Bio: Devon is an Associate Professor at Montana State University (MSU), where she joined the faculty in Fall 2017. She holds a Doctorate and Master of Science in Geosciences from the University of Arizona and was a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Earth and Planetary Science from University of California Santa Cruz. Devon’s research focuses on sedimentary basin analysis and the tectonic-thermal history of orogenic systems. Her field areas center on mountains along ancient convergent margins in the western U.S. and Asia, namely Montana, California, Tibet, and Nepal. She has earned numerous NSF and USGS grants, including the prestigious NSF CAREER award, and several educational mapping initiatives to support students at MSU.

A dedicated teacher, Devon was awarded MSU College of Letters and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award in 2023. She actively supports field and laboratory research experiences for MSU students, mentoring graduate students and over 30 undergraduate students since 2017. She enjoys teaching the Summer field geology course in Montana and is the Graduate Student Coordinator for the Department of Earth Sciences. She also serves as Associate Editor for the journal Tectonics and Journal of Sedimentary Research.

Devon is grateful to Dr. Steve Graham for introduction to the wonders of the Great Valley Forearc Basin. 

Abstract: The Great Valley forearc (GVF) basin preserves >13 km of stratigraphy deposited during latest Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous to Miocene time, preserving one of the most complete sedimentary archives of the North American Cordillera. This research investigates the mechanisms driving forearc basin development through integration of sedimentology, sandstone petrography, and geochronology. In turn, I compare the evolution of the northern and southern segments of the basin during the Cretaceous time, including potential drivers for a ~40 myrunconformity within the southern GVF that suggests the forearc region was a highly segmented since its initiation.