Spring 2023 Newsletter

Spring 2023

Conference Attendances

Tricia Hutton

Tricia Hutton standing next to her presentation board at the American Meteorological Society

Tricia Hutton (MET’23) Presents at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) 2023 Meeting.

In January 2023, I presented my senior research, ‘Examining Circulation Over Varying Spatial Scales for the May 31st, 2013 El Reno Tornado,’ at the 103rd Annual AMS Conference in Denver, Colorado. This research provided me with experience in radar data, python coding, and insights on how to do research. It has also given me a better understanding of research methods and helped me gain problem-solving skills and confidence in this discipline. Not only did I present, but I was part of the student assistant program. This program provided me with hotel accommodations and allowed me to work sessions! In addition, I applied and received the Brockport Student Travel to Present Grant, which made it financially possible! The conference has provided me with information on what others in the field are working on, an opportunity to network, and improved my presentation and communication skills. I will forever cherish the memories I made in Denver and everyone I met, both students and professionals! If given a chance to attend a conference, DO IT!

Alysha Zazubec

Alysha Zazubec standing next to a presentation board at the Geological Society of America Meeting

Alysha Zazubec (GEL’23) Presents at the Geological Society of America (GSA) 2022 Meeting.

Brockport Meteorology

Meteorology students at the Great Lakes Atmospheric Science Symposium

Brockport Meteorology attends Annual Great Lakes Atmospheric Science Symposium (GLASS).

Student Research and Internships

Christina Deluca (right) with Amanda Matkosky (left) in front of a Stantec sign

Christina DeLuca (GEL ’23)

For my senior research project, I have been studying the Silver Lake watershed through water and sediment sam- pling. Over the course of the Summer of 2022, me and my advisor, Dr. Mark Noll, made several trips to Silver Lake in Perry, NY, to take stream samples from several segments of the inlet and outlet streams. This project aims to better understand the phosphorous storage that occurs within the sediment-water interface entering and exiting Silver Lake, which is mesotrophic (meaning it experiences Harmful Algal Blooms). Silver Lake is home to many year-round and seasonal residents and vacationers. Understanding how phosphorous moves within the surrounding streams may shine a light on possible sources and/or sinks.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to intern with Stantec Consulting Services working out of their Rochester office since the summer of 2022. As an intern in their environmental services department, I have experience with well sampling, monitoring, installation, and development, as well as EPA Phase I and II investigations. Having this internship has allowed me to see firsthand what a job in environmental remediation would look like and to discover that this is a career I would be heavily interested in. After graduation, I will be working for Stantec as an environmen- tal scientist and working towards my PG (Professional Geologist) licensure.

Robbie Sullivan (GEL ’23)

Robbie Sullivan handling foam and water samples in a lab

Robbie began researching foam formation on Canandaigua Lake in fall 2021 to investigate how it may relate to the recent trend of harmful algal blooms there. He is working with Dr. Richard Smith, Dr. Stella Woodard and Dr. Nandini Kar. The foam forma- tion follows harmful algla blooms (HAB) events. Produced in these blooms are potent liver toxins that have shown the potential to become concentrated in the foam. He has been analyzing samples of foam and water to determine the degree to which these toxins may become enriched, as well as looking further into the nature of the foam’s forma- tion and its distinct properties. The goal of his project is to investigate questions of why Canandaigua Lake is generating this foam and to mea- sure its ability to concentrate cyano- bacterial toxins.

Alysha Zazubec (GEL ’23)

In the summer of 2022, I had an 8-week internship at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center (WDC) in Thermopolis, Wyoming. Nothing could have really prepared me for this experience. I was told I would be giving museum tours and teaching families how to identify fossils. While those are two major parts of the job, they don’t begin to scratch the surface of the experience I would gain.

My first week was training. I learned about the geol- ogy of the area, every display in the museum, and the history of each of the 5 active dig sites. While the WDC is situated on hundreds of acres and operates between 4 and 6 active quarries every summer, they have prospect- ed over a hundred. These sites are all situated in the Morri- son formation of the late Jurassic and produce sauropod fossils primarily. For those that don’t know ‘dinosaurs,’ they are the ones with the long necks, and the museum at WDC is full of them.

