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Daniel E. Ibarra

Manning Assistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences & Environment and Society, and Assistant Professor of Engineering, Brown University

Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University

Executive Committee, Initiative for Sustainable Energy, Brown University

Education

B.S. Civil & Environmental Engineering (Atmosphere/Energy), and Geological & Environmental Sciences (with honors), 2012, Stanford University

M.S. Geological Sciences, 2014, Stanford University

Ph.D. Earth System Science, 2018, Stanford University

Summary

I am a biogeochemist and climate scientist working on the water and carbon cycles. This includes studying modern rivers and catchments, as well as the terrestrial geologic record (lakes, soils, and caves), to understand Earth system processes that link the biosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere. The aim of this work is to gain a better understanding of how the Earth’s water and carbon cycles respond to forcings, including ongoing anthropogenic climate change. We are also working on the characterization and quantification of lithium deposits in lacustrine basins and enhanced weathering strategies for carbon dioxide removal. Our tools include geochemical measurements, field observations, reactive transport modeling, hydrologic modeling, and synthesis of climate model output.

I am a Filipino-American geoscientist from Bozeman, Montana. I was born in Europe and grew up in Hong Kong. In 2020 I co-founded the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Geosciences organization. Additionally, I was a founding Advisory Council member of EarthArXiv, a preprint server for the Earth and Planetary Sciences, in 2017. In 2019 I was a Republic of Philippines Balik Scientist at the University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Prior to Brown, at Stanford University, I received a dual BS degree in 2012 from the Civil & Environmental Engineering Atmosphere/Energy program and in Geological & Environmental Sciences (with honors), an MS in Geological Sciences in 2014 working with Kate Maher (Environmental Geochemistry lab), and a PhD in Earth System Science in 2018 working with Page Chamberlain (Terrestrial Paleoclimate lab). From 2019 to 2021 I was a Miller Institute and President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley working with Daniel Stolper (Stable Isotope Geochemistry lab) and Don DePaolo.

At Brown I am appointed in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS), as a Core Fellow and Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Institute at Brown for Environment & Society (IBES), on the Executive Committee for the Initiative for Sustainable Energy (ISE), and as the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility lead for LunaSCOPE (Brown’s NASA SSERVI Team). My full Brown profile and CV are available here: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/dibarra

My current work includes:

  • Reconstructing the Plio-Pleistocene and Cenozoic water cycle in the Philippines, western United States and Tibet using speleothems, lake deposits and hydrothermal systems, including the use of triple oxygen isotopes and carbonate clumped isotopes, as well as modeling approaches.
  • Quantifying modern weathering and nutrient fluxes from ultramafic catchments in the Philippines.
  • Interrogating Cretaceous hothouse climate changes using terrestrial sediment cores in northeast China.
  • Investigating the triple oxygen isotope systematics of the ocean, altered igneous rocks, and deep-sea sediments.

Teaching at Brown

  • ENVS 0070G – Historical Climatology and Global Climate Change (FYS, Fall 2022, co-taught with N Sekhon)
  • EEPS 1380 – Environmental Stable Isotopes (Spring 2023, co-taught with YS Huang; next taught Spring 2025)
  • EEPS 1960N – Seminar in Analytical Geochemistry (Spring 2023, co-taught with YS Huang)
  • EEPS 2910U – Seminar in Terrestrial Paleoclimatology (Spring 2024)
  • ENVS 1917 – Ice, Coral, Dust and Pollen: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Climate History (Spring 2024, co-taught with B Lander)
  • EEPS/ENVS 1300 – Terrestrial Biogeochemistry, Ecosystems and the Global Carbon Cycle (Fall 2024)

Pre-Brown Teaching at Stanford

  • Co-Instructor, Research Proposal Development and Delivery, Spring 2015 and 2017, Winter 2018
  • Co-Instructor, Environmental and Geological Field Studies in the Rocky Mountains, September 2011 to 2017
    • 3-week field course in MY and WT; Lead logistical organizer 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016
  • Co-Instructor, Evolution of Earth Systems, Winter 2017
  • Teaching Assistant, Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics: The Atmospheric Circulation, Winter 2016
  • Teaching Assistant, Measurements in Earth Systems, Winter 2015 and 2016
  • Workshop Instructor, Senior Seminar: Issues in Earth Sciences, Fall 2014 and 2016
  • Teaching Assistant, Senior Seminar: Issues in Earth Sciences, Fall 2013
    • Hoefer Fund Partnership Award for Excellence in Mentoring of Undergraduate Writing, Program in Writing and Rhetoric
  • Teaching Assistant, The California Gold Rush: Geologic Background and Environmental Impacts, Winter 2013
  • Teaching Assistant, Senior Seminar: Issues in Earth Sciences, Fall 2012
  • Grader and Course Development, Energy Resources, Fall 2011

