Ryan A. Manzuk

Ryan Manzuk is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University and Honorary Postdoctoral Associate with evident since October 2025. He received his PhD in 2024 from the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University. While sedimentary geology was the main focus of Ryan’s doctoral thesis, his graduate research also included applications of novel remote sensing techniques for conflict understanding, conducted in partnership with SITU Studio in Brooklyn, NY.

Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and spent two years following graduation as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea, West Africa, working on sustainable, climate-adaptive agricultural solutions.

Education & Background

While receiving his PhD in Geosciences from Princeton University, Ryan gained experience with multispectral laboratory camera design, using a 40-year record of low-resolution satellite imagery to assess long-term histories of land rights in the West Bank, and developing new geophysical image analysis methods combined with geochemical proxies to bring novel insights to the study of ancient environments in sedimentary rocks.

Thesis title: Reading Earth’s Surface History from Image Archives

Methods & Skills

• Remote sensing
• Computer vision
• Geospatial analysis
• Geological hand sample analysis
• Element concentrations
• Isotope ratios
• 2D/3D geophysical imaging
• Hyperspectral imaging

Research Interests

• Merging Earth observation and journalistic approaches for accountability and peer review of corporations and governments
• Nuclear safeguards and environmental health and safety as they relate to surging critical mineral mining efforts
• Studying at the intersection of first-person lived experiences and cutting-edge geosciences models and methods

Current Projects

• Illustrating an undocumented flow of uranium associated with the world’s majority supply of mined cobalt
• Tracking environmental harms and nuclear forensics concerns via satellite observations by building models that combine in situ sampling, laboratory material characterization, and hyperspectral imaging

Honors & Fellowships

• Digital Science Communication Fellow, Museum of Science
• Future Values Fellow, Princeton University
• Myhrvold-Havranek Graduate Fellow, Princeton University
• Department of Geosciences Graduate Student Teaching Award, Princeton University

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Location
431 Engineering Research Bldg,
1500 Engineering Dr, Madison, WI 53711

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Contact
rmanzuk.github.io

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Outside the Lab
Ryan spends a lot of time rock climbing and running. Originally from Wisconsin, he loves spending time in Madison with family and catching Packers games in Green Bay.