CV & Publications

Employment

2022 – present     Science Media Producer at Royal Society of Chemistry

2019 – 2020     Script Writer for Hayden Planetarium Space Show screenplay, ‘Worlds Beyond Earth’ at the American Museum of Natural History.

2019 – 2022     SEPnet Officer for Outreach and Public Engagement, The Open University.

2017-2018       Teacher (substitute) of Science and Maths, King’s County, California, USA.

2015 – present    Author, Freelance writer, Science communicator.

Host for StarTalk radio All-Stars. Author of popular science book ‘Catching Stardust‘ published in 2018 and ‘Fire & Ice: The Volcanoes of the Solar System‘ in 2021. Freelance science feature writer working with All About Space, BBC Focus, StarTalk Radio and New Scientist.

2011-2015    Deputy Head and Principal Operator NanoSIMS laboratory at The Open University.

Responsible for daily maintenance, planning of user time, and experimental design and set-up, analysis and interpretation, for internal and external scientific users of the NanoSIMS instrument on a range of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial projects.

2009-2015    Postdoctoral Research Associate (STFC-funded), The Open University.

Investigating primitive Solar System materials to understand the origin of silicate and organic matter in the early Solar System, and the formation and mixing history of primitive reservoirs.

2008                Assistant Volcanologist, Montserrat Volcano Observatory (BGS), W.I.

3-month placement monitoring volcanic activity at the Soufriere Hills volcano reporting to the observatory director and speaking to local public and schools about the volcano.

2008               Teaching Support Officer, University of Edinburgh

Supporting and assisting the planning and organisation of lectures and laboratory classes for the undergraduate geology course.

2005-2008       Tutor and Demonstrator for Geology, University of Edinburgh

Teaching on field and laboratory courses, writing and running tutorials, marking and grading undergraduate course work.

Other: – Co-Investigator for science on ESA Rosetta mission Ptolemy instrument – Co-Investigator UK Hayabusa consortium – 2013 British Science Association Media Fellow

Education

2009            PhD (Geochemistry), University of Edinburgh.

Thesis title: Evolution of the Earth’s mantle-crust-atmosphere system from the trace element and isotope geochemistry of the plume mantle reservoir. NERC-funded.

2005            MSci. (Geological Sciences), Durham University. 1st class honours.

Thesis title: The petrogenetic relationship between mafic inclusions and andesites from the 12-13th July 2003 dome collapse of the Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, West Indies.

Books

  1. Catching Stardust: Comets, Asteroids and the Birth of the Solar System. Bloomsbury Sigma. Published 2018.
  2. Fire & Ice: The Volcanoes of the Solar System. Bloomsbury Sigma. Published 2021.

