Dr. Whalen is a carbonate sedimentologist and stratigrapher. His research focuses on carbonate sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy and their application to paleogeography, paleoceanography, and paleoclimatology. He has worked on Paleozoic and Mesozoic carbonate platforms in Cordilleran accreted terrains and along the western margin of North America. His research has provided new insights into oceanographic and tectonic controls on carbonate platform development and high-resolution stratigraphy and correlation along carbonate platform margins. His current research concentrates on applying high resolution sequence stratigraphy, brachiopod and conodont biostratigraphy, and magnetic susceptibility analysis to refining interregional correlation of Late Devonian carbonates from western Canada and the midcontinent and western U.S.; high resolution sequence stratigraphy and petroleum reservoir analysis of Carboniferous carbonates in the Brooks Range, Alaska; stratigraphy and sedimentology of a Triassic/Jurassic upwelling zone, northern Alaska; and stratigraphy and petrology of Permian and Triassic carbonates in Alaska's accreted terrains.
Dr. Whalen teaches stratigraphy and sedimentation and environmental geology as well as upper division courses in carbonate petrology, sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, and mass extinctions.