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Kitty L. Milliken
Petrography and geochemistry of siliciclastic rocks
Research Scientist
Ph.D., 1985, University of Texas at Austin
Kitty has conducted research in the area of sedimentary petrology at the University of Texas since 1985, interrupted by only by short stints at Exxon Production Research in 1986 and at the Institute Francaise du Petrole in 1996-1997. Her research focuses on integrating petrographic and geochemical data to decipher chemical history in sandstones, shales, cherts, and other rocks. On-going projects concern the role of brittle deformation in quartz cementation, with Ph.D. student Astrid Makowitz; the origin of fracture-filling ankerite in tight gas reservoirs in Rocky Mountain basins; the microscopy of microbial constituents in rocks; and development of an interactive sandstone petrography atlas in collaboration with Earle McBride and Ph.D. student (in carbonate petrology) Suk-Joo Choh. Kitty manages the department’s electron microbeam analytical facilities (/microbeam/) as well as the XRD laboratory and instructs and advises students in the use of these instruments. In most spring semesters she co-teaches the graduate-level course, GEO 391N, Analytical Techniques in Geosciences, a requirement for students wishing to utilize the electron microprobe in their research. She also takes a keen interest in assisting with applications of light microscopy and digital imaging to a wide range of departmental projects.