Hi there!

I’m Rob Hayes, and this is my site documenting my various projects/travels from my geoscience research to my hobby coding projects.

CV

Work Experience

Reconstructed paleoenvironments from fluvial deposits using data collected from fieldwork and drill cores.
Designed efficient work flows using ArcGIS Pro and Python to increase sediment flux modelling iterations by a factor of 10.
Wrote tools to leverage AI image recognition for the analysis of grain size distribution in thin sections.
Performed heavy mineral separation on more than 50 samples, including adapting existing protocols to process clay-rich samples.
Prepared manuscript currently under revision for publication in a peer reviewed journal.

Organised field trips for up to 50 students, including ensuring health and safety of students was properly managed, receiving more than 80% positive feedback during student evaluation.
Taught lectures and labs in sedimentology to undergraduate classes, receiving unanimously positive feedback from students.
Balanced multiple parallel projects, including student engagement, examination and academic research projects.
Handled student concerns and complaints in accordance with university guidelines on privacy and safeguarding.

Contributed to training of machine learning model investigating links between volcanism and climate change.
Results of study published as cover article of November 2022 edition of GSA Today.

Prepared comprehensive yet concise notes on a variety of subjects to assist students with additional learning access requirements.
Developed ability to synthesise important parts of unfamiliar topics when taking notes.

Processed 600 samples for Loss On Ignition analysis, managing and organising sample records.
Quickly learned and adhered to health and safety regulations and laboratory best practices.

Administered meetings of student general body with Roberts Rules of Order, developing confidence in public speaking in non-academic contexts.

Graduated with GPA of 3.9.
Developed specialist knowledge of fluvial sedimentology through extensive fieldwork and literature research.
Measured more than 6 km of sedimentary logs at fine scale detail and collected more than 5,000 paleocurrent measurements to build paleogeographic reconstructions of the southwestern US.
Earned a total of $27,000 grants and scholarships from Geological Society of America, Arizona Geological Society and University of Arizona.

Graduated with First Class Honours.
Analysed behaviour of plastic in geological environment, using pyrolysis GCMS and infinite focal microscopy.
Performed principal component analysis and other parametric statistical tests on complex textural datasets using R and SPSS.
Won East Midlands Geological Society Beryl Whittaker Award for best dissertation.

Organised junior education section at Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in 2020 and 2022, interacting with hundreds of guests at the largest gem trade show in the world. Operated successful event with very limited budget.
Acted as Audio/Visual technician for GeoDaze 2022, a geological conference held at the University of Arizona, ensuring the smooth operation of technology during presentations.
Served as treasurer for the Association of Women Geoscientists (AWG) Southern Arizona Chapter during 2021 and 2022, managing funds and creating an automated system for reporting budgets to the central AWG organisation.

Geological: clastic sedimentology, specialising in fluvial systems; 8 months combined solo fieldwork experience in western USA, with further experience in teams in China and US.
IT: Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Linux (RHEL-derivatives), Python, R, basic Rust, basic MATLAB, ESRI ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, GDAL, Adobe, GIMP, Inkscape, Sony Vegas.
General: grant/bid and report writing experience from preparing academic papers and funding applications.

Full publication list here: Google Scholar Profile

2 first author publications:
- Hayes et al. 2025; Sedimentological and paleoslope reconstruction of the Late Triassic Chinle Formation, western USA: Constraints on models for dynamic subsidence; GSA Bull. doi: 10.1130/B37816.1
- Hayes and DeCelles, 2022; Reconstructing paleosinuosity and sedimentary mass balance in the Upper Triassic Shinarump paleoriver in Utah and Arizona, U.S.A.; JSR, doi: 10.2110/jsr.2021.122
1 first author manuscript currently in preparation; 3 co-author manuscripts.
1 invited talk at China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China.
6 conference talks and poster presentations, including Geological Society of America and International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology.