I am a faculty member in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at Caltech, and am affiliated with the geobiology, geochemistry, and environmental science academic options. I study organic materials in both modern and ancient environments, using their molecular structure and stable-isotopic composition to understand where they come from, what processes have affected them, and what environmental conditions they record. This gets variously described as organic geochemistry, geobiology, and isotopic biogeochemistry. My research spans a range of interests, from records of life on the ancient Earth to carbon cycling in the modern oceans, and lots else in between. Current research projects are described here.
My research group currently consists of a lab manager, 3 postdocs, and 2 PhD students. You can see their smiling faces here. I am not currently accepting any new postdocs.
I teach three courses at Caltech: Organic Geochemistry (Ge 143) will be taught next in Fall 2012. My Isotopic Biogeochemistry seminar (Ge 145) is taught in alternating fall terms, next up in 2013. Global Biogeochemical Cycles (formerly ESE148c) will be getting a face lift this year, and will reappear as "Earth's Biogeochemical Cycles" (ESE 103) in the winter term. I also teach in the Agouron International Geobiology Course during the summers, and can highly recommend it.
Caltech is beginning to plan for a new faculty hire in the field of global biogeochemistry, broadly defined. If you are interested, even several years down the road, please send me an email.