Dr. David Saja

Curator and Head of Mineralogy
e-mail: dsaja@cmnh.org
phone: (216) 231-4600, ext. 3429

B.S., geology, West Chester University
M.S., geology, Michigan Technological University
Ph.D., geology, University of Pennsylvania

Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Friends of Mineralogy; liaison to the Gemological Society and Micromineral Society; member, Sigma Xi Research Society, SEMP Society for Sedimentary Geology, Geological Society of America, National Association of Geology Teachers and Sigma Gamma Epsilon (the National Honorary Society for the Earth Sciences)

Areas of specialization or interest:
Interpreting the events that created a region’s geology using the physical characteristics of the rock present there (such as its mineralogy and the three-dimensional geometric shapes of the minerals and mesoscopic-to-microscopic-scale objects within it) and how those characteristics have been chemically and/or physically altered

Current research:
Collaborating with Curator of Invertebrate Zoology Dr. Joe Keiper on the study of sand grains used by caddisfly larvae in the construction of their cases to determine if they are selective in choosing sand from the bottom of the streams in which they live. Analyzing the sedimentology of the Euclid Bluestone of Northeast Ohio, looking at flame structures, grading and mineral composition to understand the depositional processes that occurred in the paleo-environments in which this sedimentary rock formed. Collaborating with Dr. Bill Gregg of Michigan Technological University on the investigation of strain values and meso-scale folds and faults in the rocks to understand the tectonic history of the Michigamme slates in Northern Michigan. Also mapping the graywackes within the Franciscan Formation in central California and researching their deformation.