Geochemist John Eiler Named Chair of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences

Geochemist John Eiler, the Robert P. Sharp Professor of Geology and Geochemistry, has been selected as the new chair of Caltech's Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. On September 1, he will begin a five-year term, taking over the Ted and Ginger Jenkins Leadership Chair from current division chair John Grotzinger, the Harold Brown Professor of Geology.

"I'm delighted that John Eiler has agreed to serve as division chair," says Caltech provost David Tirrell, the Carl and Shirley Larson Provostial Chair, and the Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. "John is a distinguished geochemist who has played important roles in defining the most important intellectual directions in the geological sciences at Caltech and around the world. He is a wonderful successor to John Grotzinger, who has led the division with distinction for the last decade. The Seismological Laboratory, the Center for Comparative Planetary Evolution, the Brinson Exploration Hub, and many other important Caltech and JPL initiatives bear the clear imprint of John's leadership."

For decades, Eiler's research has focused on the application of stable isotope geochemistry to answer fundamental questions about Earth, and in the environmental and planetary sciences. His pioneering instrumentation and techniques have been used to determine how dinosaurs regulated their body heat, how organic molecules formed in space, and more.

Eiler earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa in 1989, where he studied geology. He received his PhD in geology from the University of Wisconsin in 1994 and worked as a postdoctoral scholar and research scientist at Caltech for four years before beginning his faculty appointment in 1998. He has been honored with the Arthur L. Day Medal of the Geological Society of America, the Samuel Epstein Medal of the European Association of Geochemistry, and the James B. Macelwane Medal of the American Geophysical Union. Eiler was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2016.

"The 30 years I've spent in the Caltech community have molded me as a scientist and as a person," Eiler says. "I have a real sense of responsibility to give something back to the Institute and to my colleagues, and I'm honored to be given that chance by serving as division chair."