Research Interests:
Chemical and physical processes associated with the circulation of aqueous fluids in shallow hydrogeologic settings. Investigations incorporate field and laboratory work, and theoretical modelling of observations. Of particular interest are questions concerning the measurement and prediction of the rates of natural processes, including chemical weathering with and without micro-organisms. Recent work has focused on the effect of microbial life on mineral reactivity, and extraction of nutrients from rocks by microorganisms

Current Projects:

1. Fe release and isotope fractionation during microbial alteration of silicate and oxide minerals
2. Extraction of Mo from silicate glass by a soil bacterium (Azotobacter vinelandii)
3. Cu isotope fractionation during microbially enhanced mineral dissolution and precipitation
4. Measurement of weathering rinds on basalt from Norway and Costa Rica
5. Rates and mechanisms of spheroidal weathering
6. Reactive transport modelling of weather
   
   
   

   
   Sue's Research Group
   

CEKA
Dr. Brantley has been awarded a major grant from the National Science Foundation for:
Center for Environmental Kinetics Analysis (CEKA)

CEKA is a joint research and education initiative of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Penn State. Funding for the initiative is provided by the NSF Divisions of Chemistry and Earth Sciences under the Environmental Molecular Science Institute Program (CHE-0431328). DOE partners are supported by the DOE Office of Science, Division of Environment, Division of Environmental Remediation Sciences. CEKA has opportunities for post docs and graduate students as well as a summer research experience for undergraduates. The initiative will deliver public outreach through museum exhibits, K-12 outreach through teaching modules, and professional outreach thorough short courses.

The goals of CEKA are:
1 - To train a cohort of talented and diverse students to work on environmental problems at multiple scales
2 - To collect and synthesize molecular data in a coherent framework that will allow the environmental community to predict the time evolution of complex environmental problems over various temporal and spatial scales
3 - To develop and promote the use of new experimental techniques in environmental kinetics
4 - To develop and promote the use of new modeling tools to conceptualize reaction kinetics in environmental systems
5 - To communicate our understanding of issues related to environmental kinetics and issues of scale to the broader scientific community and to the public
6 - To promote research between Penn State and our National Laboratory Collaborators.