The Team
Marine Frouin
Assistant Professor
Dr Frouin is the director of the Stony Brook Luminescence Dating Research Laboratory. In addition to the Department of Geosciences, she is affiliated with the Turkana Basin Institute, and part of the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences. She is also a research associate at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art at Oxford University (U.K.). Dr Frouin research is focused on the development and application of luminescence dating techniques, an absolute chronometer that is almost universally applicable to any sediment that has been exposed to daylight during transport. It is a major chronometric tool for late Quaternary studies, with a wide age range from a few years up to about 0.5 Ma, with some indication that this limit can be further extended. She has >15 years of experience working in the field in North and South America, Africa, Asia and Europe.
Taylor Grandfield
PhD Candidate
Taylor is a Ph.D. student of the Stony Brook Luminescence Dating Laboratory. Currently, she is learning the methods and principles of luminescence dating while exploring the various geological and archaeological applications. She graduated from Stony Brook University with a B.S. in Geology and was heavily involved in undergraduate research. Her research used geophysical field techniques, mainly Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), to understand local barrier island morphology and sediment characteristics. She completed an undergraduate thesis titled ‘Velocity Constraints and Sedimentary Analysis in Robert Moses State Park, NY using Ground Penetrating Radar’.
Roheyatou Ceesay
PhD Candidate – Dr. W. Burghardt Turner Fellow
Roheyatou is a PhD student at the Stony Brook Luminescence Dating Laboratory. Currently, she is learning the methods and principles of luminescence dating while exploring the various geological and archaeological applications. She graduated from Macalester College with a BA in Geology with an emphasis in Classical Archeology. Her main interests are geochronology and geomorphology!
Leland Reisfield
Graduate Student
Leland is a M.S. student at the Stony Brook Luminescence Dating Laboratory. He is learning the methods and principles of luminescence dating while exploring the various geological and archaeological applications. He graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore County with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Leland is currently involved in a project to use luminescence to date portions of the Lobolo Formation in the Turkana Basin, Kenya.
Victoria Castle
PhD Candidate
Victoria is an Undergraduate student and Frances Velay Women in Stem fellow at Stony Brook University. The project she is currently working on is the use of Optical Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) to obtain robust dates on two fluvial terraces situated in the Udorka Valley, Poland. Her research interests lay in Geochronology, Paleoclimatology, Geomorphology, and Global Change.
Former team members
Ophelia Burden – Undergraduate Student – Frances Velay Fellowship
Andrew Giraldo – Undergraduate Student – Simons STEM Scholars Program
Mariana Sontag-Gonzàlez – Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Jessica Sideleau – Graduate student – Explorations in STEM
Marko Sinani – Undergraduate Student
K.C. Kite – Undergraduate Student
Ryan Korman – Undergraduate Student