My research is broad, complex, and covers minerals to mammals. As project chief of the Denver Microbeam Laboratory (DML) I am responsible for developing new methods and improving existing electron beam-based microanalysis methods in support of research both within and external to the USGS. A recent focus of my research has been on critical elements (CE) in a variety of mineral matrices and pushing the detection limits and spatial resolution of elements with the electron microprobe. These research areas have accelerated in the last few years because the CEs are essential for modern technologies, with industrial (every-day to green-energy) and national defense applications. Fundamental understanding of the distribution of CEs in minerals and ores has largely been overlooked until recently. My responsibility is to develop new methods to characterize the concentration and distribution of CEs in minerals to better understand ore forming environments and their fate and transport during weathering. Understanding the deportment and concentrations of the CEs has implications towards the feasibility of economic recovery of these elements. When I’m not analyzing rocks and minerals, I have been part of interdisciplinary research teams that study the epidemiology, tissue pathology, historic dust deposition and exposures, and retained particulate matter (PM) in lungs of military personnel deployed to southwest Asia and historic and contemporary coal miners. As PI, I developed methods to answer questions related to the role the chemistry and morphology of inhaled particulate matter has on lung injury.