Donald Depaolo - Biography#

Don DePaolo received his Ph.D. in Geology from Caltech in 1978, and has been a professor of geochemistry and geology at UCLA (1978-1988) and UC Berkeley (1988-2016). He is currently Graduate Professor of Geochemistry and Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley. He served as Chair of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at UC Berkeley from 1990-1993, and was Director of the LBNL Earth Sciences Division from 2007-2012. From 2010-2016 he was Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Sciences at LBNL. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has served on numerous advisory and study committees for federal agencies, universities, and the National Research Council. DePaolo has received awards for research from the Geochemical Society, American Geophysical Union, Mineralogical Society of America, Geological Society of America and the European Association of Geochemistry. His research involves the use of isotopic measurements as tracers and chronometers of Earth processes. He has worked on mantle geochemistry, igneous and metamorphic processes, hydrothermal systems, sediment diagenesis, paleoceanography, mineral weathering rates, chemical hydrology, and geological carbon storage. A continuing thread in his research is the application of isotopes to understanding the origin of granites and rhyolites and their relationship to geotectonic processes. DePaolo has authored or co-authored more than 250 research papers