Each intern was assigned a quarry to be their primary site. That intern was responsible for map- ping new discoveries, determining which specimens should be removed from the site, cataloging, transportation, and general site maintenance. Every day I was given a group that was either digging for a full or half day, I’d do a vehicle check and load up tools, buckets, water, and lunches. I would then meet my family(s) and go through safety protocol. This is when we talk about the importance of staying hydrated, and not sitting on scorpions (which did happen to one of the interns). On the way to the dig site, I talked about the geology and the history of the WDC. Our first stop was an edu- cational site named “SI”. This quarry preserves one of the only sites in the world that contains dinosaur bones, trackways, and teeth. After discussing the taphonomy of the site (what happened after the animal died), we moved on to our dig site. Each site has its own personality. My site had lots of bone fragments that were heavily weathered, so I spent a good bit of time at the example table teaching how to identify bone from rock. Kids loved this site because there were plenty of small “float bones” (bones we couldn’t associate with anything). That meant the kids frequently got to take home little fossil fragments! About an hour before the conclusion of a full-day dig, we moved the families to another site called “Sundance”. This is a hill consisting of sandy soil in the Sundance formation, and here, marine fossils litter the ground. A full-day dig ended back at the museum with a guided tour through time.

Not every day was spent digging though! Some days an intern ran the bus tour, which brought groups up to the “SI” site every hour, and usually, 1 or 2 days a week were unassigned. I usually utilized that time to work in the fossil prep lab, learning how to remove matrix, stabilize, and recon- struct fossils. One thing I can say about my time at WDC is if you get the opportunity to intern any- where, do it. No matter your plans, the experience gained is second to none.

Field Experiences

Geology Field Camp 2022

Six Geology students, Christiana DeLuca, Gabriel Win- ters-Bona, Maggie Weisensel, Maggie Williams, Nicole Zhe, and Robbie Sullivan, participated in a 3-week long field camp in Western Montana. Alongside the fieldwork, the students visited Yellowstone and the Craters of the Moon National Monument with Geology faculty Dr. Daisuke Kobayashi.

Geology students sitting and standing at the edge of a cliff

Geology Students looking at a rock face and taking notes

Geology students sitting in front of the Craters of the Moon National Monument sign

Geology students using measurement tools to measure rock layers

Geology students traversing a rocky field

Geology students looking at a rock wall

Geology students showing off rocks they’ve collected

Geology and Earth Sciences students also particpated in class field trips to local places. They collected fossils, measured and described rocks to figure out the geologic history of our region.

Virtual Seminars

Beyond Thermal: VNIR Imaging of Molten Lava

Dr. Erika Rader, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Earth and Spatial Sciences, University of Idaho

The temperature of lava is an important predictor of lava flow behavior that can be measured remotely using spectral imaging. Other important parameters include crystal and bubble content. None of these parameters can be detected remotely… YET! This study looks to use a different part of the electromagnetic spectrum to esti- mate important characteristics of lava.

Outward and Upward Growth of the North-Central Tibet: Constraining Mechanisms that Build High Elevation, Low Relief Plateaus

Dr. Lin Li, Researcher Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona

Quantitative constraints of paleoelevation of large orogenic belts and plateaus shed light on continental dynamics and the influence of tectonics on regional to global climate change. The surface uplift history of the Hoh Xil Basin in north-central Tibet is yet poorly constrained. This study reports both carbonate formation temperatures and depositional ages to explore paleoelevation history. We provide the first quantitative evidence of a long-hypothesized early–middle Miocene phase of surface uplift of 1.0 ± 0.7 km in the Hoh Xil Basin. Results of this study demonstrate the significance of sub-surface geodynamic processes, i.e., convective removal, crustal flow, and magmatic inflation, in driving localized surface uplift and flattening of plateau surface during the late stage of large orogenic plateau formation.

