Andrew Zaffos, Ph.D.

Selected Publications

• Zaffos, A., Finnegan, S., and S.E. Peters. (2017). Plate-tectonic regulation of marine animal diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114.
• Barnes, B.D., Sclafani, J.A., and A. Zaffos (2021). Dead clades walking are a pervasive macroevolutionary pattern. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118.
• Boulila, S., Peters, S.E., Müller, R.D., Zaffos, A., Farkaš, J., and B.U. Haq (2025). A tectonically driven 60 million-year biogeochemical redox cycle paces marine biodiversity. Communications Earth & Environment 6.

Biography

I am the Chief of Geoinformatics and a Senior Research Scientist at the Arizona Geological Survey and the University of Arizona. I currently oversee a team of GIS specialists, research scientists, systems administrators, and software developers. We specialize in full-stack deployment of large-scale databases of geological information, and work on or have worked on the following major geoscience initiatives - international geologic map database (macrostrat.org), geoeducational research (flyovercountry.io), geothermal datasets (data.geothermaldata.org), scientific publications (geodeepdive.org), paleontological data (paleobiodb.org), and others.

In addition, I am currently a Program Officer in the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Geosciences. I manage and advise on funding opportunities and programs related to the use of AI, Quantum, and computer infrastructure in geosciences research. My core program is Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences, which focuses on bringing together experts in computer intelligence and geoscience research.