Bio:
Loÿc Vanderkluysen, PhD, is an associate professor at Drexel University. Professor Vanderkluysen is a volcanologist concerned about how past and present volcanoes and their eruptions have impacted their environment and surroundings. He uses multidisciplinary approaches to study the entirety of the volcanic system, from magma generation to transport and emplacement. He is particularly interested in the cyclicity of volcanic eruptions, volcanic degassing processes, volcanic aerosols, and large igneous provinces. He employs research methods that range from volcano monitoring and thermal remote sensing to high-temperature geochemistry, igneous petrology, and experimental volcanology.
Recent research on the 66 million years old eruptions of the Deccan Traps (India) by Dr. Vanderkluysen and colleagues has focused on the timing of these massive eruptions and their impact on the environment at a time of cataclysmic change that saw the extinction of most dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous. For this project funded by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Vanderkluysen conducted several field campaigns in India to study the emplacement of some of Earth's longest and most voluminous lava flows.
Professor Vanderkluysen also studies eruptions from currently or recently active volcanoes – in Italy, Greece, Indonesia, the U.S., and Equatorial Guinea. As a result, members of his lab –including Drexel
undergraduate students, STAR undergraduate researchers, and co-operative students– have traveled around the globe to study and collect field data on active volcanoes.