Mackenzie Day is an Assistant Professor at UCLA focusing on sedimentary processes on Earth and other planets. Day manages the GALE lab at UCLA, a group that currently conducts field, experimental, and remote sensing research with the participation of undergraduate and graduate students. Day specializes in aeolian (wind-related) processes and the formation and preservation of dunes.

Day has used orbital and ground-based remote sensing to study active dune fields in Gale crater, and other regions of Mars. On Earth, Day studies the preservation of aeolian dunes in rock, and has recently identified preserved dune-dune interactions in sandstones on the Colorado Plateau. She continues to draw parallels between modern and ancient aeolian systems, as well as between terrestrial and planetary systems, all of which are subject to the same underlying physics.

For more information or educational geology photos, email Professor Day at daym@epss.ucla.edu or look here:

Full CV (updated July 2021): MDay_CV_2023

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@LongWalksCoolRocks

Research Areas

Aeolian systems occur on modern Earth and other planets as well as in the ancient geologic record. Our research covers all three of these areas.

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Aeolian geomorphology spans continents and even planets. In this group we study all aspects of wind-surface interactions with tools that range from direct sampling of rocks and sand in the field, to remote sensing with orbiters around Mars, to experiments in our 7-meter wind tunnel. Click on the images or menu at the left for more information.