Professional portrait of Dr. Huan Cui
Dr. Huan Cui

Huan Cui

Assistant Professor, Geobiology and Biogeochemistry

301H Hilbun Hall
Mississippi State, MS 39762

Dr. Huan Cui is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Mississippi State University. He conducts multidisciplinary research that integrates sedimentology, stratigraphy, geochemistry, and paleontology to investigate the co-evolution of the environment and life in Earth’s history. Fundamental in his projects is the emphasis on first-hand field-based results and a hypothesis-driven approach. The multidisciplinary nature of his research requires a holistic understanding of the Earth-life system at both micro- and macro-scales in deep time.

Personal Website, Google Scholar

MSState Faculty profile

Education

  • Ph.D., Geology, University of Maryland, College Park, USA, 2015
  • M.S., Geology, Peking University, Beijing, China, 2011
  • B.S., Geology, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, China, 2008

Experience

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, 2022-present
  • Postdoctoral researcher, IPGP, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France, 2020-2022
  • Postdoctoral researcher, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium, 2018-2020
  • Postdoctoral researcher, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, USA, 2015-2018

Research Interests

  • Sedimentology
  • Paleoceanography
  • Geochemistry
  • Geobiology
  • Earth’s history

Teaching Areas

  • GG 1113 Earth Science Survey
  • GG 4443/6443 Principles of Sedimentary Deposits II
  • GG 4883/6883 Biogeochemical Evolution of Planet Earth
  • GG 8743 Basin Analysis
  • GG 8990 Global and Planetary Change

Honors/Professional Activities

  • Associate Editor, Marine and Petroleum Geology, 2020-present
  • Editorial Board member, Astrobiology, 2020-present
  • Guest Editor, Precambrian Research, special issue "Neoproterozoic Earth-Life System", 2019-2021
  • Excellent Reviewer Award, Science Bulletin, 2022
  • Dean’s Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, University of Maryland, 2014
  • Distinguished Teaching Assistant Award, University of Maryland, 2013
  • See verified review and editorial record: https://publons.com/researcher/1180822

 

Recent Publications

  • Cui, H., et al., 2024. Questioning the role of methane in the wake of a Snowball Earth: Insights from isotopically anomalous cap dolostone cements with a complex diagenetic history. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 364, 195–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2023.11.002
  • Cui, H., 2022. Ediacaran Shuram Excursion interpreted, reinterpreted, and misinterpreted: A comment. Precambrian Research, 380, 106826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2022.106826
  • Cui, H., et al., 2022. An authigenic response to Ediacaran surface oxidation: Remarkable micron-scale isotopic heterogeneity revealed by SIMS. Precambrian Research, 377, 106676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2022.106676
  • Cui, H., et al., 2022. Dynamic interplay of biogeochemical C, S, and Ba cycles in response to the Shuram oxygenation event. Journal of the Geological Society, 179, jgs2021-081. https://dx.doi.org/10.1144/jgs2021-081
  • Cui, H., et al., 2021. Deposition or diagenesis? Probing the Ediacaran Shuram excursion in South China by SIMS. Global and Planetary Change, 206, 103591. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2021.103591
  • Cui, H., et al., 2020. Global or regional? Constraining the origins of the middle Bambuí carbon cycle anomaly in Brazil. Precambrian Research, 348, 105861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105861
  • Cui, H., et al., 2020. Primary or secondary? A dichotomy of the strontium isotope anomalies in the Ediacaran carbonates of Saudi Arabia. Precambrian Research, 343, 105720. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105720
  • Cui, H., et al., 2019. Sedimentology and chemostratigraphy of the terminal Ediacaran Dengying Formation at the Gaojiashan section, South China. Geological Magazine, 156, 1924–1948. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756819000293
  • Cui, H., et al., 2018. The Neoproterozoic Hüttenberg δ13C anomaly: Genesis and global implications. Precambrian Research, 313, 242–262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2018.05.024
  • Cui, H., et al., 2018. Questioning the biogenicity of Neoproterozoic superheavy pyrite by SIMS. American Mineralogist, 103, 1362–1400. https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2018-6489
  • Cui, H., et al., 2018. Searching for the Great Oxidation Event in North America: A reappraisal of the Huronian Supergroup by SIMS sulfur four-isotope analysis. Astrobiology, 18, 519–538. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2017.1722
  • Cui, H., et al., 2017. Was the Ediacaran Shuram Excursion a globally synchronized early diagenetic event? Insights from methane-derived authigenic carbonates in the uppermost Doushantuo Formation, South China. Chemical Geology, 450, 59–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2016.12.010
  • Cui, H., et al., 2016. Redox-dependent distribution of early macro-organisms: Evidence from the terminal Ediacaran Khatyspyt Formation in Arctic Siberia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 461, 122–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.08.015
  • Cui, H., et al., 2016. Environmental context for the terminal Ediacaran biomineralization of animals. Geobiology, 14, 344–363. https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12178
  • Cui, H., et al., 2016. Phosphogenesis associated with the Shuram Excursion: Petrographic and geochemical observations from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation of South China. Sedimentary Geology, 341, 134–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2016.05.008
  • Cui, H., et al., 2015. Redox architecture of an Ediacaran ocean margin: Integrated chemostratigraphic (δ13C–δ34S–87Sr/86Sr–Ce/Ce*) correlation of the Doushantuo Formation, South China. Chemical Geology, 405, 48–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2015.04.009