Employment
Education
Ph.D. in Earth & Planetary Sciences from UC Santa Cruz
- September 2016 – November 2022
- Dissertation Title: "The Geologic Context of Lunar Magnetic Anomalies"
- Primary Advisor: Ian Garrick-Bethell
B.S. in Physics from UC Santa Barbara
- September 2012 – June 2016
- Graduated with Honors
Research Experience
Lunar paleomagnetism at UC Santa Cruz
- March 2017 – November 2022
- Working with Ian Garrick-Bethell, I investigated the cause of lunar crustal magnetic anomalies associated with lunar swirls using gravity, reflectivity, and topography datasets.
- Tools included Python and MATLAB, skills included mapping, finite difference methods, and image processing.
Orbital dynamics at UC Santa Cruz
- April 2018 – May 2019
- Working with Francis Nimmo, I investigated how the Moon's past magma ocean affected the evolution of the Earth-Moon system.
- Tools included Python, skills included finite difference methods.
Seismic tomography at UC Santa Cruz
- September 2016 – March 2018
- Working with Thorne Lay, I studied earthquakes that could image large low shear velocity provinces in the deep mantle.
- Tools included SAC (Seismic Analysis Code) and Python, and skills included signal processing.
Volcano seismology at UC Santa Barbara
- October 2015 – October 2017
- Working with Robin Matoza, I investigated the infrasonic component of eruption tremor by cross-correlating seismic and acoustic signals in volcanic eruption data.
- Tools included Python and MATLAB, and skills included signal processing and spectral analysis.
Astrophysics at UC Santa Barbara
- October 2014 – July 2016
- Working with Benjamin Mazin, I investigated the low-period cutoff of irregular W Ursae Majoris contact binary star systems using Python-based analysis methods.
- Tools included Python.
Astronomy instrumentation at Caltech (LIGO Lab)
- Summer 2015
- Working with Rana Adhikari and Kate Dooley, I prototyped a tilt-free seismometer to be used in LIGO's seismic isolation systems.
- Skills included optics laboratory work and machine shop work.
Condensed matter physics at Los Alamos National Laboratory (NHMFL)
- Summer 2014, Summer 2015
- Working with Scott Crooker, I investigated the effect of magnetic fields on the photoconductivity of organic photovoltaics and the electroluminescence of organic light-emitting diodes.
- Tools included LABVIEW, and skills included optics laboratory work and machine shop work.
Nuclear chemistry at Los Alamos National Laboratory (AOT Division)
- June 2011 – September 2012
- Working with Gregory Dale and Michele Decroix, I developed a mathematical model to study the production of the medical radioisotope Mo-99.
- Tools included Mathematica.
Publications & Presentations
Journal Articles
- Seritan, M. R. K., Garrick-Bethell, I. (2025). Magnetic field morphology correlated with surface slopes at the Gerasimovich lunar magnetic anomaly. Icarus, 445, 116825.
- Seritan, M. R. K., Garrick-Bethell, I. (2023). Volcanic thermal demagnetization of the Reiner Gamma magnetic anomaly. Icarus, 403, 115601.
- Wakita, S., Johnson, B. C., Garrick-Bethell, I., Kelley, M. R., Maxwell, R. E., Davison, T. M. (2021). Impactor material records the ancient lunar magnetic field in antipodal anomalies. Nature Communications, 12, 6543.
- Garrick-Bethell, I., Paige, D. A., Burton, M., Boland, J., Abrahams, J. N. H., van der Bogert, C., Choi, Y.-J., Deca, J., Donaldson Hanna, K., Farrell, W. M., Hemingway, D., Hiesinger, H., Jin, H., Johnson, B. C., Kaluna, H., Kelley, M. R., Larson, D. E., Lawrence, D. J., Li, S., Ma, Y., Maxwell, R. E., Miller, R. S., Pieters, C. M., Poppe, A. R., Ravat, D., Russell, C. T., Siegler, M. A., Vernazza, P., Weiss, B. P.. (2021). NanoSWARM: NanoSatellites for Space Weathering, Surface Water, Solar Wind, and Remanent Magnetism. Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032 white paper, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 53, Issue 4, e-id. 355.
- Kelley, M. R. and Garrick-Bethell, I. (2020). Gravity constraints on the age and formation of the Moon's Reiner Gamma magnetic anomaly. Icarus, 338, 113465.
- Garrick-Bethell, I. and Kelley, M. R. (2019). Reiner Gamma: A magnetized elliptical disk on the Moon. Geophysical Research Letters, 46, 5065–5074.
