Kenneth W. W. Sims (born 1959) is an American professor of isotope geology in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming. Sims operates the University of Wyoming High Precision Isotope Laboratory. Professor Sims is married, has two children and lives outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Research overview Sims is well known for using his technical mountaineering skills to collect geological samples from remote locations across the globe, including sampling molten magma from lava lakes deep within volcanic craters, collecting temporal sequences of lavas from high, technical ridges on the flanks of the world's tallest volcanoes, and using submersibles to obtain mid-ocean ridge basalts from the bottom of the Earth's oceans. Many of these adventures have been featured in National Geographic publications and documentaries, as well as numerous other media venues. Sims’ research endeavors focus on obtaining hard-to-collect samples and then measuring unique and analytically challenging isotope systems to provide otherwise unobtainable answers to societally relevant questions about Earth systems science. Sims’ research applies a variety of isotopic techniques (U– and Th– decay series, cosmogenic nuclides, radiogenic isotopes, and non-traditional stable isotopes) to address a wide range of topics in earth and ocean sciences. Sims has published nearly one hundred research articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, including Nature and Science. These publications cover a wide range of topics: magma genesis, differentiation, and degassing; continental and oceanic crustal construction; planetary accretion and core formation; trace-element partitioning; surficial weathering; paleo-oceanography; chemical oceanography; ground water hydrology; water-rock interaction; fumarolic activity; volcanic aerosol formation and dispersal; serpentinization; natural rates of carbon sequestration; and, shallow subsurface geophysics. Sims’ major contributions are determining the time scales and dynamics of magma genesis and volcanic processes. Sims’ research is funded by the US National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, the US Department of Energy, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Wyoming. Career Sims received a B.A. in Geology in 1986 from Colorado College, graduating Cum Laude with Honors. He completed an M.Sc. at the University of New Mexico’s Institute of Meteoritics in 1989, where his research focused on chemical fractionation during the formation of the Earth’s core and continental crust. His Ph.D. was earned in 1995 from the University of California, Berkeley where his research focused on magma genesis in the Earth’s mantle. Sims worked as a student and then as a guest scientist for the Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Group at the Los