Alumni of the GALE Lab group take their degrees in many directions. Where are former students now? 

Taylor Dorn (PhD class of 2023) is a tenure-track professor in GIS at Front Range Community College. At UCLA, his wide-ranging research interests covered sedimentary processes on Earth and Mars. In his dissertation, entitled “The Transport, Accumulation, and Abrasive Capacity of Sediment in Aeolian Dominated Landscapes on Earth and Mars”, Taylor combined field work, remote sensing, and experimental studies to answer the many unknowns in this diverse research field. Aside from research, while at UCLA Taylor was also involved in student leadership as an officer in the Earth, Planetary, and Space Science Student Organization (EPSSSO) and involved in the ‘Letters to a Pre-Scientist’ program that allows middle school students a more accessible and personal view of science. Prior to joining the GALE lab he received his Master’s degree in Geology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Geography at Texas State University. More of Taylor’s work can be found at tdgeology.com

Dorn, T., & Day, M. (2025). Spatial variability in aeolian abrasion: Ibex Dune Field, Death Valley National Park. Sedimentology, 72(1), 258-274. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/sed.13233

Dorn, T., and M. Day, “Exploring the transition between water-and wind-dominated landscapes in Deep Springs, California, as an analog for transitioning landscapes on Mars,” Earth Surface Dynamics, 11(2), (2023), 149-165. https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-149-2023

Dorn, T., and M. Day, “Intracrater sediment trapping and transport in Arabia Terra, Mars.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 125.9 (2020): e2020JE006581. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JE006581

M. Day and T. Dorn, “Wind in Jezero crater,” Geophysical Research Letters, 46, (2019), pp.3099– 3107. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082218

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Jordan Bretzfelder (PhD class of 2024) is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. At UCLA, her research leveraged her background in Physics to probe how sediment moves in exotic planetary environments. Her dissertation, titled “Wind-driven sediment transport across the Solar System” included experimental, field, and remote sensing studies. Jordan’s expertise in Earth and Planetary Science is broad, as evidenced by her scientific contributions to many different planetary bodies (Earth, Mars, the Moon, Io, Pluto, Venus, and more). Jordan completed her B.S. in Physics at the University of Southern California in 2019. Prior to joining UCLA and concurrent with her studies at USC, she spent three years researching the lunar mantle at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Her interest in Planetary Sciences began with a summer spent mapping surface features on Europa for the Center for Earth and Planetary Sciences. 

Bretzfelder, J. M., Stack, K. M., Fraeman, A. A., Day, M., Dietrich, W. E., & Bryk, A. B. (2024). Aeolian bedrock ridges in Gale crater, Mars. Icarus, 408, 115855. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103523004347

Bretzfelder, J. M., & Day, M. (2021). “Alien aeolian bedforms: A comparative sedimentary analysis of the Dingo Gap bedform and Hidden Valley ripple traverses, Gale crater, Mars.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 126, e2021JE006904. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JE006904

Bretzfelder, J. M., Klima, R. L., Greenhagen, B. T., Buczkowski, D. L., Petro, N. E., & Day, M. (2020). “Identification of Potential Mantle Rocks Around the Lunar Imbrium Basin.” Geophysical Research Letters 47.22 (2020): e2020GL090334. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090334

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