Mike joined the department in January of 1997, becoming supervisor of the Electron Microprobe / SEM Facility . His connection with scanning electron microscopy and microprobe analysis began as a student with the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico working with Klaus Keil. His initial research concerned terrestrial analogues to the Martian regolith as a part of the post-mission investigation of the Project Viking inorganic chemical analyses. The majority of his subsequent research at UNM concentrated on alteration processes involving natural glasses and the application of natural analogues to modeling the corrosion of nuclear waste form glass.
After graduate school, Mike moved on to supervise the MIT electron microprobe facility for the department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. As their labs serve the entire MIT academic community as well as associated industries, analytical work involved a variety of materials relating to geology, geochemistry, mineralogy, meteoritics, lunar science, archaeology, chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, and engineering. This work included the development and refinement of techniques for the analysis of trace elements, ultra-light (C,N,O) elements, complex oxide superconductors, and alkali conductors. Mike eventually left MIT and became an SEM specialist for Analytical Solutions, Inc. in Albuquerque, NM. Work there primarily involved construction analysis and failure analysis of a variety of microelectronic components, primarily semiconductor based integrated circuits.
Mike's initial emphasis at UMass was to fully integrate the microprobe laboratory into the UMass and Five-College community, and to develop the facility into a nationally and internationally recognized research center. Although the primary use of the laboratory has remained in the geosciences, this integration effort has involved the exploration and strengthening of other materials research applications. Recent examples include the development of methodologies for the microanalysis of such diverse materials as optical fibers, incinerator residues, diffusion couples, fish otoliths,speleothems, and lobster shells. Most recently, the facility has been the focus of development of new techniques in electron microprobe trace element analysis, in particular for applications in monazite geochronology, but also finding application in paleoclimate research (speleothems), and petrology. This research has led to collaborative development of the new Cameca SX-Ultrachron electon microprobe. Installed at UMass in the summer of 2004, this instrument represents the new state-of-the-art, and is the highest precision electron probe in the world.
Mike considers the microprobe/SEM facility in the Department of Geosciences as a bridge to other departments (such as chemistry, chemical engineering, biology, microbiology, physics, polymer science, mechanical engineering) and encourages an increase in communication, instruction and use among all faculty, students, and research staff interested in materials microanalysis here on campus.
Courses Taught:
- GEO 591J: Electron Microprobe Analysis (3cr)
Selected publications:
Mahan, K.H., Goncalves, P., Williams, M.L., and Jercinovic, M.J. (in press) Dating metamorphic reactions and fluid flow: Application to exhumation of high-P granulites in a crustal-scale shear zone, western Canadian Shield. Journal of Metamorphic Geology.
Williams, M.L., Jercinovic, M.J., Goncalves, P., and Mahan, K. (2006) Format and philosophy for collecting, compiling, and reporting microprobe monazite ages. Chemical Geology225 , 1-15.
Jercinovic, M.J., and Williams, M.L. (2005) Analytical perils (and progress) in electron microprobe trace element analysis applied to geochronology: Background acquisition, interferences, and beam irradiation effects. American Mineralogist90 , 526-546.
Dahl, P.S., Terry, M.P., Jercinovic, M.J., Williams, M.L., Hamilton, M.A., Foland, K.A., Clement, S.M., and Friberg, L.M. (2005) Electron probe (Ultrachron) microchronometry of metamorphic monazite: Unraveling the timing of polyphase thermotectonism in the easternmost Wyoming Craton (Black Hills, South Dakota). American Mineralogist90 , 1712-1728.
Dahl, P.S., Hamilton, M.A.., Jercinovic, M.J., Terry, M.P., Williams, M.L., and Frei, R. (2005) Comparative isotopic and chemical geochronometry of monazite in metamorphic rocks from the eastern Wyoming province (USA), with implications for U-Th-Pb dating by electron microprobe. American Mineralogist 90 , 619-638.
Goncalves, P., Williams, M.L., and Jercinovic, M.J. (2005) Electron microprobe age mapping. American Mineralogist 90 , 578-585.
Williams, M.L., and Jercinovic, M.J. (2002) Microprobe monazite geochronology: Putting absolute time into microstructural analysis. Journal of Structural Geology24 , 1013-1028.
Shaw, C.A., Karlstrom, K.E., Williams, M.L., Jercinovic, M.J., and McCoy, A.M. (2001) Electron microprobe monazite dating of ca. 1.71 – 1.63 Ga and ca. 1.45-1.38 deformation in the Homestake shear zone, Colorado: Origin and early evolution of a persistent intracontinental tectonic zone. Geology29 , 739-742.
Terry, M.T., Robinson, P., Hamilton, M.A., and Jercinovic, M.J. (2000) Monazite geochronology of UHP and HP metamorphism, deformation, and exhumation, Nordoyane, Western Gneiss Region, Norway. American Mineralogist 85, 1651-1664.
Williams, M.L., Jercinovic, M.J., and Terry, M.P. (1999) Age mapping and dating of monazite on the electron microprobe: Deconvoluting multistage tectonic histories. Geology27, 1023-1026.
Jercinovic, M.J., and Ewing, R.C. (1991) Corrosion of Geological and Archaeological Glasses. In
Corrosion of Glass, Ceramics, and Ceramic Superconductors (D.E. Clark and B. K. Zoitos, Eds.), Noyes Publication, Park Ridge, NJ.
Jercinovic, M.J., Kaser, S.A., Ewing, R.C., and Lutze, W. (1990) Comparison of surface layers formed on synthetic basaltic glass, French R7T7 and HMI borosilicate nuclear waste form glasses - Materials Interface Interactions Tests, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings Vol. 176, Materials Research Society, Pittsburgh. p.355-362.
Jercinovic, M.J., Kaser, S.A., and Ewing, R.C. (1990) Alteration of basaltic glasses in WIPP in-situ corrosion tests. Ceramic Transactions 9, 241-253.
Jercinovic, M.J., Keil, K., Smith, M.R., and Schmitt, R.A. (1990) Alteration of basaltic glasses from north-central British Columbia. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 54, 2679-2696.
Jercinovic, M.J., Murakami, T., and Ewing, R.C. (1989) Palagonitization of deep sea dredge sample glasses. In (Miles, ed.) Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Water-Rock Interaction, August 3-9, 1989, Malvern, England. Balkema, Brookfield, Vermont. p.337-340.
Jercinovic, M.J., and Keil, K. (1988) Electron microprobe analysis of basaltic glasses and associated alteration products. In Microbeam Analysis 1988, San Francisco Press, San Francisco, p.495-497.
McFadden, L.D., Wells, S.G., and Jercinovic, M.J. (1987) The influences of eolian and pedogenic processes on the origin and evolution of desert pavements. Geology 15, 504-508.
Lutze, W., Malow, G., Ewing, R.C., Jercinovic, M.J., and Keil, K. (1985) Alteration of basalt glass: Implications for modeling the long-term stability of nuclear waste glasses. Nature 314, 252-255.
Allen, C.C., Jercinovic, M.J., and Allen, J.S.B. (1982) Subglacial volcanism in north-central British Columbia and Iceland. J. Geol. 90, 699-715.
Allen, C.C., Gooding, J.L., Jercinovic, M.J., and Keil, K. (1981) Altered basaltic glass: A terrestrial analog to the soil of Mars. Icarus 45, 347-369.