Alexis Navarre-Sitchler named department head for Geology and Geological Engineering

Alexis Navarre-Sitchler has been named department head for Geology and Geological Engineering at Colorado School of Mines. 

A member of the Mines faculty since 2012, Navarre-Sitchler is a professor of geology and geological engineering. Her new appointment began July 1. 

Undergraduate students in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering can earn a Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering. The department also awards PhDs, master's degrees, and certificates in geology, geological engineering, and mineral exploration.   

A Mines alum, Navarre-Sitchler has seen how the university and the department’s programs and curriculum have evolved over time. 

“I started as a faculty member in 2012, so I’ve been in the department for 12 years, but I also have a master’s degree from Mines in geochemistry,” she said. “Over that time frame, especially going back to the early 2000s, I’ve seen the university as a whole transition into a premier research institution with new programs and a dedicated focus on the problems society will face in the future. I’m really excited about leading the department forward in education and research that supports the integration of the earth sciences across the board in energy, water, climate and critical materials.” 

One challenge Navarre-Sitchler plans to tackle right away is increasing undergraduate enrollment in the department and fostering a change in how students view their career prospects after graduation. 

“We need to respond to the common perception that geologists only get jobs in oil and gas or mining,” she said. “There is a shift in what our students want and the kind of problems they want to solve. We want students to know that geologists are trained to address grand challenges in water resources, to diversify and sustain the energy portfolio across the range of subsurface energy systems, and to resource the mineral supply needed for renewable energy. We want to increase the scope of the way earth systems are viewed as integrated into the solutions to these grand challenges.” 

Navarre-Sitchler has a PhD in geochemistry from Pennsylvania State University, an M.S. in geochemistry from Mines and a bachelor’s degree in geology from Mesa State College. She holds a joint faculty appointment at the Energy and Natural Resources Security Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and her research focuses on complex coupling of geochemical and hydrological processes in natural systems as scales from pores to basins. Her current research focuses on the way water and rocks react in watersheds and emerging science in geothermal energy production. She received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2016 and a Mines Excellence in Research Award in 2018, among other honors.