- Lee, J.-K., Maxwell, R. E., Jin, H., Baek, S.-M., Ghassemi, O., Kelley, M. R., Lee, H., Kim, K.-H., Lee, S., Garrick-Bethell, I. (2019). A small lunar swirl and its implications for the formation of the Reiner Gamma magnetic anomaly. Icarus, 319, 869–884.
- Matoza, R. S., Fee, D., Green, D., Le Pichon, A., Vergoz, J., Haney, M. M., Mikesell, T. D., Franco, L., Valderrama, O. A., Kelley, M. R., McKee, K., Ceranna, L. (2018). Local, regional, and remote seismo-acoustic observations of the April 2015 VEI 4 eruption of Calbuco volcano, Chile. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 123, 3814–3827.
- Crooker, S. A., Liu, F., Kelley, M. R., Martinez, N. J. D., Nie, W., Mohite, A., Nayyar, I. H., Tretiak, S., Smith, D. L., Ruden, P. P. (2014). Spectrally resolved hyperfine interactions between polaron and nuclear spins in organic light emitting diodes: Magneto-electroluminescence studies. Applied Physics Letters, 105, 153304.
- Liu, F., Kelley, M. R., Crooker, S. A., Nie, W., Mohite, A. D., Ruden, P. P., Smith, D. L. (2014). Magneto-electroluminescence of organic heterostructures: Analytical theory and spectrally resolved measurements. Physical Review B, 90, 235314.
Invited Talks
- "Magnetic field morphology correlated with surface slopes at the Gerasimovich lunar magnetic anomaly." Stanford University Planetary Science and Exploration Seminar Series, Stanford, CA, 25 February 2026.
Public Talks
- "Our Marvelous Magnetic Moon." Benjamin Dean Lecture, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, 3 November 2025.
Conference Talks
- Seritan, M. R. K. and Garrick-Bethell, I. Magnetic field morphology correlated with surface slopes at the Gerasimovich lunar magnetic anomaly. Europlanet Science Congress/AAS Division of Planetary Sciences Joint Meeting, Helsinki, Finland, 12 September 2025.
- Seritan, M. R. K. and Garrick-Bethell, I.** Correlation of Magnetism with Low Topographic Slopes Near the Antipode of the Lunar Crisium Basin. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, TX, 10 March 2025.
- Seritan, M. R. K. and Garrick-Bethell, I. Magnetic field morphology related to topography and surface slopes at the Gerasimovich lunar magnetic anomaly. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Chicago, Illinois and virtual, 14 December 2022.
- Garrick-Bethell, I. and Seritan, M. R. K. Laccolith model for lunar ring-moat dome structures. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Virtual, 19 March 2021.
- Seritan, M. R. K. and Garrick-Bethell, I. Modeling thermal demagnetization at the lunar swirl Reiner Gamma. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Virtual, 15 March 2021.
- Kelley, M. R. and Garrick-Bethell, I.** Constraining the source geometry and formation age of the Moon's Reiner Gamma lunar swirl. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Washington, D. C., 10 December 2018.
- Kelley, M. R., Garrick-Bethell, I., Goossens, S. J. Constraints on the formation age and evidence of thermal demagnetization of the Moon's Reiner Gamma magnetic anomaly. NASA Exploration Science Forum, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, 27 June 2018.
- Kelley, M. R., Garrick-Bethell, I., Goossens, S. J. Constraints on the formation age and evidence of thermal demagnetization of the Moon's Reiner Gamma magnetic anomaly. Lunar and Small Bodies Graduate Conference, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, 25 June 2018.
- Kelley, M. R., Garrick-Bethell, I., Goossens, S. J. Evidence for thermal demagnetization of the Moon's Reiner Gamma Magnetic Anomaly. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, TX, 23 March 2018.
- Matoza, R. S., Fee, D., Vergoz, J., Green, D. N., Le Pichon, A., Haney, M. M., Kelley, M. R., McKee, K. F. Global and regional volcanic infrasound from the April 2015 eruption of Calbuco, Chile. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 12 December 2016.
- Kelley, M. R., Dooley, K., Adhikari, R., Arai, K., Vass, S. Prototyping a tilt-free seismometer. Caltech LIGO SURF Research Symposium, Pasadena, CA, 20 August 2015.