Earth Science Club

The Brockport Earth Science Club meets every other week during the semester to discuss upcoming events and plan local outings. The club is open to all students of all majors but hosts some events geared more toward those pursuing careers in the natural sciences. Some of the past club events include trips to local parks and nature preserves, shows at the Brockport Planetarium, clean-ups at Hamlin Beach, and more. This semester, several club members will embark on a trip to Death Valley National Park led by Geology professor Dr. Daisuke Kobayashi.

Earth Science club members at the Amerks hockey game at the Blue Cross Arena

Earth Science Club members in a Amerks game at the Blue cross arena in Rochester

Earth Science club members hiking alongside a river in the Zoar Valley

Earth Science club members in geology hike in the Zoar Valley with Buffalo Association of Professional Geologists

Earth Science Club Nature Photo Contest

Department pick: Photo by Abigail Parnham

Winner: Milky Way taken by Margy Meath

Shot of a river and visible Milky Way at Candice Lake by Margy Meath

Department Pick: Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park by Sydney Boone

Aerial shot of mountains and rivers of the Lake Clark National Park by Sydney Boone

Alumni Accounts

Linsey Rissinger ’20 (Earth Sciences)

Some people go to college knowing exactly what they want to do. I was one of those people. I wanted to be a meteorologist, but not a broadcast meteorologist, a researcher. Then I went on a job shadow and quickly real- ized that perhaps not. My fallback plan had always been to become an Earth Science teacher, as it was one of my absolute favorite classes I had taken in high school.
Upon walking into Lennon Hall on my first day at Brockport, I knew I had made the right choice. Having grown up in the rural areas south of Rochester, I felt more at home in Lennon than I did elsewhere on campus. Seeing professors marching toand from wearing waders, flannel but- ton-downs, and carrying buckets of dirt with students in tow excitedly chat- tering away about their latest foray into the field, resonated with me. I’d found the place I’d haunt for the next two and a half years.
The Earth Science program was incredibly well-rounded and more than adequately prepared me for my future endeavors. The classes were made tangible and comprehensible by masterful instructors who knew their information and could give real-life examples of concepts discussed
in class. Some of my fondest memories include field trips with Dr. Kar in her Historical Geology class. We got to observe and analyze numerous outcrops, collect fossils to reconstruct the paleoclimate in western NY, and even voyage out to the Catskills for a weekend. Other memories include climbing down steep culverts with Dr. Noll, and spending countless hours studying rocks and minerals for the Mineralogy and Petrology class. I have used many of the skills from Dr. Little’s Computational Methods course in my teaching and have begun to incorporate the use of excel in my classes because of how useful it is for data analysis. I have also used some concepts from Daisuke’s Physical Geology class to demonstrate ideas on rock formation to my students.

William Barboza ’20 (Geology)

In September of 2022, I took my current position as a Geologist for Atlantic Testing Laboratories. ATL has offices spanning from Buffalo to Poughkeepsie, and our services range from construction materi- als to environmental, geotechnical engineering, and laboratory services. Over the past 6 months, I have gained certifications allow- ing me to be a part of different projects. These include nuclear gauge certification, ACI certification, 40-hour Hazwoper, Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) as well as the Northeast Transportation Technician certification program (NETTCPP). I have done a lot of soil density testing for projects such as a dam resto- ration taking place in Kingston as well as concrete testing for struc- tures being placed in the Albany area. I have gained knowledge and experience in our geotechnical engineering sector and hope to learn more about my company’s expertise in this area.
The department of Earth Sciences at SUNY Brockport was very helpful in preparing me for this position. Classes such as sedimentology and stratigraphy, soil sciences, mineralogy, and petrology, as well as structural geology, have all played a role in what I do every day!

Randy Chase ’16 (Meteorology and Water Resources)

Dr. Randy Chase, was recently hired at the Cooperative Insti- tute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) hosted at Colora- do State University. His formal title is “Global Cloud Retrieval Scientist,” where he is hired to assist in two major research projects: NASA’s Investigation of Convective UpdraftS (INCUS) and ONR’s satellite-based 3D global cloud field analysis (OVERCAST). Dr. Chase will lean on his research expertise in radar remote sensing and machine learning to advance both projects. Dr. Chase got his graduate degrees (M.S. and Ph.D.) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and postdoc at the University of Oklahoma after attending Brockport.