The Plasma Laboratory provides the tools necessary for characterizing the chemical and isotopic compositions of materials, including the ability to provide analyses at micron scale resolution. Our research agenda is broad and reaches beyond the fields of Earth and Planetary Sciences (i.e., including Chemistry, Life Sciences, Material Sciences, Forensic Sciences, Archeology, and beyond).

Our primary focus is using the chemical and isotopic analyses of materials to elucidate the processes involved in the origin and evolution of the Earth and other terrestrial bodies in the solar system. Our students and faculty are involved in a spectrum of studies, including crustal differentiation, chemical fractionation processes involved in core-mantle separation, the nature, evolution, and timing of differentiation of planets and planetismals, the condensation behavior of elements in the solar nebula, forensic studies, and other topics. Much of our research is conducted in collaboration with faculty members from other departments at UMD, as well as scientists from other universities and research institutions in this country and abroad.