1. OLIVER BURNS
3852 Saxonbury Way Charlotte, NC 28269 | oeburns@gmail.com | 205.789.9984
LinkedIn Profile
SKILLS & ABILITIES Sample preparation skills: radiometric and cosmogenic nuclide dating, clay mineral
extraction and glycolation, geomicrobiological antiseptic culture transfer, critical point drying,
and gold sputter coating
Field work skills: water quality monitoring and analysis, sample retrieval and in situ culturing,
geologic mapping, and cave exploration
Analytical skills: X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy, water analysis including: pH, total dissolved solids and oxygen, conductivity,
and temperature
RELEVANT
EXPERIENCE
RESEARCH ASSISTANT LEAKEY FOUNDATION PROJECT “NEW INVESTIGATION AT
THE MIOCENE SITE OF LOPEROT, TURKANA DISTRICT, KENYA”
AUGUST 2013 – DECEMBER 2014
Paleoenvironmental reconstruction by sediment analysis methods: X-ray diffraction (bulk
and clay mineralogy), and optical microscopy, and data interpretation and synthesis
RESEARCH ASSISTANT UNITED KINGDOM NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH
COUNCIL (NERC) PROJECT “CLIMATE HISTORY CONTROLS FUTURE LANDSLIDE
HAZARD”
MAY – JULY 2014
Extensive sensitive sample preparation for radiometric and cosmogenic nuclide dating
RESEARCH ASSISTANT NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION AND NORTH CAROLINA
SPACE GRANT PROJECT “SUSTAINED ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACT IN CARTER
SALTPETER CAVE, CARTER COUNTY, TENNESSEE AND THE POTENTIAL EFFECTS
ON MANGANESE CYCLING”
NOVEMBER 2011 – JUNE 2013
Cave exploration, sample retrieval, and in situ culturing, scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) preparation: critical point drying, gold sputter coating, and SEM analysis with energy
dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and the design of media for biologic cultures
EDUCATION APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY, BOONE, NC
B.SC. GEOLOGY, CONCENTRATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY, FALL 2014
GPA: 3.20
Awards: Best Undergraduate Poster Award at 17th
Annual Celebration of Student Research
and Creative Endeavors, out of 115 submitted abstracts (April 2014). Undergraduate
Research Assistantships from the Office of Student Research (Spring and Fall 2014)
Relevant Coursework: Sedimentology and Stratigraphy, Geomorphology, Hydrogeology,
Advanced Environmental and Engineering Geology, Geophysics, Geochemistry
ABSTRACTS Burns, O.E., Liutkus-Pierce, C., Grossman, A., 2014, “Exploring Early Miocene African
catarrhine evolution through paleoenvironmental reconstruction; Loperot, Kenya”: GSA
Abstracts with Programs, v. 46, no. 6.
Burns, O.E., Liutkus-Pierce, C., Grossman, A., 2014, “Apes and Monkeys Living Together?
Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of an Early Miocene primate ecosystem at Loperot,
Kenya”: 17th
Annual Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors, Appalachian
State University, Boone, NC.

2. REFERENCES DR. CYNTHIA LIUTKUS-PIERCE PREVIOUS EMPLOYER, RESEARCH ADVISER,
PROFESSOR
APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY
liutkuscm@appstate.edu I 828-262-6933, (c): 732-841-8380
DR. ROB PARKER PREVIOUS EMPLOYER, POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EARTH AND OCEAN SCIENCES
parkerr5@cardiff.ac.uk I +44(0)29 208 74051
DR. SARAH CARMICHAEL PREVIOUS EMPLOYER, RESEARCH ADVISER,
PROFESSOR
APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY
carmichaelsk@appstate.edu I 828-262-8471
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