Paul Alexandre obtained his Ph.D. degree in Nancy, France. He worked on the tectonic evolution of the European Variscan Belt (in Limousin and the Pyrenees) using U-Pb and Ar/Ar geochronology and thermochronology.

As a postdoctoral fellow at the Queen's Facility for Isotope Research, Paul is involved in understanding the formation of uranium deposits using petrography, mineral and rock chemistry, stable and radiogenic isotope geochemistry, and geochronology. The emphasis is on understanding the fluid history of the basin and the deposits in order to propose novel exploration guides.

Paul is involved in innovative collaborative research in U-Pb and Ar/Ar geochronology and mineralogy.

Paul teaches Isotopes in the Environment, Geochemical Exploration, and Geostatistics at Queen's.

Estelle obtained her Ph.D degree at LCABIE (Pau, France). She worked on Fs-La-ICP-MS development for datation of accumulated hydrocarbons in geological reservoirs.

She now works as a postdoctoral fellow at QFIR. She is involved in two different projects: Oxygen and iron isotopes in Banded Iron Formation (BIF) and calcium, magnesium isotopes and U-Th dating in dolomite. For the Banded Iron Formation (BIF) project, iron and oxygen isotopes will be used to better understand the isotopic metal exchange (mostly iron) between the different minerals during BIF formation. The purpose of the dolomites project is to complete previous investigations done in the QFIR lab with Ca and Mg isotope analyses on dolomite and limestone, to better constrain the environments in which the dolomite crystals grew.

Yulia Uvarova graduated with a BSc (2001) from Moscow State University and a PhD (2008) from the University of Manitoba. In October 2008 she received a William E. White Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering at Queen's University and joined the group at QFIR.

Yulia's work includes characterization of processes leading to the formation of uranium mineralization associated with alkaline rocks; estimation of the uranium mineralization potential of the Paleoproterozoic Thelon basin (NW Territories and Nunavut, Canada); and application of SWIR (Short-Wave Infra-Red) reflectance spectroscopy for characterization of clay minerals. Analytical methods and techniques used in Yulia's research are stable-isotope analysis, geochronology, petrography, geochemistry of major and trace elements, EMPA, XRD, and SWIR.

Majdi Lahd Geagea completed a B.Sc. in general chemistry at the Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences. He moved to Strasbourg, France to continue a M.Sc. in Analytical and Material Chemistry at the European Engineering School of Chemistry, Polymers and Materials Science. He then completed his PhD thesis in environmental geochemistry at the Centre of Surface Geochemistry in the Department of Earth Sciences (EOST) at Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg.

During his PhD, Majdi studied heavy metal pollution in the urban environment of Strasbourg (France) and Kehl (Germany) using lead, strontium and neodymium isotopes as well as major and trace elements, using tree barks as biomonitors, and PM10 aerosol for direct monitoring.

Majdi is now a postdoctoral fellow at QFIR working on characterizing metals in vegetation and soils over VMS ore deposits and near smelters. Zinc, copper and iron isotopic systems will be the principal tools for his project. He is also using the Li isotopic system in order to trace hydrothermal flow directions around Uranium deposits.

Steve Beyer received a B.Sc. in geography (1998) from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, USA, an M.Sc. in geology (2003) from University of Wisconsin, USA, and a Ph.D. in geology (2010) from Queen's University, Canada. Steve's doctoral research focused on the integration of sequence stratigraphy, geochemistry, and geochronology in Paleoproterozoic basins to aid the evaluation and exploration of unconformity-related uranium targets. Steve was awarded a MITACS post- doctoral fellowship in 2011, and is now conducting collaborative research with Raven Minerals Corp., Kingston, ON. This research focuses on innovative exploration methods for unconformity-related U mineralization in Paleoproterozoic basins in Guyana, Australia, and Canada. The photo shows Steve on the Essequibo River, Guyana, near Kurupukari.