- Crooker, S. A., Kelley, M. R., Martinez, N. J. D., Nie, W., Mohite, A. D., Smith, D. L., Tretiak, S., Ruden, P. P. Hyperfine spin interactions between polarons and nuclei in light emitting diodes: Magneto-EL measurements. American Physical Society March Meeting, Denver, CO, 3–7 March 2014.
Conference Posters
- Seritan, M. R. K., Tiscareno, M. S., French, R. S., Showalter, M. R., Gordon, M. K., Chang, Y.-J., Stopp, D., Mace, M. J. T., Simpson, E. R. Capabilities, contents, and use cases of the Outer Planets Unified Search (OPUS) from the PDS RMS Node. Bay Area Planetary Science Conference, Stanford, CA, 24 September 2024.
- Seritan, M. R. K., Tiscareno, M. S., French, R. S., Showalter, M. R., Gordon, M. K., Chang, Y.-J., Stopp, D., Mace, M. J. T., Simpson, E. R. Capabilities, contents, and use cases of the Outer Planets Unified Search (OPUS) from the PDS RMS Node. Bay Area Planetary Science Conference, Mountain View, CA, 16 October 2024.
- Seritan, M. R. K., Tiscareno, M. S.**, French, R. S., Showalter, M. R., Gordon, M. K., Chang, Y.-J., Stopp, D., Mace, M. J. T., Simpson, E. R. Capabilities, contents, and use cases of the Outer Planets Unified Search (OPUS) from the PDS RMS Node. NASA Science Data Repositories Workshop, Pasadena, CA, 25 September 2024.
- Kelley, M. R. and Garrick-Bethell, I. Testing the antipodal ejecta magnetization hypothesis. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, TX, 19 March 2019.
- Kelley, M. R. and Matoza, R. S. Investigation of infrasound and seismic signals from explosive volcanic eruptions. Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Colloquium, Santa Barbara, CA, 17 May 2016.
- Kelley, M. R., Dooley, K., Adhikari, R., Arai, K., Vass, S. Prototyping a tilt-free seismometer. Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, San Diego, CA, 16 January 2016.
** indicates presenter when not the first author.
Note — Some papers/presentations are listed under a previous name, Megan R. K. Seritan.
Honors & Awards
Career Development Award, Lunar & Planetary Institute
Honorable Mention, Computational Sciences Graduate Fellowship, Department of Energy
Regents Graduate Fellowship, UC Santa Cruz
Regents Scholarship, UC Santa Barbara
Physics Circus Award, UC Santa Barbara Physics Department
Teaching
Planetary Science (EART 160) at UC Santa Cruz
- Fall quarters 2023, 2021, 2020
- For Prof. Ian Garrick-Bethell; 60 students, no additional TA's
- An upper-division introduction to planetary science, including surfaces, atmospheres, and interiors of planets, satellites, and small bodies.
- Duties included holding office hours and grading research papers, homework sets, and exams.
The Dynamic Earth (EART 110C) at UC Santa Cruz
- Spring quarter 2023
- For Prof. Ian Garrick-Bethell; 75 students, two additional TA's
- An upper-division laboratory class that focuses on physical processes including plate tectonics, structural deformation of rocks, and material and heat transport.
- Duties included setting up and teaching two laboratories per week, holding office hours, and grading labs, homework sets, and exams.
Introductory Computer Programming for Geoscientists (EART 119) at UC Santa Cruz
- Fall quarter 2019
- For Prof. Mathis Hain; 40 students, no additional TA's
- An upper-division introduction to Python programming for Earth, environmental, and planetary scientists.
- Duties included teaching one section per week, holding office hours, and grading code submissions.
Introduction to Scientific Computing (EART/ASTRO 119) at UC Santa Cruz
- Spring quarter 2018
- For Dr. Aldo Batta Marquez; 40 students, one additional TA
- An upper-division introduction to solving Earth science, physics, and astronomy problems using Python.
- Duties included teaching one section per week, holding office hours, and grading code submissions.
California Hazards COSMOS at UC Santa Cruz
- Summer 2017
- For Prof. Susan Schwartz; 30 students, two additional TA's
- A summer class for advanced high school students that explores the principles of earthquake detection and how earthquakes affect life in California.
- Duties included actively working with the students as they learned to code over their intensive four-week course.
Planetary Discovery (EART 8) at UC Santa Cruz
- Spring quarter 2017
- For Prof. Xi Zhang; 100 students, no additional TA's
- A lower-division course designed to introduce students to planetary science.
- Duties included teaching four sections per week, holding office hours, and grading homework sets and exams.