Welcome to Maya Kamenetsky

Maya joined the CSL in April 2009 to work with Karsten Goemann (Scientific Officer-in-Charge) in the Electron Microscopy and X-ray Microanalysis Facility of the Central Science Laboratory (CSL).

Maya will work in the Facility two hours per day to train and support research staff and students in the operation of the FEI Quanta 600 MLA scanning electron microscope, Cameca SX100 electron microprobe, and Horiba XGT-7000V micro-XRF. Tasks will also include method development, maintenance, and sample preparation.

Maya brings significant experience into the Facility through her other current appointment as Research Analytical Microscopist for Program 4 ”Ore Recovery” in the ARC Centre of Excellence (CODES) at the University of Tasmania.

Maya graduated from the Moscow State University in 1984 and received her PhD in the University of Tasmania in 2006. Maya's PhD thesis, entitled "New identity of the kimberlite melt. Constraints from unaltered diamondiferous Udachnaya-East pipe kimberlite, Siberia, Russia"

Research Interests

Maya studied tiny portions of kimberlite magma preserved inside growing crystals, and obtained ground-breaking results which linked kimberlites, carbonatites and diamonds. She is interested, as well as experienced, in many aspects of Earth Sciences, including the matters of sample preparation, high-temperature experiments, analysis and data processing. During her PhD project, Maya gained new experience in analysing geological samples for radiogenic and stable isotopes, laser infrared and Raman spectroscopy, and developed a new technique for exposing water-soluble melt and fluid inclusions and analytical protocols for the measurement of trace elements using laser ablation ICPMS methods.