind a Wide Range of Eruption Styles

Research Summary:

My research aims to unravel the timescales of late-stage (e.g., seconds to hours prior to eruption) eruptive processes such as magma decompression and ascent. These processes and the timescales over which they occur exert a strong control on the ultimate style (e.g., explosive vs. effusive) of a volcanic eruption, and therefore have important implications for hazard monitoring, mitigation, and response. I use a combination of experimental (high P-T decompression in a cold seal pressure vessel), numerical (1D diffusion modeling), and analytical (FTIR, EPMA, LA-ICP-MS) techniques to understand decompression and ascent timescales. I primarily use the time-dependent diffusion of volatiles (H2O, CO2) and trace elements in melts and crystals (i.e., geospeedometry), applied to both explosive silicic caldera-forming systems (most destructive) and intermediate arc systems (most frequent).

 

Research/Professional/Volunteer Experience:

2019 – 2024: Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant, Montana State University

2024: Science Team Member, NSF Alaska GNSS-A Deployment Campaign

2023: NSF-INTERN, U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Volcano Observatory

2017 – 2019: Guest Scientist, Geology Program, Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone National Park

2018: Volunteer Field/Lab Assistant, U.S. Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory

2015 – 2017: Undergraduate Researcher, UC Berkeley Department of Earth and Planetary Science

2015 – 2016: Lab Assistant, Cosmochemistry Group, UC Berkeley Space Science Laboratory

2014: Cave Guide, U.S. Forest Service, Tongass National Forest, Prince of Wales Island

 

Service Activities:

2022 – Present: Executive Committee Member, Subduction Zones for Grad Students and Graduates (SZ4Grads)

2024: Early Career Representative, Mantle Magma Supply and Imaging Workshop, Lamont Doherty Earth
           Observatory, Columbia University

2024: President, 18th Annual Earth Sciences Student Colloquium, Montana State University

2022: Organizing/Planning Committee, GeoPRISMS Volatiles from Source to Surface Workshop, Montana State         
           University

 

Teaching Experience:

2022: Advanced Field Course, UC Berkeley

2020 – 2021: Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, Montana State University

2019: Mineralogy and Optical Mineralogy, Montana State University

2018: Advanced Field Course, UC Berkeley

2017: The Planet Earth, UC Berkeley

2016: Field Geology and Digital Mapping, UC Berkeley

 

Selected Certifications/Awards/Grants

2024: Ph.D. Dissertation Completion Award, Montana State University

2023: Wilderness First Responder, National Outdoor Leadership Society (certified since 2012)

2022: Lawrence A. Taylor Research Fund in Petrology and Geochemistry, American Geophysical Union

2022: Jack Kleinman Memorial Fund for Volcano Research, Community Foundation for Southwest Washington

2022: NSF-INTERN Supplemental Funding

2022: Graduate Professional Advancement Grant, Montana State University

2022: Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Judges Choice Award, Montana State University

2022: Harriet Evelyn Wallace Scholarship, American Geosciences Institute

2022: Earth Sciences Student Colloquium Best Graduate Oral Presentation, Montana State University

2022: Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) finalist & People’s Choice Award, Montana State University

2022: College of Letters and Science Student Research Travel Grant, Montana State University

2021: College of Letters and Science Student Research Travel Grant, Montana State University

2020: Harold T. Stearns Fellowship Award, Geological Society of America

2020: Graduate Student Research Grant, Geological Society of America

2020: Grant for Student Research in Mineralogy and Petrology, Mineralogical Society of America

2017, 2018, 2019: Segal AmeriCorps Education Award

2018: E-An Zen Fund for Geoscience Outreach Grant, Geological Society of America

2018: Certificate for Distinguished Teaching, UC Berkeley

2018: Emergency Medical Responder, National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians

2016: Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) Summer Award, UC Berkeley

 

Publications (First-Author Only):

Hosseini, B., Myers, M. L. (2024). Melt embayments record multi-stage magma decompression histories. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 456, 1-13.

Hosseini, B., Myers, M. L., Watkins, J. M., Saalfeld, M. A. (2023). Are we recording? Putting embayment speedometry to the test using high pressure-temperature decompression experiments. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 24(6), 1-18.

 

Affiliations/Memberships:

2022 – Present: National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT)

2020 – Present: Mineralogical Society of America (MSA)

2019 – Present: Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG)

2018 – Present: International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI)

2015 – Present: American Geophysical Union (AGU)

2013 – Present: Geological Society of America (GSA)