Biography

I studied geology at Eastern Michigan University and graduated with honors in 2006. My graduate eduction took me to the University of Utah where I earned a M.S. in 2009, followed by a Ph.D. degree from U.C. Santa Barbara in 2014. After my Ph.D. I was a postdoctoral and Assistant Research Professor at the University of Utah. I joined UVU in 2017.

Education

PhD, University of California Santa Barbara, 2014

Major: Earth Science

MS, University of Utah, 2009

Major: Geology

BS, Eastern Michigan University, 2006

Major: Professional Geology

Teaching

GEO 3085

Earth Materials Laboratory, Fall 2024

GEO 3080

Earth Materials WE, Fall 2024

GEO 480R

Earth Science Seminar, Fall 2024

GEO 1050

Geology of National Parks PP, Fall 2024

GEO 1050

Geology of National Parks PP, Fall 2024

GEO 489R

Student Research, Fall 2024

GEO 4600

Field Experience, Summer 2024

GEO 1050

Geology of National Parks PP, Spring 2024

GEO 2500

Introduction to Field Geology, Spring 2024

GEO 1010

Introduction to Geology PP, Spring 2024

GEO 1010

Introduction to Geology PP, Spring 2024

Presentations

Udy, Nicholas (Presenter & Author), Stearns, Mike (Author Only), Annual Meeting, "Insights into chemical mobility in titanite driven by low-temperature crystal-plastic deformation", European Geophysical Union, online. (April 28, 2021)
Stearns, Mike (Presenter & Author), Udy, Nicholas (Author Only), Annual Fall Meeting, "Isotope and trace element mobility in titanite during low-T crystal-plastic deformation", Geological Society of America, virtual. (October, 2020)
Stearns, Mike (Presenter & Author), Invited seminar, "Dating low-temperature ductile deformation with titanite (sphene)", Utah Valley University, virtual. (October, 2020)
Stearns, Mike (Presenter & Author), Invited seminar, "Dating low-temperature ductile deformation with titanite (sphene)", Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, virtual. (September, 2020)
Stearns, Mike (Presenter & Author), Invited seminar, "Integrating the records of pluton emplacement and contact metamorphism", University of Nevada Reno, virtual. (September, 2020)
Stearns, Mike (Presenter & Author), Invited seminar, "Integrating the records of pluton emplacement and contact metamorphism", Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. (March, 2020)

Scholarly/Creative Works

Reat, Ellen , Stearns, Mike , Johnson, Cari , Fernandez, Diego , "Applications and Method Development for Detrital K-feldspar Common-Pb Provenance Analysis" .
Bunds, Michael , Stearns, Mike , (2020) "Implications of the March 18, 2020 Magna Mw5. 7 Earthquake for Coulomb Stress Change, Earthquake Hazard, and Listric Structure on the Wasatch Fault, Utah, USA" .
Stearns, Mike , Bartley, John M, Bowman, John R, Forster, Clayton W, Beno, Carl J, Riddle, Daniel D, Callis, Samuel J, Udy, Nicholas D, (2020) "Simultaneous magmatic and hydrothermal regimes in alta--little cottonwood stocks, Utah, USA, Recorded Using Multiphase U-Pb Petrochronology" (Issue: 4, vol. 10). Geosciences.
Bartley, John M, Glazner, Allen F, Stearns, Mike , Coleman, Drew S, (2020) "The granite aqueduct and autometamorphism of plutons" (Issue: 4, vol. 10). Geosciences.
Cottle, John M, Stearns, Mike , (2018) "Application of Single-Shot Laser Ablation Split-Stream Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry to Accessory Phase Petrochronology" . Microstructural Geochronology_ Planetary Records Down to Atom Scale.
Primm, Jonathan W, Johnson, Cari L, Stearns, Mike , (2018) "Basin-axial progradation of a sediment supply driven distributive fluvial system in the Late Cretaceous southern Utah foreland" (Issue: 2, vol. 30). Basin Research.

Awards

Faculty Excellence Award

UVU Faculty Senate - April 23, 2021