Sponsoring Undergraduate Research
Thais Carrillo, Matthew Donnelly - Bowdoin College
Research Project: Increasing Accessibility and Spatial Reasoning in the Earth Sciences using Virtual Reality
Research Project: Increasing Accessibility and Spatial Reasoning in the Earth Sciences using Virtual Reality
Basalt dike intruding garnet, mica schist at Giant Stairs, Bailey Island, ME. Let's make field experiences more accessible for all, and achieve worthwhile and equitable learning outcomes.
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Field Sketch: What are the primary spatial and temporal relationships?
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The project has three major objectives:
1.) Enhance spatial reasoning skills by allowing students to explore 3-D environments without traveling to a specific field site. 2.) Make field experiences physically accessible, and as such all students benefit from increased accessibility. 3.) Encourage students to connect across spatial and temporal scales. |
A virtual version of Giant's Stairs, Bailey Island, ME. With Virtual Reality, Thais Carrillo ’23 opens famous Maine geology site to all
Cameron Markovsky - Bowdoin College
Research Project: Leveraging Python and MATLAB to enhance quantitative reasoning and conceptual understanding in the earth sciences
Research Project: Leveraging Python and MATLAB to enhance quantitative reasoning and conceptual understanding in the earth sciences
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Cameron assisted in writing code and developing projects for Geomechanics and Numerical Modeling, a course I developed at Bowdoin College. Students learn foundational mathematical and physical concepts including diffusion, continuity, and the Navier Stokes equation! They take this knowledge and apply it to geologic problems. Students write their own code to model how warming surface temperatures affect the depth of permafrost, how glaciers flow in a changing environment, and how fault scarps erode overtime. |
Evolving Fractional crystallization MATLAB code, by Cameron Markovsky
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Luke Basler, Shona Ortiz, Rose Saga - Bowdoin College
Research Project: Exploring post-orogenic Appalachian exhumation using targeted (U-Th)/He thermochronology
Research Project: Exploring post-orogenic Appalachian exhumation using targeted (U-Th)/He thermochronology
Map of samples collected across the Central Appalachian Mountains for zircon (U-Th)/He analysis
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ZHe date plotted against distance. Colors correspond to depositional or crystallization age of the rock samples
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Using date-eU correlation to back out thermal histories. From the central Appalachians we are able to document 1) Partial He loss due to burial and reheating in the Appalachian Plateau, 2) full resetting of ZHe dates during Appalachian Basin burial in the Valley and Ridge Province, and 3) post-orogenic exhumation of the Piedmont province consistent with westward escarpment retreat.
Ryan Stoner - CU Boulder
Research Project: Coupling Raman Spectroscopy and zircon (U-Th)/He dating to improve interpretation of thermal histories
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Ryan is now pursuing a PhD at UC Santa Barbara.
Ryan's project combined Raman spectroscopy and zircon (U-Th)/He dating to better interpret the thermal history of the Ancient Gneiss Complex, Swaziland and South Africa. Raman spectroscopy can be used to independently and quantitatively assess the extent of radiation damage within the zircon crystal lattice. Ryan used Raman data to determine damage zonation within the crystal lattice and the role of damage annealing in some grains, or parts of grains. 
Thermochronometer vs. He date of 2 AGC samples. Sample location and elevation.
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Nasdala (2001) Raman spectra with variable damage as measured by Raman shift and full-width at half maximum of 1008 cm-1 peak
ZHe dates show variable resetting which correlates with independently determined damage levels using Raman. The more damaged grains yield younger dates that were more readily reset by Karoo burial. For both samples THe dates are older than ZHe dates from the same sample and AHe dates are fully reset to 100 Ma as a result of Mesozoic Karoo unroofing. |
Supporting underrepresented groups in the geosciences - RESESS and GeoLaunchpad internship programs
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I am committed to the advancement of women and other underrepresented groups in science. I began working with the RESESS (Research Experience in Solid Earth Science for Students) program in 2014. RESESS is supported by UNAVCO and brings in talented students from underrepresented groups and matches them with an intensive earth science research project in Boulder, CO. GeoLaunchpad, another UNAVCO sponsored internship program provides Colorado community college students with geoscience research experiences.
Exploring large scale tectonics in Rocky Mountain National Park with UNAVCO interns, 2017
Instruction on the Green Mountain Kimberlite, Boulder, CO
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RESESS internship cohort and staff, summer 2016
During the summer of 2014, I helped lead a weekend long geology field trip through the CO Front Range. In the summer of 2016 I was the Graduate Assistant to the RESESS program and acted as a mentor to the interns and helped teach communication and writing seminars. In 2016 I was awarded a NSF supplemental grant for professional development. In 2017, I helped coordinate the programs, organized and planned for the internships Summer 2017. I taught several skills seminars and communications seminars, and organized a daylong science communication seminar and weekend-long field trip.
Communications and Professional Development Instruction
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