Departmental research focuses on the broad problem of how the Earth differentiates into different compositional reservoirs, such as the crust, mantle, core and atmosphere. A key step in the differentiation of the Earth is melting in the mantle and crust and the resulting volcanic activity produced at the surface. Faculty research includes the origin of magmatism in different tectonic settings, volatile cycling in subduction zones, the role of volatiles in volcanic eruptions and long-term climate, the processes of core formation, the compositional differentiation of the Earth's crust and mantle, the chemical and physical processes associated with magma formation, migration, and eruption, the structure and spatio-temporal distribution of volcanoes, and the distribution of volcanic stresses, deformation and seismicity. We approach these problems using field data and laboratory measurements or experiments, the latter involving state of the art geochemical facilities and apparatus for simulating extreme conditions inside the Earth or the processes of volcanic eruptions.