The Department of Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego offers graduate study in cosmochemistry leading to the Ph.D. degree. We have created an informal, research oriented graduate program that encourages our students to work at the very forefront of science. Students are encouraged to choose a research supervisor early and to begin active research as soon as possible.
Dr. Kurt Marti's group is interested in the origin and evolution of the solar system and the origin and distribution of the elements and their isotopes. They are studying those processes which were responsible for the differentiation of planets, of the moon, and of parent bodies of meteorites. Chronologic studies are based on pairs of radioactive and stable nuclides. The composition of solar particle fluxes is investigated. Products from nuclear reactions induced by cosmic rays give information on the history of solar system matter and on the variation of the cosmic ray flux in time and space.
In Dr. Mark H. Thiemen's group they are studying the chemistry and physics of stable isotope effects, particularly as they pertain to the understanding of various processes. These processes include: photochemical isotope effects, isotope exchange, chemical mechanisms in the earth's upper atmosphere, and the evolution of the solar system. They have reported the discovery of a fractionization of oxygen isotopes which is independent of mass, the first direct observation of such an event. They are presently investigating the mechanism by which this process occurs. They are also studying the oxygen isotopic composition of the earth's stratosphere as a tracer of the ozone cycle. Returned samples from high altitude aircraft and balloon flights are employed for this work.
For additional information about graduate studies at UCSD, please contact:
Chemistry Student Affairs Office
Department of Chemistry, 0301
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0301
PHONE: (619) 534-0780
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