Roberta L. Rudnick

Research focuses on understanding how Earth's continents formed and evolved, and why Earth alone amongst the terrestrial planets has continents. Contributed to understanding of the chemical composition and physical properties of continental crust and mantle lithosphere. Work analyzes information from a variety of disciplines outside the realm of traditional data sources. Publications include The nature and composition of the continental crust-a lower crustal perspective, Reviews of Geophysics (1995), Making continental crust, Nature (1995), Composition of the continental crust, Treatise on Geochemistry (2003), Recycling of lower crust in the North China Craton, Nature (2004), and Archean upper crust transition from mafic to felsic marks the onset of plate tectonics, Science (2016). She was the MSA Distinguished Lecturer (2001-2002), 2004 Ingerson Lecturer of the Geological Society of America, the 2006 AGU Daly Lecturer, received the AGU's Bowen Award in 2006, the MSA's Dana Medal in 2012, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and is a foreign associate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.