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R. Seth Wood
Automation Engineer

R. Seth Wood is an automation engineer within the Instrument Development and Automation Laboratory (IDAL) at EMSL. Seth has a background in stable and radiogenic isotope analyses and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray and neutron diffraction, and synchrotron X-ray fluorescence. Additional skills include the development of automated pipelines to merge multi-modal data and train machine learning models. Seth is also helping create an orchestration layer to perform closed-loop experimentation on the Anaerobic Microbial Phenotyping Platform (AMP2) at EMSL and enhance scientific discovery.

Research Interests

  • Instrument automation
  • Developing closed-loop, autonomous workflows
  • Analytical chemistry
  • Secondary ion mass spectrometry
  • Isotope geochemistry
  • Radiochronometry

Education

  • PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, 2023
  • BS in Geology/Earth Science, 2018

Affiliations and Professional Service

  • Co-chair secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) workshop at Goldschmidt (2024)

Publications

2026

  • McDonald, Benjamin S., Luca Pagani, James E. Baciak, Heather S. Cunningham, Benjamin A. Fehringer, Todd W. Hossbach, Micah Miller, Hannah K. Patz, R. Seth Wood, and Mital A. Zalavadia. "Microsample identification in post-detonation samples with advanced digital autoradiography systems." Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 335, no. 3 (2026): 2359-2369.

2024

  • Paiste, K., Fike, D.A., Mayika, K.B., Moussavou, M., Lepland, A., Prave, A.R., Sato, T., Ueno, Y., Sawaki, Y., Richardson, J.A. and Wood, R.S. (2024). Sulfur isotopes from the Paleoproterozoic Francevillian Basin record multigenerational pyrite formation, not depositional conditions. Communications Earth & Environment.

2022

  • Wood, R.S., Chakoumakos, B.C., Fortner, A.M., Gillies-Rector, K., Frontzek, M.D., Ivanov, I.N., Kah, L.C., Kennedy, B. and Pracheil, B.M. (2022). Quantifying fish otolith mineralogy for trace-element chemistry studies. Scientific Reports.

2021

  • Wood, R.S., Lepland, A., Ogliore, R.C., Houghton, J. and Fike, D.A. (2021). Microscale δ34S heterogeneities in cold seep barite record variable methane flux off the Lofoten-Vesterålen Continental Margin, Norway. Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

2019

  • Chakoumakos, B.C., Pracheil, B.M., Wood, R.S., Loeppky, A., Anderson, G., Koenigs, R. and Bruch, R. (2019). Texture analysis of polycrystalline vaterite spherulites from Lake Sturgeon otoliths. Scientific Reports.
     
  • Manning-Berg, A.R., Wood, R.S., Williford, K.H., Czaja, A.D. and Kah, L.C. (2019). The taphonomy of proterozoic microbial mats and implications for early diagenetic silicification. Geosciences.