Current Members

Adam C. Maloof
Professor of Geosciences
The Department of Geosciences
Office Phone
Office
213 Guyot Hall
Assistant

Adam Maloof joined the faculty as an assistant professor of geology in July 2006 and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in January 2012 and full tenure in 2019. MALOOF CV

Julia Wilcots
Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellow
The Department of Geosciences
Assistant

After getting my Bachelor’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton in 2016, I am back — this time in the Department of Geosciences. I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science at MIT (summer 2022) after writing a thesis exploring the “dolomite problem” from multiple angles and with a focus on Neoproterozoic dolomites. My postdoctoral research is still centered on these ancient carbonates; in the Maloof group I will work on quantifying the stratigraphy of the first Neoproterozoic carbon isotope excursion, the Bitter Springs.

Ryan A. Manzuk
Graduate Student
The Department of Geosciences
Office Phone
Office
209 Guyot Hall

I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and spent two years prior to graduate school as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea, West Africa. My doctoral research in the Maloof group focuses on reconstructing Earth’s first reef environments and understanding the impact these structures had on the evolution and ecology of early animals. Because sedimentary rocks are an imperfect record of our planet’s past environments, my research efforts aim to innovate how we can use images to maximally extract the physical and geometric data available in outcrops and samples. Combining camera system design and engineering, automated analysis with artificial intelligence, as well as bespoke methodologies to quantify image characteristics, my work tells detailed stories about Earth’s past and present. The broad applicability of my toolkit now has me studying a varied set of topics ranging from the ecology and environmental parameters of ancient reefs to automated detection of agricultural change with remote sensing. For more information, check out my website: ryanmanzuk.com. [79] [80] [82] [83]

Indu Panigrahi '23
Graduate Student
Computer Sciences (MS)

I completed my undergraduate degree in 2023. I am currently a graduate student working towards a Computer Science master's degree. I am interested in developing methods to maximize the amount of information that computer vision models learn from small datasets, such as those in the geosciences. My research involves improving the segmentation of rock sample images in order to facilitate the 3D reconstruction of embedded fossils. [83] [ST]

Tony Owens, Jr. ’24
Undergraduate
Class of 2024

I am from Neptune, New Jersey, and will graduate Princeton in the spring of 2024 with a major in Computer Science and certificates in Statistics and Machine Learning and Spanish Language and Culture. My research interests center largely around applying Machine Learning and statistical modeling in a baseball context, with particular interests in Bayesian modeling and Computer Vision. During the summer of 2023, I interned with the Philadelphia Phillies as an Associate QA. Throughout the summer, I spent time working on a statistical model to identify and correct the stadium-specific errors in player tracking data. At Princeton, I work with the Princeton Baseball Analytics Group, where I leverage TrackMan data to create scouting reports and work to find new ways to quantify player performance.

Devdigvijay S. Singh ’24
Undergraduate
Class of 2024

I graduated with an IB diploma from Victoria Park Collegiate Institute in Toronto, Canada. I'm concentrating in MAE ('24) with an interest in robotics, computer vision, and turbulent fluid dynamics. Currently, my research centers around applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to image segmentation and 3D sample reconstruction in the Geosciences. [79]

Max S. Hines ’25
Undergraduate
The Class of 2025

I'm a member of the Class of 2025 from Pound Ridge, NY concentrating in Physics with a certificate in Planets & Life. My "conventional" interests in Physics lie in both cosmology and plasma physics; my first JP investigated the quality of our detector apparatus for CMB waves at the Simons Observatory. In addition, I am a big sports fan and involved in the Princeton Baseball Analytics Group, where I am investigating the newly discovered phenomenon of the seam-shifted wake (SSW); specifically, how it fits into the broader picture of pitching physics in general, and how we can apply lessons from the SSW to our Princeton pitchers.

Athena T. Clendaniel ’27
Undergraduate
Class of 2027

I am from Anchorage, Alaska, and plan to concentrate in Operations Research and Financial Engineering with minors in Slavic Languages & Cultures and Statistics & Machine Learning. My work with the Princeton Baseball Analytics Group includes using Trackman game data to replicate different pitches on a pitching machine. I am also the student manager for the baseball team.

Advik Eswaran ’27
Undergraduate
Class of 2027

I am from Seattle, WA, and intend to concentrate in Geosciences with a minor in Computer Science. My research focuses on developing machine learning and computer vision methods to automate image segmentation of fossil samples, thereby enabling efficient production of 3D fossil reconstructions.