Group Members

Current Members

Dr. W. Ashley Griffith

Professor
Email: griffith.233@osu.edu

Education
PhD       2008     Stanford University
MS        2003     University of Massachusetts at Amherst
BS          1999     The College of William and Mary

About
Ashley is a Professor in the School of Earth Sciences.  His research focuses on structural geology and geomechanics, with an emphasis on the behavior of fractures in the earth’s crust. Among other things, fractures in rock dominate subsurface fluid flow, control earthquake hazards, and exert a huge influence on ground control problems in mining and civil engineering applications.  Ashley is also the Field Camp Director and Faculty Undergraduate Adviser for the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State. Ashley also serves on the Proposal Review Committee for the Statewide California Earthquake Center (SCEC) for Earthquake Geology. Before coming to Ohio State in 2017, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Arlington. Ashley also worked as an assistant professor of Geology and Environmental Science at The University of Akron from 2010 through 2012. Prior to that, he served as an NSF postdoctoral scholar studying Earthquake Mechanics at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in Rome from 2008-09. He earned a Ph.D. in Geological and Environmental Science from Stanford University in 2008, an M.S. in Geosciences from the University of Massachusetts in 2003 and a B.S. in Geology from the College of William and Mary in 1999.

See Full CV

Current Group Members:

Matt Idzakovich overlooking Capitol Reef National Park Matthew Idzakovich

MS Student
Email: idzakovich.3@buckeyemail.osu.edu

Education
MS       expected 2026      Ohio State University
BS          2023                       Ohio State University

About

Matthew studied graduated with honors studying paleontology at Ohio State in 2023.  After working for the central Ohio Metroparks for a year, Matthew returned to OSU to study structural geology and rock mechanics.  He is working on mapping deformed gravity slide blocks with in the Sevier Gravity Slide associated with the collapse of the Marysvale Volcanic Field over 20 million years ago.  He is also conducting rock mechanics experiments to study the frictional properties of the basal units within the Brian Head Formation that lead to the eventual initiation of the Sevier Gravity Slide.   During the summer of 2025, Matthew is interning with the Energy Resources Group at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

 

Past Group Members:

  • Graduate – M.S. Student, Aidan Fullriede, 2024
  • Graduate – M.S. Student, Danika Mayback, 2024
  • Graduate – PhD Student, Michael Braunagel, 2023 (and MS ’18)
  • Graduate – M.S. Student, Hannah Gaston, 2023
  • Graduate – M.S. Student, Zach Smith, 2021
  • Graduate M.S. Student, Caje Weigandt, 2021
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Hamed O. Ghaffari, Spring 2017
  • Graduate – Ph.D. Student, Christopher Borjas, Fall 2014-2017
    • Currently: Petrophysicist at EOG Resources
  • Graduate – M.S. Student, Troy Barber, Spring 2015-2017
  • Graduate – M.S. Student, Rene St. Julien, Spring 2015-2018
    • Currently: TEKsystems, Irving, Texas
  • Graduate –M.S. Student, Ashley Stanton-Yonge, 2014-2016 (formally co-advised student at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile), 2021 PhD from University College London
    • Currently: Marie Curie Fellow at University of Padova, Italy
  • Graduate – M.S. Student, Jennifer Hatch (Beyer), graduated Spring 2015, PhD from UMass-Amherst, ’19
    • Currently: Data Analyst at ConnectiveRx
  • Graduate – M.S. Student, Ciel Elizalde, graduated Spring 2015
    • Currently: Project Manager at The Carel Corporation
  • Graduate – M.S. Student, Monica Barbery, graduated Spring 2015, PhD from Texas A&M, 2022
    • Currently: Senior Research Associate, Brown University
  • Graduate – M.S. Student, Phiala Newman, graduated Spring 2013, PhD from Purdue University ’23
    • Currently: PhD from Purdue University
  • Graduate – M.S. Student, James Becker, graduated Spring 2013