Geologists Earn National Recognition

Faculty members Bruce Rueger (left) and Bob Gastaldo (second from right) with students in the field. (Photo by Dhokela Yzeiraj '13.)

Six Colby undergraduates, including first-year student Kayla Diaz, had their research accepted for display at the Geological Society of America annual meeting and exhibition in Denver Oct. 31-Nov. 2. The group departed Oct.

30 to pass three years at the league and one day exploring local geology in Colorado.When an undergraduate institution sends students to national geology meetings, it's more typical that one or two will go, said Whipple-Coddington Professor of Geology Robert Gastaldo, also presenting research at the GSA meeting. But getting national recognition for student work is a precedence for Colby`s Geology Department. And it has been successful, he said, sending as many as 11 at a time. Besides being open to the skill and the scientists presenting it, students also have opportunities to speak with representatives of graduate programs. It is not unusual for the graduate schools to enter a scholar after seeing her or his research posters, Gastaldo said. And oft the recruiters are surprised when they see a Colby student is even a junior. That makes Kayla Diaz`s story all the more impressive. Diaz travelled to Denver to present research on her hydrographic and biological work of an invasive species of reed in the Piermont salt marsh in the Hudson River estuary-work she did while yet at the Young Women`s Leadership School of East Harlem. Diaz, a Posse Scholar, said that, though her search was recognised by the GSA following her senior class in high school, she hadn`t expected to be able to assist the meeting. But then her student host from Diaz`s visit to Colby as a prospective student with the Posse program heard about Diaz`s opportunity to go to the GSA meeting. The host, Dhokela Yzeiraj `13, introduced Diaz to Gastaldo, and Diaz was capable to attend. "I`ve been working it out so I got ahead [with schoolwork] for this week," Diaz said, weighing the travel opportunity against missing four years of classes during her first semester at college.Other Colby students at the national GSA meeting included Daren McGregor `12, Chishala Kapupu `12, Nathan Katsiaficas `12, Amelia Pludow `11, and Diaz `14. Emma Beck `12, who is abroad, had her poster presented by Visiting Assistant Professor Bruce Rueger, a coauthor.The labor of presenting a scientific poster is deceptively complicated. The posters are near the sizing of a broad sheet of plywood and include panels of text, data, images, diagrams, charts, collaborators, funding sources, and more. In a practice presentation on campus, Faculty Fellow in Geology Jeff Marsh urged Kapupu to develop a concise, one-minute description of her work, since that`s about all the time students get to interest browsing geologists during poster sessions. Pludow, who was returning for her second attack as a presenter, said she didn`t feel pressure. "It`s more of a conversation than a presentation," she said, noting that those who point to speak about her research are probably to be quite knowledgeable about her topic-sediments and stratigraphy-if not the specifics of her go on "A Middle Permian (Wordian) Avulsion System, Karoo Basin, South Africa: Implications for the Ecca-Beaufort Transition."Kapupu`s and Katsiaficas`s posters also are about findings in the Karoo Basin, where Gastaldo has been occupied in search for various years. McGregor`s research came from a summer project in North Carolina studying biodiversity of mollusks in the Plio-Pleistocene era. Beck`s research examined the geological and topographic influences on Benedict Arnold`s march through Me to Quebec in 1775.

- November 02, 2010