Specialists/Consultants

David has been a Probe Software user since 2011. He currently runs the EPMA lab at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. David has a BA in Geology and a MS in Geology from Baylor University, Texas, USA. David worked on a PhD in Geology at Oregon State University (OSU). After OSU David worked in the USGS Denver Microbeam Lab for a total of eight years using JEOL EPMA, SEMs, LA-ICP-MS, XRD, XRF, Raman, FTIR, and MicroCT. Following the USGS David moved to Perth, Western Australia to take up a Senior Research position running the JEOL 8530F EPMA facility in the Centre for Microscopy at the University of Western Australia for two years. Next David moved to the ARC Centre of Excellence at Macquarie University, Australia working for three years as a Geochemist in charge of the EPMA, SEM, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy labs while also supporting the XRF, ICP-MS, ICP-MC, and TIMS labs.

Scott Boroughs has a long history of work with Probe for EPMA on both JEOL and Cameca instruments. He currently manages the EPMA facilities in the GeoAnalytical Laboratory at Washington State University, while at the same time pursuing his own interests which focus on volcanology/petrology, and of course microanalytical methodology (EPMA, LA-ICPMS).

Karsten Goemann has been consulting for Probe Software since 2014. He studied Mineralogy and Geochemistry at Universität Hannover and Technische Universität Clausthal in Germany and received his Dipl.-Min. (MSc in Mineralogy) at TU Clausthal in 1996, and his Dr. rer. nat. (PhD in Natural Sciences) at TU Clausthal in 2000. After a few years as a PostDoc in Materials Science he commenced his current role in 2006 as manager of the Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Microanalysis Facility of the Central Science Laboratory, University of Tasmania, Australia.

Anette von der Handt has been consulting for Probe Software since 2014. She is currently a researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of British Columbia, previously at University of Minnesota, and now manages the Electron Microprobe Laboratory housing a new JEOL JXA-iHP200F. She studied Geology at the University of Bonn (Germany) and received her Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry, Germany, followed by a PostDoc at the University of Hawai’i and an assistant professor position in the Department of Mineralogy at the University of Freiburg (Germany).

Mike Matthews has been consulting for Probe Software since 2021. He has been operating EPMA for over 30 years, starting with a Cameca Camebax Microbeam analysing mantle garnets at the University of Edinburgh in 1987. From Edinburgh he spent a year setting up and running the EPMA facility for the analysis arm of Rio Tinto Zinc, Anamet Services near Bristol then Johnson Matthey’s Technology Centre for the next 13 years, analysing platinum group metal products. More recently he completed a PhD on EPMA analysis of radioactive materials at the University of Bristol, sponsored by his current employer, AWE plc. He is a former President of both the International Union of Microbeam Analysis Societies (IUMAS) and the European Microbeam Analysis Society (EMAS).

Will Nachlas has been consulting with Probe Software since 2020 and operating electron microprobes since 2008. He completed a BSc in the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech in 2010, a PhD from the Department of Earth Sciences at University of Minnesota in 2015, and held a postdoc position in the Department of Earth Sciences at Syracuse University from 2016-2020. Since early 2020 he is Assistant Scientist and Director of Electron Microbeam Labs in the Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, overseeing Cameca SX-Five FE EPMA, Cameca SX-51 EPMA, and Hitachi VP-SEM instruments.

Owen Neill has been consulting for Probe Software since 2015. He received his M.Sc. in Geology & Geophysics from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2010, and his Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2013.

Gareth Seward has been consulting for Probe Software since 2012. He is currently the manager of the Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility in the Department of Earth Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his B.Sc. in Geological Sciences from the University of Leeds (UK) in 1998, his M.Sc. in Geochemistry from the University of Leeds in 1999 and his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Liverpool (UK) in 2004. From 2003-2005, Gareth was employed as an R&D scientist and Electron Microscopy specialist in the steel industry.