Valerie Ortiz: Volcanic Modeling: Peach Spring Tuff Deposit (PST)

This summer's research experience involved using models to simulate volcanic deposits. We specifically looked at the Peach Spring deposit, one of the world's biggest eruptions in all of history and the distance it covered, trying to find out how and why the eruption was as big as it was (32,000km).

I was introduced to the software and programs I'd have to work on over the summer, including Python, Fortran 90, Paraview and Python, Linux and even working through the terminal posed an initial challenge for me. This is because I have no formal and informal experience with programming, coding and software. Through this research I learned that it's okay to not know but it's necessary to dig deeper and refer to work by scientific peers. This helped me understand research for all parties involved in discovering the unknown no matter the level of education you're in.

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