Saturday Collector Day is an all-day event where we invite a special guest to display their private mineral collection in the lobby of the Westward Look Resort.
Event Details
Special Guests: Aaron Celestian, Ph.D., Associate Curator and Alyssa R. Morgan, M.S., Collections Manager of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
When: Saturday, February 9, 2018
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Where: Westward Look Resort Lobby
Photo courtesy of Natural History Museum Los Angeles.
About Aaron Celestian, Ph.D., Associate Curator
Dr. Celestian joined the NHM in January 2016 as Associate Curator after being an Associate Professor of Geology at Western Kentucky University for 8 years. He received his Bachelor’s of Science in Geology (emphasis in Mineralogy) from the University of Arizona (1999), and both Master’s (2002) and Ph.D. (2006) from Stony Brook University. Dr. Celestian is also an Associate Editor for the American Mineralogist.
His main research goals as a mineralogist and geochemist are to probe the secrets of how Earth materials grow and react in their environments, and to take that understanding to predict and design new materials for environmental and industrial applications. To better model how these important porous minerals grow and behave, Dr. Celestian focuses on using in situ and time-resolved techniques to measure atomic positions and molecular motions in operando. Dr. Celestian commonly travels to national and international synchrotron and neutron facilities that enable to him to perform these experiments.
Alyssa R. Morgan, M.S., Collections Manager
In September 2007, Alyssa Morgan joined the Mineral Sciences Department as Collections Manager. Alyssa began collecting rocks and meteorites as a child, which was the beginning of a life-long passion for science. She received her bachelor’s degree in Geological Sciences from the University of Washington and her master’s degree in Geological Sciences from Brown University. Her specialties were experimental igneous petrology and planetary geology. Her research focused on the petrogenesis of lunar volcanic rocks and the composition and evolution of the lunar mantle.
