Dr. Byerly has worked at LSU for the past thirty years, serving as a teacher, researcher, department chair, and associate dean of the college. He received his PhD at Michigan State University and worked at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History for three years before coming to LSU. He teaches introductory classes in geology and graduate classes in electron microscopy. His research is on the early evolution of Earth – chemical, physical, and occasionally biological. Field studies are an important part of his work, usually taking him and his students to South Africa where some of Earth’s oldest rocks are found.

Byerly was awarded an LSU Alumni Professorship in 2002, the highest faculty rank at LSU for distinction in undergraduate teaching and service, as well as professional contributions in their field of study. He is a member of the UCLA Astrobiology Institute, which funds his work on giant meteorite impacts, and is an adjunct member of the faculty at Stanford where he serves on PhD committees and research initiatives. As Associate Dean of LSU’s College of Basic Sciences he has a number of responsibilities such as undergraduate programs, teaching evaluations, changes to courses and curricula, and faculty-student interactions.