Valerie S. Reynolds

Originally from Asheville, NC, I earned my BS in Geology from UNC Wilmington. After traveling around the country, I moved to Knoxville to earn my Master’s and PhD in Geology from the University of Tennessee where I studied the geochemistry of rocks from Hawaii, Mars, and asteroids under the direction of Dr. Hap McSween. Between graduate degrees, I worked for an environmental consulting firm in Knoxville for 2 years. After earning my PhD, I worked at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC for 2 years while continuing research on meteorites from Mars in addition to iron and stony-iron meteorites from asteroids. Then, I accepted a one-year teaching position at The University of the South in Sewanee, TN before moving to Maine to teach at Colby College for 4 years.

I moved back to NC in 2012 and have taught at UNC Charlotte ever since. The courses I teach regularly within the Geography and Earth Sciences department include Mineral Resources and Sustainability, Mineralogy, Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, and a general education course on Critical Thinking and Communication. Occasionally, I teach Physical Geology and high-temperature Geochemistry. I am one of the faculty advisors for our student GEO Club, and I am the undergraduate coordinator for our Geology and Earth & Environmental Sciences degrees, so I do a lot of academic advising, which I truly enjoy. The path to my current profession was not a direct one, and I encourage everyone to take the path that works best for them.

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Research Interests

Planetary Geology, Igneous Petrology