Honors, Fellowships, and Awards

  • Graduate School Faculty Award for Advising and Mentoring in physical sciences, Brown University, 2024
  • H. Burr Steinbach Visiting Scholar, Marine Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, 2023
  • Best Paper, European Association of Science Editors (EASE), for Pourret et al. International disparities in open access practices in the Earth Sciences, 2022
  • Member, Earth and Space Sciences Division, National Research Council of the Philippines, Department of Science and Technology, Republic of the Philippines, 2021
  • Elected Full Member, The Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering (PAASE), 2021
  • University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 2019
  • Miller Research Fellow, Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, University of California, Berkeley, 2019
  • National Science Foundation Earth Science Postdoctoral Fellow (EAR-PF), 2019 (award declined)
  • Balik Scientist (Short-Term Category), Republic of the Philippines, Department of Science and Technology, 2018
  • Graduate Student Award for Scholarly and Research Achievement (awarded to the top Ph.D. student in the department), Earth System Science, Stanford University, 2018 (Article)
  • Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Refereeing, Geophysical Research Letters, American Geophysical Union, 2017 (Announcement)
  • Centennial Teaching Assistant Award, Stanford University, 2016
  • NSF USSP, Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology NSF Scholarship, 2014
  • On To The Future Diversity Program, Geological Society of America, 2013
  • Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) Fellowship, Stanford University, 2013
  • Hoefer Fund Partnership Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Writing, Stanford University, 2013
  • Thomas D. and Janice H. Barrow Fellowship, Stanford University, 2012-2013
  • Graduate Climate Conference Travel Scholarship, University of Washington, 2012
  • Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, Stanford University, 2012 (Citation)
  • Dean’s Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement, Stanford University, 2012
  • Outstanding Senior in Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, 2012
  • David E. Lumley Young Scientist Scholarship for Energy and Environmental Science, American Geophysical Union, 2011
  • Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, Honorable Mention, 2011

Advisees

Postdocs: Devon Kerins (2024-Present); Gavin Piccione (2023-Present); Kristina Butler (2023); Dean Kahn (2022-Present; co-mentor); Christopher Kinsley (2022-2023; external co-mentor); Evan Ramos (2021-Present); Natasha Sekhon (2021-2023).

Graduate Students: Mónica Geraldes Vega (Ph.D.; 2023-Present; co-advised w/ Cobb); M. Justin Custado (Ph.D.; 2022-Present); Theodore Bobik (M.S.; 2022-2023); Sebastian Muñoz (Ph.D.; 2021-Present; co-advised w/ Smith); Catherine A. Gagnon (Ph.D.; 2020-Present).

Brown University Committee Member: Chandler Morris (2023-Present; Cobb); César A. Bucheli-Olaya (2023-Present; Cooperdock); Ellen Jorgensen (2023-Present; Russell); Riley Havel (2022-Present; Budde); Xi Chen (2022-Present; Lee); Vivien Chen (2022-Present; Hastings); Dan Razionale (2022-Present; Budde); Heejeong Kim (2022-Present; Hastings); Sloan Garelick (2022; Russell); Andrea Mason (2021-Present; Russell); Jared Nirenberg (2020-Present; Herbert).

External Committee Member: Bryce Belanger (M.S./Ph.D., 2022-Present; Vanderbilt University; Oster); Anupam Samanta (Ph.D., 2022; Indian Institute of Science Education and Research; Tripathy); Dainty Clarice V. Rabang (M.S., 2020-Present; University of the Philippines Diliman; David/Arcilla); Daniel M. Coffey (M.S., 2018-2020; University of Alaska Anchorage; Munk).

 

Giving a lecture at the University of the Philippines, Diliman in 2019

Programs Attended

Former Groups

  • Stanford Students Environmental Consulting, 2010-2013
  • Stanford Undergraduate Research Journal
    • Co-Editor-in-Chief, 2013
  • Stanford Men’s Rugby
    • Pete Kmetovic Award for Service to the Team (2012 and 2013) and Player’s Player (2013)
    • Junior National Teams representing Hong Kong in u16s and the United States in u17s, u18s, and u20s
    • London Wasps Academy 2007-2008