New Starters 2025
The School of Earth Sciences warmly welcomes our new starters:
Sarah Gleeson
Sarah A. Gleeson is the Professor in Sustainability Geoscience at the UCD School of Earth Sciences and Director of iCRAG (Research Ireland Centre for Applied Geosciences). She received a B.A. (mod.) in Geology from Trinity College Dublin and a Ph.D. in geochemistry from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London. Subsequently, she held post-doctoral positions at the Natural History Museum, London and the University of Leeds before moving to the University of Alberta, Canada in 2001. From 2016 to 2025 she was the W3 Professor in Mineral Resources at the Freie Universität Berlin and led the Inorganic and Isotope Geochemistry Section at the GFZ, Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam. She is an Associate Editor of the journal Economic Geology and on the Editorial Board of Geochemical Perspectives. She serves on several advisory boards to scientific institutions and on international grant funding panels. Sarah A, Gleeson has won the Lindgren Award from the Society of Economic Geologists and several prominent lecture tours (e.g., Society of Economic Geologists’ Thayer Lindsley Travelling Lecturer in 2019, Distinguished Lecturer of the European Association of Geochemistry 2024-2025). In 2023, Prof. Gleeson was elected to the membership of Academia Europaea, an organisation which promotes European research, advises governments and international organisations in scientific matters.
Pablo Rodriguez Salgado
Pablo is an Assistant Professor of Sedimentology in the UCD School of Earth Sciences. His research focuses on the stratigraphic and structural evolution of sedimentary basins and their implications for subsurface energy systems, including geothermal resources, CO₂ and hydrogen storage, and hydrocarbon reservoirs. He integrates field studies, core and well-log analysis, and quantitative modelling with digital and data-driven approaches such as Python-based workflows and machine learning.
Prior to his appointment at UCD, Pablo was a Research Fellow with the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG), contributing to national projects on geothermal energy and offshore geological storage. His earlier work included postdoctoral studies on structural inversion in the Celtic Sea, geothermal characterisation of Ireland’s Carboniferous basins, and regional mineral system analysis in the Andes. Pablo earned a PhD in Structural Geology from University College Dublin in 2019, an MSc in Reservoir Geology and Geophysics from the University of Barcelona in 2014, and a BSc in Geological Sciences from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2013.
Alan Saltzer
Alan is an Assistant Professor of Hydrogeology and Groundwater Systems in the UCD School of Earth Sciences. His research primarily focuses on the application of naturally ocurring geochemical tracers - particularly dissolved gas isotopes in water - to investigate a wide range of physical and biogeochemical processes in the hydrosphere, atmosphere, ocean, and solid Earth. As an analytical hydrogeochemist, Alan's research includes both lab and field based methods for tracer analysis as constraints for forward and inverse models of varying complexity, with an emphasis on noble gas tracers of groundwater recharge properties. Prior to joining UCD, Alan served on the research faculty at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where he previously completed a postdoctoral scholarship. Alan earned a PhD in Earth Science from University of California San Diego in 2019 and a BA in Earth Science (Computer Science concentration) from Columbia University in 2014.