Member Since 1999
Kanani K M Lee
Associate Professor, US Coast Guard Academy
Kanani K. M. Lee studies the physical and chemical properties of planetary materials including, but not limited to, the crystal structures and phase diagrams at high-pressure and -temperature conditions. The knowledge of materials at deep interior conditions is key to understanding the formation and evolution of the Earth and planets in general. This, in turn, gives us insight in to how a planet’s habitability, or lack thereof, evolves.
Professional Experience
US Coast Guard Academy
Associate Professor
2022 - Present
University of California Berkeley
Associate Adjunct Professor
2020 - 2024
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Research Physicist
2019 - 2022
Yale University
Associate Professor
2008 - 2019
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Education
University of California Berkeley
Doctorate
2003
University of San Francisco
Bachelors
1999
Current Roles
Immediate Past President
Study of the Earth's Deep Interior Executive Committee
Chair
Study of the Earth's Deep Interior Award for Graduate Research Committee
Publications
Experimental Constraints on Solid Nitride Phases in Rocky Mantles of Reduced Planets and Implication...

Astronomical surveys have discovered thousands of transiting exoplanets, revealing that rocky planets are common in the galaxy. A planet's interior...

September 03, 2021
AGU Abstracts
Salinity Impacts on the Formation of Ice VII at High Pressures and Room Temperature: Implications for Icy Planetary Interiors
ICE AND OCEAN WORLDS: GEOLOGY, OCEANOGRAPHY, CHEMISTRY, AND HABITABILITY I POSTER
planetary sciences | 15 december 2023
Nicholas Damschen, Kanani K. Lee
To further our understanding of sub-surface oceans and interiors of icy satellites such as Europa, Titan, and Ganymede, we performed a sequence of hig...
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Metal–Silicate Partitioning of Pd at Earth’s Core Formation Conditions and Implications for Late Accretion
EXPLORING EARTH’S EVOLUTION: THE HADEAN THROUGH THE PRESENT II ORAL
study of earth's deep interior | 14 december 2023
Rebecca A. Fischer, Terry-Ann Suer, Austin Akey, E...
Highly siderophile elements (HSEs) are present in the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) in higher abundances than expected based on their siderophility at mod...
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Earth's mantle composition revealed by mantle plumes, geochemical and geodynamic perspectives. Where are we now, and where are we going?
CHEMISTRY AND EVOLUTION OF EARTH’S INTERIOR AS RECORDED BY MANTLE PLUMES II ORAL
volcanology, geochemistry and petrology | 13 december 2023
Dominique Weis, Karen S. Harpp, Lauren Harrison, M...
Mantle plumes can originate at depths near the coremantle boundary, ~2,800 km, providing invaluable information about the composition of the deep mant...
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Volunteer Experience
2023 - 2024
Chair
Study of the Earth's Deep Interior Award for Graduate Research Committee
2023 - 2024
Immediate Past President
Study of the Earth's Deep Interior Executive Committee
2021 - 2022
President
Study of the Earth's Deep Interior Executive Committee
Check out all of Kanani K M Lee’s AGU Research!
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