PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Park Ranger

Niagara Falls State Park in New York State.

• Geoscience Technician                                                                                                        

Processed geologic samples and prepared thin sections for scientific analysis

• Data Archival Manager

United States Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station                                             

Archived and organized original field data from long-term ecological studies at Mt. St. Helens.

• Data Analyst                                                         

Mt. St. Helens Institute                                                                                                               

Researched platforms and strategies for development of virtual, online teaching programs.

• Geologist

Worked on Phase I and Phase II environmental remediation projects.

Performed surface and groundwater sampling, soil sampling and soil vapor sampling.

Supervised groundwater monitoring well installation and development.

The Seymour K. & Esther R. Padnos Hall of Science # 130B
One Campus Drive Allendale, Michigan 49401-9403
Office Telephone: (616)-331-3125
Office Fax: (616)-331-3740
Electronic Mail: [email protected]

EDUCATION

2020     Ph.D. Geological Sciences

Michigan State University, School of Earth and Environmental Science, East Lansing, MI

Dissertation Title: “Analysis of the petrology and geochemistry of the magmas of the Galema range in the Somalian plateau, Ethiopia: A probe of lithospheric processes of the Northern East African Rift System.”

2010     Master of Science

SUNY at Buffalo, School of Geology, Buffalo, NY

Thesis Title: “A New Treatment of Compositional Data, the Stromboli, Italy Case”.

2007    Bachelor of Science in Geology

SUNY at Buffalo, School of Geology, Buffalo, NY

COURSES

RESEARCH INTERESTS

RECENT PROJECTS

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Rooney, T. O., Wallace, P. J., Muirhead, J. D., Chiasera, B., Steiner, R. A., Girard, G., & Karson, J. A. (2022). Transition to magma-driven rifting in the South Turkana Basin, Kenya: Part 2. Journal of the Geological Society, 179(6), jgs2021-160. 

Chiasera, B., Rooney, T., Bastow, I., Yirgu, G., Grosfils, E., Ayalew, D., Mohr, P., Zimbelman, J. and Ramsey, M. (2021) Magmatic rifting in the Main Ethiopian Rift began in thick continental lithosphere; the case of the Galema Range. Lithos, p. 106494.

Chiasera, B., Rooney, T.O., Girard, G., Yirgu, G., Grosfils, E., Ayalew, D., Mohr, P., Zimbelman, J.R. and Ramsey, M.S. (2018) Magmatically assisted off-rift extension—The case for broadly distributed strain accommodation. Geosphere, v. 14, p. 1544-1563.

Brandon Chiasera, Joaquín A. Cortés, Predictive regions for geochemical compositional data of volcanic systems, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Volume 207, Issues 3-4, 15 October 2011, Pages 83-92, ISSN 0377-0273, 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2011.07.009.

RECENT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

• B. Chiasera, J.A.Cortés and D. J. Morgan. Combining the Cluster Analysis of Mineral Chemistry with isotopic microanalysis and CSD: Evidence of magma mixing during the Lower Vancori period, Stromboli volcano, Italy. Presented IAVCEI general assembly, Iceland, 2008.
• B. Chiasera, A. Denny, T. Rooney, C. Herzberg, I. Bastow. The riftward migration of focused magmatism in Central Ethiopia: Geochemical evidence of magmatic processes within the Galema Ridge. Presented GeoPRISMS Planning Workshop for the East African Rift System, 2012.
• Chiasera, Brandon, Shahpurwala, Aiman, Koroleski, Kraig K., Raslich, Frank, and Rooney, Tyrone O. Geochemical analysis of the Dickinson group of the Upper Peninsula, Michigan: A study of an accreted terrane of the Superior Province. Presented GSA North-Central Section - 47th Annual Meeting, 2013.
• Chiasera, Brandon, Lithospheric Processes on Mars and Venus: A Geochemical Study of Analogous Terrestrial Structures in the Galema Range, Central Ethiopia. Presented Michigan Space Grant Consortium Annual Meeting, 2014.
• Chiasera, Brandon, Rooney, T.O., Yirgu, G., Grosfils, E., Ayalew, D., Mohr, P., Zimbelman, J., Ramsey, M. Magmatically assisted off-rift extension – a study of the Galema range. Presented GeoPRISMS Theoretical & Experimental Institute for the RIE Initiative, 2017.
• Chiasera, Brandon, Rooney, T.O., Yirgu, G., Grosfils, E., Ayalew, D., Mohr, P., Zimbelman, J., Ramsey, M. Magmatically assisted off-rift extension – a study of the Galema range. Presented IAVCEI Scientific Assembly, 2017.
• Chiasera, Brandon, Rooney, T.O., Bastow, I., Yirgu, G., Grosfils, E., Ayalew, D., Mohr, P., Zimbelman, J., Ramsey, M. Geochemically Constraining the Depth of the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary in the Central Main Ethiopian Rift System. Presented GeoPRISMS Synthesis & Integration Theoretical and Experimental Institute, 2019.
• Tyrone O Rooney, James Muirhead, Paul J Wallace, Brandon Chiasera, Alex Steiner, Guillaume Girard (2021), Strain Localization in the Turkana Depression of the East African Rift – Magmatic Evidence from South Island, Abstract T53C-02, Presented at 2021 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, CA, 13-17 Dec.