Rate My Professor Nathan Brown

Nathan Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Texas at Arlington, a position he assumed in December 2020. Prior to this, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley from March 2019 to November 2020 and at the University of California, Los Angeles from June 2017 to February 2019. Brown holds a PhD in Geology from UCLA (June 2017), an MS in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago (December 2011), and a BS in Geology from Wheaton College, Illinois (May 2009). As a Quaternary geochronologist, he studies the evolution of Earth's surface from the scale of sand grains to mountain ranges. His research combines fieldwork, luminescence dating, and numerical simulations to address tectonic geomorphology, paleoclimate, sediment transport, geohazards, and luminescence kinetic models. Key field areas include the San Andreas Fault, Yellowstone National Park, and polar drill cores. At UTA, he directs a luminescence dating laboratory, the first in the US focused on luminescence thermochronology.

Brown's publications include 'Permafrost Formation in a Meandering River Floodplain' (2024, AGU Advances), 'The Transport History of Alluvial Fan Sediment Inferred From Luminescence and Cosmogenic 10Be Depth Profiles' (2021, Journal of Geophysical Research), 'Luminescence dating of hydrothermal explosions in the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field' (2026), and 'Luminescence dating of alluvium deposits to investigate Holocene slip potential along the Mission Creek fault strand' (2026). He has received National Science Foundation grants, such as one for studying wind erosion of rocks in the Mojave Desert and a postdoctoral fellowship for noble gas benchmarking of luminescence thermochronology. His research informs climate-driven permafrost erosion in Alaska and earthquake hazards in California. Brown serves on the Radiation Safety Committee and mentors students whose work is showcased at UTA's Discover Science events.