Skip to main content
Shikha Sharma
Professor, Department of Geology and Geography
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
WVU Home

Lab Members

Research Assistant Professor:

Male with dark hair and dark rimmed glasses wearing a black suit and plaid dress shirt stands outside on a path next to a wooden fence.
Vikas Agrawal

Ph.D. Students:

Sam headshot
Samuel Bowman
Female with long blonde hair wearing a nice short sleeve shirt and drop necklace smiles for a photo.
Rachel Yesenchak
Young female with dark hair and wire, rectangle glasses wears a white dress dress shirt with a loose black tie and a light green suit jacket.
Shailee Bhattacharya

Arkajyoti Pathak
Arkajyoti Pathak

Allison Headshot
Allison Clark

John Barton
John Barton

Master Students:

Steve stands on a creek bank wearing waders and boots. He uses a long measurement tool to take a sample of the creek bed
Steven McGrath

Undergraduate Students:

Grace, a young female, smiles for the camera. Her light brown hair is pulled back into a loose pony tail.
Grace Taylor
Young female takes a selfie outdoors. She has long blonde hair and wears a dark, short sleeve t-shirt
Kelly Kreitzer
Young male adult smiles for the camera in front of a plain background. He has dark hair, mustache and beard and dark eyes.
Bennington Opdahl

Past Post-Doctoral Researchers:

  • Rawlings Akondi :  Currently Chemical Engineer at INTEL
  • Ajay Warrier :  Currently Faculty at Penn State, Fayette
  • Wei Zhang  Currently Engineer at Xiamen University

Past Graduates:

  • Shaun Donmoyer : MS thesis title  “Effect of oxidative breakers on organic matter degradation, contaminant mobility and critical mineral release during shale-fracturing fluid interactions in the Marcellus Shale” (DOE grants)
  • Brennan Fergusson : MS thesis title  “Investigating effects of carbonate minerals on shale-hydrualic fracturing fluid interactions in Marcellus Shale” (DOE-NETL grant)
  • Vikas Agrawal : PhD. thesis  “Molecular Evolution of Sedimentary Organic Matter in Marcellus Shale” (NSF and DOE grants)
  • Rawlings Akondi : PhD. thesis “ Utilizing lipid biomarkers to understand the microbial community structure in deep subsurface black shale formations” (NSF and DOE grants)
  • Rachel Yesenchak : MS thesis title  “Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Surface Water Quality in an Area of High Density Shale Gas Drilling” (EPA grant)
  • John Pilewski : MS Thesis title  “Effect of Maturity and Mineralogy on Fluid-Rock Reactions in the Marcellus Shale” (NSF and DOE grants)
  • Ruiqian Chen : PhD Thesis title  “Dominant controls on organic-rich shale deposition: geochemical evidences from the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin” (NSF and DOE grants)
  • Stephen Henry : MS Thesis title   “Using Carbon and Oxygen Isotopes to Monitor Water-Rock Interaction Under Simulated Geothermal Conditions” (DOE-EERE grant)
  • Isabella Cross-Najafi: MS Thesis title  “Effects of bentonite deposition and the Manson Impact on Marine palaeoredox and paleoproductivity : Geochemical evidence from the Cretaceous Pierre Shale” (DOE-NETL grant)
  • Jared  Carte : BS Thesis title  “Assessment of Fate of Injected CO2 Using Carbon and Oxygen Isotopes at a CO2 Sequestration Test Site, East Seminole Oil Field, Texas” (DOE-NETL grant)
  • Bethany Meier: MS Thesis title  “Using Stable Carbon Isotopes to Monitor for Potential Leakage of CO2 at an Enhanced CoalBed Methane Recovery Site in Marshall County, WV” (NSF and DOE-NETL grants)
  • Lindsey Bowman: MS Thesis title “Stray Gas Occurrences in Groundwater in Randolph County, West Virginia, USA” (USGS and NSF grants)
  • Adam  Pelak : MS Thesis title  “Geochemical and isotopic variations in surface waters of the Monongahela River Basin: An area of accelerating Marcellus Shale gas development in West Virginia” (USGS and NSF grants)
  • Andrea  Sack : MS Thesis title  “Tracing Water and Carbon Sources in Complex Geochemical Settings of the Appalachians: An Isotopic Perspective” (DOE-NETL grant)
  • Michon M.  Mulder : MS Thesis title  “Ambient Geochemical and Isotopic Variations in Groundwaters Across an Area of Accelerating Shale Gas Development” (USGS grant)
  • Joshua  Baggett : MS Thesis title  ” A New Method for Tracing Seepage From Coalbed Natural Gas Holding Ponds,  Powder River basin, Wyoming” (USGS grant)