Adrian Brearley, Distinguished Professor, joined UNM in 1986. He served as department chair in Earth & Planetary Sciences and is currently the director of the Nanomaterials Characterization Facility in PAÍS. Dr. Brearley earned his doctorate at the University of Manchester in England in 1984. An active researcher throughout his time at UNM, he is a mineralogist and cosmochemist with research interests focused on understanding geological processes on the Earth and the earliest history of the solar system through the study of meteorite samples from asteroids and Mars. More recently, he has been engaged as a member of the JAXA Hayabusa2 preliminary sample analysis team that examined samples returned from the carbonaceous asteroid, Ryuku.

Additionally, Dr. Brearley has served as a member of the NIEHS-funded UNM METALS Superfund Center, a collaboration with colleagues in the School of Engineering and the College of Pharmacy. This project addresses the environmental impacts of abandoned uranium mines on indigenous communities in New Mexico and Arizona, notably on the Navajo Nation and the Pueblo of Laguna.