About

Frank Aldemaro Corsetti

Associate Professor of Earth Sciences

Contact Information
E-mail: fcorsett@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-6123
Office: ZHS 209

LINKS
Faculty Profile on Departmental Website
 

Biographical Sketch
Frank studies the co-evolution of the Earth and its biosphere from a geobiologic perspective, searching for traces of life in deep (and not so deep) time—how has life affected the history of our planet, and how has the history of our planet affected the evolution of life? He is probably most noted for his studies of life during “Snowball Earth”, the most severe glaciation known that occurred ~700 million years ago, but other recent projects include the origin of animals, mass extinctions, and investigations into new biosignatures for use with ancient rocks on Earth and other locales in our solar system (e.g., Mars). Frank has studied rocks as old as 3.5 billion years and as young as those forming today, and field sites are located in the US, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Australia, Namibia, and China.
 

Education
B.S. Geology, University of California, Davis, 1/1989
Ph.D. Geological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, 12/1998
 

Postdoctoral Training
Postdoctoral Researcher, UCSB, 1999-2000   
 

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History

Tenure Track Appointments
Associate Professor, University of Southern California, 03/2006-2008  
Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, 09/01/2000-03/01/2006  
 

Non-Tenure Track Appointments
Lecturer, Historical Geology, General Geology, and Field Paleontology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 01/01/1999-06/01/1999  
 

Publications

Journal Article
Loyd, S., Becker, T. W., Conrad, C., Lithgow-Bertelloni, C., Corsetti, F. A. (2007). Time-variability in Cenozoic reconstructions of mantle heat flow: plate tectonic cycles and implications for Earth's thermal evolution. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. Vol. 104, pp. 14266-14271..
Bailey, J., Corsetti, F. A. (2007). Evidence of giant sulfur bacteria in Neoproterozoic phosphorites. Nature. Vol. 445, pp. 198-201.
Olcott, A., Corsetti, F. A. (2005). Biomarker Evidence for Photosynthesis During Neoproterozoic Glaciation. Science. Vol. 310, pp. 471-474.
 

Honors and Awards
USC Center for Excellence in Teaching, Faculty Fellow, 8/1/2008-8/1/2011  
USC Mellon Mentorship Award, Faculty to Graduate Student Advising, 2006-2007   
Certificate of Appreciation, Geological Society of America, 2005  
USC Zumberge Research and Innovation Fund Award, 2004-2005  
 

Service to the Profession

Committees
Member, Geological Society of America Graduate Student Grants Committee, 2002-2005  
 

Conferences Organized
Poster Session Chair and Organizer, AAPG National Meeting, Long Beach, CA, I was the Poster Chair for the Technical program for the meeting (the whole meeting, not just one session...)., 2005-2007  
 

Editorships and Editorial Boards
Editorial Board, Geobiology, 2005-2009  
Associate Editor, Palaios, 04/15/2006-04/15/2008  
 

Professional Offices
President-Elect, Pacific Section SEPM, 2008-2010  
Vice Chair, Geological Society of America Geomicrobiology Division, 2008-2010  
Secretary, Geological Society of America Geomicrobiology Division, 2006-2008  
 

Professional Memberships
Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), 2000-  
Geological Society of America, Member, 1992-  
 
 
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