Rate My Professor Marina Suarez

Marina B. Suarez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Kansas, where she returned in 2019 after serving as a faculty member at the University of Texas at San Antonio and completing a postdoctoral fellowship. She earned a degree in Geosciences from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, in 2003, a Master's degree in Geology from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2005, and a PhD in Geology from the University of Kansas in 2009. As Director of the W. M. Keck Paleoenvironmental and Environmental Stable Isotope Laboratory, she oversees analyses of stable isotopes including hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in liquids, solids, and gases using advanced instrumentation such as isotope ratio mass spectrometers and elemental analyzers.

Suarez's research centers on utilizing the sedimentary rock record and geochemical proxies, particularly stable isotopes, to reconstruct past climates with a primary focus on the Cretaceous Period. Her academic interests encompass paleoclimatology, chemostratigraphy, paleohydrology, and the environmental contexts of dinosaur-bearing formations. She actively promotes broadening participation in the geosciences, serving as faculty sponsor for the KU Geology Club and the KU chapter of SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science). Suarez teaches courses including Stable Isotope Geochemistry, Paleoclimatology, Life through Time, and Paleontology. Notable publications include 'The Lower Cretaceous in east-central Utah—the Cedar Mountain Formation and its bounding strata' (2016), 'Paleoclimatic applications and modern process studies of pedogenic siderite' (2013), 'Paleosol carbonate multiple isotopologue signature of active East Asian summer monsoons during the late Miocene and Pliocene' (2011), 'Quantification of a greenhouse hydrologic cycle from equatorial to polar latitudes: the mid-Cretaceous water bearer revisited' (2011), and 'Stable isotope chemostratigraphy in lacustrine strata of the Xiagou Formation, Gansu Province, NW China' (2013). Her contributions have advanced understandings of ancient greenhouse climates, monsoon dynamics, and the ages of significant fossil sites such as the Utahraptor locality. She engages in public outreach through events like Red Hot Research and supports inclusive fieldwork practices.