Book chapter

  1. Starkey, N. A. Comet chasing: The Rosetta story. Book chapter in Patrick Moore’s Yearbook of Astronomy, 2016.

Scientific journal articles

  1.  Starkey, N. A . (2020). Alien Volcanoes. The New Scientist 248(3311) 44-48
  2. Bodenan, J. D., Starkey, N. A., Russell, S. S., Wright, I. P., and Franchi, I. A. (2020). One of the earliest refractory inclusions and its implications for solar system history. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 286, 214-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2020.06.034
  3. Starkey, N. A. (2018). From beyond the stars. The New Scientist (240)3202 38-41.
  4. Greenwood, R. C., Barratt, J-A., Miller, M. F., Anand, M., Dauphas, N., Franchi, I. A., Sillard, P. and Starkey, N. A. (2018). Oxygen isotopic evidence for accretion of Earth’s water before a high-energy Moon-forming giant impact. Science Advances 4, no. 3. 1-8. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao5928.
  5. Lindgren, P., Lee, M., Starkey, N. A., Franchi, I. A. (2017). Fluid evolution in CM carbonaceous chondrites tracked through the oxygen isotopic compositions of carbonates. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 204, 240-251.
  6. Russell S. S., Bodenan J. D., Starkey N. A., Jeffries , Kearsley A., Spratt J., Armytage R., and Franchi I. A. (2017). Relationship between CAIs and chondrules: A case study from a compound chondrule from the Allende (CV3) meteorite. Geochemical Journal 51, 31-43.
  7. Herzberg, C., Vidito, C. and Starkey, N. A. (2016). Nickel – Cobalt Contents of Olivine Record Origins of Mantle Peridotite and Related Rocks. American Mineralogist 101, 1952-1966.
  8. Starkey, N. A., Jackson, C., Greenwood, R., S. Parman, Franchi, I. A., Jackson, M., Fitton, J. G., Stuart, F. M. and Larsen, L. M. (2016). Triple oxygen isotopic composition of the high-3He/4He mantle. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 176, 227-238.
  9. Giesting, P., Schwenzer, S. P., Filiberto, J., Starkey, N. A., Franchi, I. A., Treiman, A. H. Tindle, A. G., and Grady, M. M. (2015). Igneous and shock processes affecting chassignite amphibole evaluated using chlorine/water partitioning and hydrogen isotopes. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 50 (3), 433-460.
  10. Starkey, N. A., Franchi, I. A. and Lee, M. R. (2014). Isotopic diversity in interplanetary dust particles and preservation of extreme 16O-depletion. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 142, 115-131.
  11. Bodenan, J. D., Starkey, N. A., Franchi, I. A., Russell, S. S. and Wright, I. P. (2014). An oxygen isotope study of Wark-Lovering rims on type A CAIs in primitive carbonaceous chondrites. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 401, 327-336.
  12. Barnes, J. J., Tartèse, R., Anand, M., McCubbin, F.M. Franchi, I. A., Starkey, N. A., Russell, S. S. (2014). The origin of water in the primitive Moon as revealed by the lunar highlands samples. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 390, 244-252.
  13. Tartese, R., Anand, M., Barnes, J. J, Starkey, N. A., Franchi, I. A., and Sano, Y. (2013). The abundance, distribution, and isotopic composition of Hydrogen in the Moon as revealed by basaltic lunar samples: implications for the volatile inventory of the Moon. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 122, 58-74.
  14. Starkey, N. A., Franchi, I. A., and Alexander, C. M. O’D. (2013). A Raman spectroscopic study of organic matter in interplanetary dust particles and meteorites using multiple wavelength laser excitation. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 48 (10), 1800-1822.
  15. Burchell, M., Price, M., Wozniakiewicz, P., Bridges, J., Kearsley, A., Grady, M., Green, S., Starkey, N., Lindgren, P. and Noguchi, T. (2013). Sample return missions to minor bodies. Astronomy and Geophysics, 54(3), 3.28-3.32.
  16. Lee, M. R., Sofe, M. R., Lindgren, P., Starkey, N. A. and Franchi, I. A. (2013). The oxygen isotope evolution of parent body aqueous solutions as recorded by multiple carbonate generations in the Lonewolf Nunatak 94101 CM2 carbonaceous chondrite. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 121, 452-466.
  17. Abernethy, F. A. J., Verchovsky, A. B., Starkey, N. A., Anand, M., Franchi, I. A. and Grady, M. M. (2013). Isotopic fingerprinting of magmatic volatiles in Angrites. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 48(9), 1590-1606.
  18. Starkey, N. A. and Franchi, I. A. (2013). Insight into the silicate and organic reservoirs of the comet forming region. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 105, 73-91.
  19. Barnes, J., Franchi, I. A., Anand, M., Tartese, R., Starkey, N. A., Sano, Y. and Russell, S. S. (2013). Accurate and precise measurements of the D/H ratio and hydroxyl content in lunar apatites using NanoSIMS. Chemical Geology, 337, 48-55.
  20. Bridges, J. C., Changela, H. G., Nayakshin, S., Starkey, N. A. and Franchi, I. A. (2012). Chondrule fragments from Comet Wild2: evidence for high temperature processing in the outer Solar System. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 341, 186–194.
  21. Price, M. C., Kearsley, A. T., Burchell, M. J., Howard, L. E., Hillier, J. K., Starkey, N. A., Wozniakiewicz, P. J. and Cole, M. J. (2012). Stardust interstellar dust calibration: hydrocode modeling of impacts on Al-1100 foil at velocities up to 300 kms-1 and validation with experimental data. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 47(4), 684–695.
  22. Starkey, N. A., Fitton, J. G., Stuart, F. M. and Larsen, L. M. (2012). Melt inclusions in olivines from early Iceland plume picrites support high 3He/4He in both enriched and depleted mantle. Chemical Geology, 306, 54–62.
  23. Grün, E., Sternovsky, Z., Horanyi, M., Hoxie. V., Robertson, S., Xi, J., Auer, S., Landgraf, M., Postberg, F., Price, M. C., Srama, R., Starkey, N. A., Hillier, J. K., Franchi, I. A., Tsou, P., Westphal, A., and  Gainsforth, Z. (2012). Active cosmic dust collector. Planetary and Space Science 60, 261-273.
  24. Dale, C. W., Pearson, D. G., Starkey, N. A., Stuart, F. M., Ellam, R. M., Larsen, L. M., Fitton, J. G., Macpherson, C. G. (2009). Osmium isotopes in Baffin Island and West Greenland picrites: Implications for the 187Os/188Os composition of the convecting mantle and the nature of high 3He/4He mantle. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 278, 267-277.
  25. Starkey, N. A., Stuart, F. M., Ellam, R. M, Fitton, J. G., Basu, S., Larsen, L. M. (2009). Helium isotopes in early Iceland plume picrites: Constraints on the composition of high 3He/4He mantle. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 277, 91-100.