The Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences (COMPRES) has announced Carl Agee, professor, University of New Mexico Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences as its incoming president.
Agee, who is also the director of UNM’s Institute of Meteoritics (IOM), begins his appointment Sept. 1, 2015.
“We are delighted that Carl has agreed to take on this critical community responsibility,” said Wendy Panero, on behalf of the COMPRES executive committee. “We look forward to his leadership of our organization.”
With support from the National Science Foundation, COMPRES is a community-based consortium whose goal is to enable Earth Science researchers to conduct the next generation of high-pressure science on world-class equipment and facilities. It facilitates the operation of beam lines, the development of new technologies for high pressure research, and advocates for science and educational programs to the various funding agencies.
Agee’s research interests will serve the organization well. He’s involved with the origin and evolution of planetary interiors, high-pressure multi-anvil techniques as applied to problems in experimental petrology, magma physics with emphasis on mobility of silicate and metallic liquids at high pressure and experimental trace element partitioning studies to elucidate the differentiation of the Earth, Moon and Mars.
In 2012, Agee led a team of researchers in identifying a new class of Martian meteorite that fell to Earth and likely originated from the planet's crust and surface environment. The research determined the meteorite, Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, nicknamed "Black Beauty," is nearly 320 grams in weight and was found in the Saharan Desert in 2011, was formed 2.1 billion years ago, the early-era of the most recent geologic epoch on Mars called the Amazonian.
“This is a wonderful recognition of Carl's accomplishments and abilities, and will bring additional opportunities and recognition to both IOM and E&PS,” said Laura Crossey, E&PS chair.
