ABOUT

Michael A. Antonelli was born and raised in Edmonton, AB, Canada. He spoke both French and English at home and spent a great deal of time in Lyon, France where he has a large number of family members. As a young child, Michael would often go fossil and mineral hunting with his father, mathematical biologist Peter L. Antonelli, sparking interests that he would rediscover in university. Michael went to the University of Alberta for his bachelor's degree, where he started with a major in chemistry and minor in philosophy before finding his true passion in Geology. He happily graduated with a B.Sc. in Geology (2011) and went on to the University of Maryland, College Park to pursue a masters degree in geology (stable isotope cosmochemistry). After graduating (2013), he moved to California where he started a PhD in Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California, Berkeley, which he finished in December of 2018. He then moved to Paris for a year-long postdoctoral position at the the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), and then to Switzerland for an ETH postdoctoral fellowship position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zurich) where he remained for 3.5 years. In September of 2023, he started as an assistant professor at the University of Houston. 

 

A majority of his research is centered around the use of thermal-ionization and/or multi-collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry to accurately and precisely measure non-traditional stable isotope ratios. He pairs this approach with major & trace element analyses, traditional petrographic techniques, and numerical/theoretical modeling to reveal the rates, timescales, mechanisms, and sources of igneous, metamorphic, and hydrothermal minerals and rocks formed today and throughout geologic time. He also work on methods development for non-traditional stable isotope analyses. As shown in the figure below, his research lends itself well to interdisciplinary endeavors and spans a large number of natural systems.

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During his spare time, Michael likes to listen to and produce music, play the drums, travel, hike, watch films, and sit in bodies of water. He is also enthusiastic about bowling and frequently seen with his graduate students at the UH bowling alley.

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