Oliver Jagoutz and Gaia Stucky de Quay appointed to named professorships
Oliver Jagoutz (left) and Gaia Stucky de Quay.
Jagoutz and Stucky de Quay were recognized by the School of Science with chaired appointments, effective January 1, 2025, and will receive additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers.
Oliver Jagoutz has been named a Cecil and Ida Green Professor, one of six professorships generously endowed by the late Cecil and Ida Green. Jagoutz is a geologist interested in the complex processes that shape the planet’s crust and geological evolution. His research studies the relationship between tectonics and long-term climate variations, as well as the evolution of arc magmas and the formation of economic deposits. Fieldwork is central to his research, taking him around the globe to places such as Greece, Italy, Pakistan, India, and the Western US. He recently stepped up as director of the Earth Resources Laboratory (ERL), MIT’s home for researchers studying the discovery, understanding, and responsible use of subsurface resources. He joined the EAPS faculty in 2008.
Gaia Stucky de Quay has been named Peter Puster (1995) and Paula Waschbusch (1994) Career Development Professor. The chair was endowed by EAPS alumni Peter Puster and Paula Waschbusch to provide lasting support for early career faculty engaged in research that benefits society. Stucky de Quay studies the formation, evolution and decay of planetary surfaces. She uses the morphology of landforms such as rivers, lakes and craters to understand the driving forces behind them, such as tectonics or paleoclimate. Her focus on the geologic record of Mars examines the interactions of impact cratering on the planet’s ancient river systems, as well as landslide mobility, crater depths, and ice sheet effects on global resurfacing. Going further, she hopes to be able to use this information to answer the question of planetary habitability. Her lab also studies volcanic islands and terrain on Earth as a more accessible and easily defined analog for features on Mars. She joined the EAPS faculty in 2023.
