Robert J. Stern

Robert James (Bob) Stern (born February 2, 1951) is an American geoscientist based in Texas.

Bob Stern in August 2017

Stern is Professor of Geosciences and Director of the Global and Magmatic Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Dallas University of Texas at Dallas. He has more than 40 years of geoscientific research experience, studying active convergent margin processes and products in the Mariana arc system Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc in the Western Pacific as well as ancient (900-550 million year old) crust exposed in the Arabian-Nubian Shield of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel. Stern is expert on the Geology of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex and the geology of Iran, and has made important contributions to the geology of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. These studies involve research at sea and on land. Geodynamic contributions include ideas about how new subduction zones form and the evolution of plate tectonics. He and his students and co-authors have published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Stern is also interested in generating educational animations and videos of geoscientific processes. He is head of UTD Geoscience Studios. He shares supervision of the UTD Geosciences Micro-imaging lab with Dr. Ignacio Pujana. Stern is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and of the American Geophysical Union and is Editor-in-Chief of International Geology Review.

Education

Stern went to UC Davis, majoring first in Political Science before dropping out for a year and returning to major in Geology, graduating with honors in 1974. Stern undertook graduate studies at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, undertaking the first of his many marine geoscientific research cruises, beginning with the EURYDICE cruise in 1975 aboard the R/V Thomas Washington, from Majuro back to San Diego.

In 1976 he made the first of many field trips to study the volcanic rocks of the Mariana island arc. In 1977 Stern began his PhD studies in the Precambrian rocks of the Eastern Desert of Egypt under the supervision of Prof. A.E.J.Engel http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/56001.html.

Stern defended his PhD dissertation "Late Precambrian Ensimatic Volcanism in the Central Eastern Desert of Egypt" in Sept. 1979. From Sept. 1979 to January 1982, Stern was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington https://carnegiescience.edu , carrying out isotopic studies of Egyptian and Mariana igneous rocks.

Academic life

In January 1982, Stern joined the faculty of Programs in Geosciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, rising from assistant professor to professor.

Stern teaches a required undergraduate course in igneous and metamorphic petrology and a required graduate course in tectonics, along with various elective undergraduate and graduate courses. Stern’s research concerns include the disciplines of tectonics, igneous geochemistry, isotope geochemistry, and geochronology. Field areas include the Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc system in the Western Pacific, NE Africa and Arabia, Iran, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico. He has carried out field studies in Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Jordan. Stern has led or participated in many marine geoscientific expeditions in the Mariana convergent margin, exploring most of the submarine arc volcanoes by dredging and ROV studies; deeper regions in the backarc basin and forearc have been studied by dredging and diving with manned submersible. Topics include studies of subduction, ophiolites, convergent margin tectonics and magmatism, subduction initiation and the evolution of plate tectonics on Earth. Stern served as Geosciences Dept. Head from 1997 through 2005.

Research Expeditions and Cruises

Scientific Expeditions (1982-present):

Scientific cruises (15, 1974 -2010):

1. 1974 R/V Washington, Majuro-San Diego (Chief Scientist: Winterer) 2. 1976 R/V Washington, Guam-Guam (Yap Trench, Chief Scientist: Hawkins) 3. November-December 1985: Chief Scientist, R/V Thomas G. Thompson marine geologic studies (dredging submarine volcanoesof the Mariana and Bonin Arc, Western Pacific (with Sherm Bloomer) 4. December 1991: Marine geologic investigations (sampling back-arc basin spreading ridge aboard the R/V Thomas Washington in the Mariana Trough, Western Pacific with Sherm Bloomer) 5. December 1996: Submersible diving with JAMSTEC Shinkai 6500 in the Mariana Trough (with T. Yamazaki) 6. 1997: Submersible diving with JAMSTEC Shinkai 6500 in the N. Mariana Trough (Central Graban, with T. Yamazaki) 7. October-November 1997: Marine geologic studies in the northernmost Mariana Arc (R/V Natsushima with M. Arima) 8. March-April 2004: Participant in NOAA ‘Submarine Ring of Fire’ research cruise to Mariana Arc (with Bob Embley) 9. May-June 2004: Participant in JAMSTC Shinkai 6500 diving in the Ogasawara arc, Japan (R/V Yokosuka, with Y. Ohara, M. Reagan and S. Bloomer) 10. Oct. 2005: Submarine volcanologic studies with Dolphin 3K ROV in the Mariana Arc (R/V Natsushima NT0512 with Y. Tamura and S. Bloomer) 11. Aug.-Sept. 2006: Participant in Shinkai 6500 diving in the Mariana forearc (R/V Yokosuka YK0612 with Y.Ohara, M. Reagan, and S. Bloomer) 12. July 2008: Participant in Shinkai 6500 diving in the Mariana forearc (R/V Yokosuka YK0808 with Y. Ohara, M. Reagan, and S. Bloomer) 13. Jan.-Feb. 2009: Marine geologic studies with Dolphin 3K ROV in the Mariana Arc (R/V Natsushima NT1012 with Y. Tamura and S. Bloomer) 14. July 2010: Marine geologic studies with Dolphin 3K ROV in the Mariana Arc (R/V Natsushima NT0908 with Y. Tamura and S. Bloomer) 15. Sept. 2010: Marine geologic studies with Shinkai 6500 diving in the Mariana forearc (R/V Yokosuka YK0612 with Y. Ohara and M. Reagan)

Field studies (20, 1976 - 2005):

1. Oct. 1976-Feb. 1977: Field Studies in Egypt (Central Eastern Desert, with A..J. Engel and T.H. Dixon) 2. Nov. 1977-Jan. 1978: Field Studies in Egypt, Cyprus, and Saudi Arabia (with A..J. Engel and T.H. Dixon 3. Dec. 1978: Field Studies in Egypt 4. March-April 1981: Field Studies in Egypt (NE Desert) 5. December 1982-January 1983: Field studies in Egypt (NE Egypt and Sinai, with D. Voegeli) 6. September 1983: Airborne Side-looking Radar Studies aboard NASA aircraft `Galileo II', S. Oklahoma (with K. C. Nielsen) 7. February-March 1984: Field studies in the Sudan (with A. Kröner) 8. February-March 1985: Field studies in the Sudan (with A. Kröner) 9. February 1986: Field studies in the Philippines (with J. Hawkins) 10. February 1987: Field studies on the Timna Complex, Israel (with M. Beyth and M. Walter) 11. March 1986: Field studies in NE Sudan (with K. C. Nielsen) 12. March 1989: Field studies in NE Sudan (with K. C. Nielsen) 13. December 1992: Field studies in NE Sudan (with Heinz Schandelmeier, TU Berlin) 14. March 1996: Field studies in the Himalayas of Pakistan (with M. A. Khan and M. G. Abdelsalam) 15. March 1999: Field studies in Arabia (with M. G. Abdelsalam) 16. Jan. – Feb. 2000: Field studies in Egypt and Arabia (with M. G. Abdelsalam) 17. Jan. 2001: Field studies in Arabia (with U.S. Hargrove III, M.G. Abdelsalam and P. Johnson) 18. Oct. 2003: Field studies in Ethiopia (Tigre, with N. R, Miller, D. Avigad, and M. Beyth) 19. Dec. 2004-Jan. 2005: Field studies in Arabia (with U.S. Hargrove III, M.G. Abdelsalam and P. Johnson) 20. March 2005: Field studies in Egypt (with M. G. Abdelsalam)