Terry became involved in ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating as part of his Ph.D. research at the State University of New York at Albany. His initial experience was applying the method to dating young silicic volcanic rocks, where he learned of the wonders of laser fusion and xenocrystic contamination. That work took him to a post-doctoral fellowship at the Australian National University where he continued to work on ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar of volcanic rocks and expanded intoutilizing the method for constructing detailed thermal histories of rocks involved in crustal scale tectonic events. It was at the ANU that he became involved in the "nuts and bolts" of argon laboratory work, rolling up his sleeves and grabbing a wrench. From Oz he moved to the University of Houston where he spent a few years helping to build and then run a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar laboratory and continued work in applying the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method to a variety of geologic problems. About two years ago this trail of jobs landed him at UNLV where he immediately wrote up the NSF/EPSCoR grant proposal (EPS-9120162) to build this lab.

Kathy joined the NIGL in January 1998 as a research technician. Her background is in the field of mineralogy, having been involved in X-ray diffraction work on micas as an undergraduate at the University of Colorado and a study of cation exchange in clinoptilolite as a M.S. student at the University of Idaho. Many years spent twiddling and adjusting control knobs on such devices as single crystal X-ray diffractometers, scanning electron microprobes, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers, and Krups programmable coffee pots have honed her laboratory skills.