Kun Wang, Washington University in St. Louis, USA
2020 Houtermans Award medallist
Kun Wang is an assistant professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Kun grew up in Tangshan, China and received a B.Sc. degree in geology at the China University of Geosciences, where he worked with Rong Liu on the Ningqiang carbonaceous chondrite and with Weibiao Hsu on Grove Mountain Antarctic meteorites. Kun then moved to the USA and received a Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 2013, where he studied iron isotope cosmochemistry with Frédéric Moynier. After receiving an Origins of Life Initiative Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship, Kun moved to Harvard University and collaborated with Stein Jacobsen to develop a new method for potassium isotope analysis. In 2016, Kun returned to St. Louis joining the faculty of Washington University. In recent years, his research has been focused on various applications of K stable isotopes such as studying continental weathering and hydrothermal alteration; tracing subducted crustal materials and mantle heterogeneity; and understanding the initial physical and chemical conditions surrounding the formation and differentiation of the terrestrial planets.
Additional information and a list of publications can be found here.