NSF GRFP > Fellow Profiles > Mary Leech

Mary Leech, Professor of Geosciences

Mary Leech, a member of the Cherokee nation, began her college career at San Jose State University, where she graduated with a BS in Geology in 1994. She then attended graduate school at Stanford University. In 1999, she finished her studies for her PhD in Geological and Environmental Studies. During her time at Stanford, she held a National Science Foundation Minority Graduate Fellowship. Since her time as an NSF fellow, she has received multiple grants for funding from the foundation.

After her graduation from Stanford, Dr. Leech was an NSF International Research Fellow from 1999 to 2001. She began her fellowship at the University of London and then ended the fellowship at Stanford University. Once her fellowship was complete, she went to the University of California, Santa Barbara as a University of California’s Postdoctoral Fellow. In 2002, she began her professional experience as a lecturer at San Francisco State University while a Research Associate at Stanford University. In 2005, she began her present position at  San Francisco State University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences.

 Dr. Mary Leech has traveled to and studied a variety of geologic features in numerous countries. Her field research has brought her to Tibet, the Indian Himalayas, China, Norway, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Great Britain. Her current research interests include studying structural geology and tectonics, geochemistry, geochronology, and igneous and metamorphic petrology. Dr. Leech’s ongoing work in the Himalaya and southern Tibet is being funded by the NSF CAREER Grant. Dr. Leech and her colleagues were also awarded NSF Major Research Instrumentation funding to purchase a field emission scanning electronmicroscope, which will be beneficial to students and faculty in their studies of chemistry, the geosciences, biology, physics, and 
engineering.

Selected Publications:

Leech, M.L., Singh, S., and Jain, A.K., 2008, Continuous metamorphic zircon growth and interpretation of U-Pb SHRIMP dating: An example from the western Himalaya: In, Metamorphic conditions along convergent plate junctions: Mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, and tectonics (W.G. Ernst and D. Rumble III, eds.), Geological Society of America International Book Series, 10, 433-448.

Beane, R.J. and Leech, M.L., 2007, The Maksyutov Complex: The first UHP terrane 40 years later, in Cloos, M., Carlson, W.D., Gilbert, M.C., Liou, J.G., and Sorensen, S.S., eds., Convergent Margin Terranes and Associated Regions: A Tribute to W.G. Ernst: Geological Society of America Special Paper 419, p.153-169, doi: 10.1130/2006.2419(08).

Leech, M.L., Singh, S., Jain, A.K., 2007, Continuous metamorphic zircon growth and interpretation of U-Pb SHRIMP dating: An example from the western Himalaya, International Geology Review, 49, 313-328.

Leech, M.L., Singh, S., Jain, A.K., and Klemperer, S.L., and Manickavasagam, R.M., 2006, Reply to comment by P.J. O'Brien on: "The onset of India-Asia continental collision: Early, steep subduction required by the timing of UHP metamorphism in the western Himalaya", Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 245, 817-820.

Leech, M.L., Webb, L.E., and Yang, T., 2006, Diachronous histories for the Dabie-Sulu orogen from high-temperature geochronology, Geological Society of America Special Paper 403, 1-22.

Webb, L.E., Leech, M.L., and Yang, T., 2006, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronology of the Sulu terrane: Late Triassic exhumation of high and ultrahigh-pressure rocks and other implications for Mesozoic tectonics in East Asia. Geological Society of America Special Paper 403, 77-92.

Leech, M.L., Singh, S., Jain, A.K., and Klemperer, S.L., and Manickavasagam, R.M., 2005, The onset of India-Asia continental collision: Early, steep subduction required by the timing of UHP metamorphism in the western Himalaya, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 234, 83-97.

Leech, M.L. and Willingshofer, E., 2004, Thermal modeling of an ultrahigh-pressure complex in the south Urals, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 226, 85-99.

Leech, M.L., Howell, D.G., and Egger, A.E., 2004, A guided inquiry approach to learning the geology of the U.S., Journal of Geoscience Education, 52, 368-373.

Yang, T., Xu, Z., and Leech, M.L., 2004, Mass balance during retrogression of eclogite-facies minerals in the Rongcheng eclogite, eastern Sulu UHPM terrane, China, American Mineralogist, 89, 1525-1532.

Bostick, B., Jones, R.E., Chen, C., Ernst, W.G., Leech, M.L., and Beane, R.J., 2003, Low-temperature microdiamond aggregates in the Maksyutov metamorphic complex, south Ural Mountains, Russia, American Mineralogist, 88, 1709-1717.

Leech, M.L., 2001, Arrested orogenic development: eclogitization, delamination, and tectonic collapse, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 185, p. 149-159.

Leech, M.L. and Ernst, W. G., 2000, Petrotectonic evolution of the high- to ultrahigh-pressure Maksyutov Complex, Karayanova area, south Ural Mountains: Structural and oxygen isotope constraints, Lithos, 52, p. 235-252.

Leech, M.L. and Stockli, D.F., 2000, The late exhumation history of the ultrahigh-pressure Maksyutov Complex, south Ural Mountains, from new apatite fission track data, Tectonics, 19, p. 153-167.

Leech, M.L. and Ernst, W.G., 1998. Graphite pseudomorphs after diamond? A carbon isotope and spectroscopic study of graphite cuboids from the Maksyutov Complex, south Ural Mountains, Russia. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 62, p. 2143-2154.

Here are a few recent recipients of the National Science Foundation Fellowships:

José Manuel Álvarez

• School: University of Arizona
• Specialization: Antropology
• Research: Examining multicrafting within households by analyzing the variability in  flaked stone tools from floor and trash mound contexts at the Marana Mound site in the Tortolita Mountains. 

Heather Beem

• School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Specialization: Mechanical and Oceanographic Engineering  
• Research: Underwater Robotics

 Brandon Cochenour

• School: North Caroline State University
• Specialization: Electrical Engineering
• Research: Optical communications and RF-photonics

 Karen Vaughn

• School: University of California, Berkeley
• Specialization: Engineering
• Research: Microelectrical Mechanical System (MEMS) and Optoelectronics