Degrees

Ph.D., Geology, The University of Texas at Austin (2018)
B.S.E., Geological Engineering, Princeton University (2009) 

Work Experience

Assistant Professor, Amherst College (2021-present)
Visiting Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Fellow, Amherst College (2019-2021)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego (2018-2019)
Science Assistant, National Science Foundation (2011-2013)
Field Engineer, Schlumberger Oilfield Services (2009-2011)

Teaching Interests

I teach Structural Geology (GEOL 291), Principles of Geology (GEOL 111), and the first year seminar, "Ring of Fire" (FYSE 135).

Research Interests

I study rock rheology (how rocks flow) in the Earth's deep lithosphere (the lower crust and upper mantle). The rheological (or material) properties of the rocks and the minerals within those rocks are necessary to model geophysical processes, predict seismic hazards, and interpret some seimsic/geophysical observations. To investigate these rheological properties, I primarily collect and study xenoliths -- rocks that come from the deep lithosphere to the surface during volcanic eruptions.

Publications

* Amherst College student

Ott, J.N., Condit, C.B., Schulte-Pelkum, V., Bernard, R., and M. Pec (2024). Seismic anisotropy of mafic blueschists: EBSD-based constraints from the exhumed rock record. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 129. doi.org/10.1029/2023JB027679

Bernard, R.E., Chin, E.J., & C. Murphy* (2023), Melt-assisted deformation in the lower crust of an active plate boundary, Baja, California. LITHOS. doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2022.106975

Bernard, R.E., Schulte-Pelkum V, & W Behr (2021), The competing effects of olivine and orthopyroxene CPO on seismic anisotropy. Tectonophysics. DOI: 10.1016/j.tecto.2021.228954

Bernard, R.E., Behr, W.M., Becker, T.W., & D.J. Young (2019), Relationships between olivine CPO and deformation parameters in naturally deformed rocks and implications for mantle seismic anisotropy. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 20. DOI: 10.1029/2019GC008289

Dygert, N., Bernard, R.E., & W.M. Behr (2019), Great Basin mantle xenoliths record active lithospheric downwelling beneath central Nevada. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 20, DOI: 10.1029/2018GC007834.

Bernard, R.E. and E.H.G. Cooperdock (2018), No progress on diversity in 40 years. Nature Geoscience 11, 292–295, doi:10.1038/s41561-018-0116-6.

Bernard, R.E. and C. Henegan (2018), A Polarizing View, The Science Teacher, 85 (1), 33-41.

Bernard, R.E. and W. M. Behr (2017), Fabric heterogeneity in the Mojave lower crust and lithospheric mantle in Southern California, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 122, doi:10.1002/2017JB014280.

Links

www.rachel-bernard.com