Dr. Carpenter is the founder of Carpenter Microsystems, Inc. Carpenter has over 25 years of experience with using, designing, and building micro-sampling equipment and its application in the fields of biogeochemistry and climate change research. Carpenter has designed, constructed, and used numerous pieces of analytical equipment found in stable and radiogenic isotope laboratories. Carpenter's research activities cover a broad range of topics in the field of geochemistry.
Carpenter received his Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the University of Michigan in 1991. As an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas during the early 1990s, Carpenter designed and constructed a prototype of the CM-2 (Carpenter, 1996). This microsampler is still operational today. The innovations associated with Carpenter's prototype moved the field into on-screen digitization using video-capture technology and servo-motor driven precision handpieces equipped with laser faceted tungsten carbide drill bits (Carpenter, 1996). Before being replaced by the CM-2, this prototype was used daily for over 12 years and sampled a wide range of geological and biological specimens. Frappier et al. (2002; 2007) used this prototype device to extract the highest resolution data ever collected from a stalagmite.
In 2006, Carpenter left academia and founded Carpenter Microsystems, Inc.
Download Carpenter's Publications
Carpenter S.J. (1996) A new micro-sampling device for extracting high resolution isotope data from geologic and biologic materials. Geol. Soc. of Amer. Abstr. w. Prog., 28: 360.
Frappier, A., Sahagian, D., González, L.A. and Carpenter, S.J., (2002) El Niño events recorded by stalagmite carbon isotopes. Science 298: 565.
Frappier, A.B., Sahagian, D., Carpenter, S.J., González, L.A., and Frappier, B.R. (2007) Stalagmite stable isotope record of recent tropical cyclone events. Geology 35: 111.
