Speaker – Julia Cisneros, geologist and Postdoctoral researcher at Texas A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin, and Texas Tech University funded by an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship – hosted by the MEAS Community Climate Committee (CCC).

Seminar Title – The Morphology of Alluvial Sand Dunes

Bio – Julia Cisneros is a geologist and Postdoctoral researcher at Texas A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin, and Texas Tech University funded by an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. She received her Doctoral degree in Geology from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Science in Geology degree from Texas A&M University and was born and raised in Austin, TX. Her research seeks to identify the key mechanisms driving bedform formation and evolution across different environments. This is driven by her curiosity in how surface processes shape bedforms and how this can be used to excavate clues about the formative conditions of inaccessible and ancient environments. Currently, she is developing a unifying framework for bedform morphodynamics that spans environments and scales through studying the morphodynamics of Earth’s largest and most complex bedforms in deserts and rivers. This work takes her back to Texas, to work with research groups across Texas to begin linking the key mechanisms that drive giant dune formation and movement in rivers and deserts. As a Tejana, Julia is also dedicated towards increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in the geosciences and it is her goal to further diversify geoscience fields through the recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups. In her graduate career, she has approached this through mentoring and outreach, which include the creation of a Geoscience camp and her leadership council role in the GeoLatinas professional group. Now as an early career researcher, her focus shifts toward reassessing the current structures and institutional efforts to build a more just, equitable, inclusive and anti-racist Geosciences.

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