Earth science forum brings together SUNY students

The Department of Earth Sciences recently hosted an Earth Science Student Forum at the Buffalo Science Museum, bringing together SUNY earth and environmental science students from UB, Fredonia, Geneseo and Buffalo State, as well as Canisius University.

Eighteen undergraduate students and a few postdoctoral candidates from the various schools represented their work while 100 attendees learned about their research through poster presentations in the historic upper lobby of the Buffalo Science Museum.

“The event attracted a diverse audience and because of that, I learned how to explain my research in a way that was accessible to people from different backgrounds. I also had the opportunity to meet geologists working in the Buffalo region, and those conversations and connections were very valuable for my professional development,” says Daphne Wong, graduate student and TA in the Department of Earth Sciences.

“I had a great experience presenting my research I have been working on for the past two years, so it was exciting to share my work with others and receive feedback from attendees.”

UB student presentations Included:

• Alexandra Avellaneda, “Finding Crevasses on the Greenland Ice Sheet”
• Daphne Tung Yuen Wong, “Are Sinuous Rilles in the Marius Hills Region, the Moon formed by erosional or constructional processes?”
• Nicole Gerdes, “Screening Cu(I)-based Electrochemical Carbon Capture Sorbents for Stability”
• Jeri Stoller, “Reconstructing Holocene Relative Sea Level History from an Isolation Basin in Sitka, Alaska”
• Grace Maxson, “Assessing Late-Glacial Varve Presence and Environmental Controls in Western New York Lake Sediments”
• Harrison VanLone, “Modeling Stream Temperature in Response to Climate and Hydrologic Change in Mountain West River Basins”
• Justus Rodriguez, “3D Interactive Interpretive Geologic Mapping in a Digital Framework: Methodology and Application in the Eastern Brooks Range, Northern Alaska”
• Catheryn Ryan, “Lava-Ice Interactions from the Lab to the Field”
• Andrew Cuzzacrea, “Holocene hydrological and ecological changes in Bonnie Lake, Southeast Greenland”

“The Earth Science Student Forum is now in its third year, allowing student earth scientists from around Western New York to showcase their research to other faculty, K–12 educators, industry professionals and the public,” says Nick DiFrancesco, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at UB and co-organizer of the event. “This event is an important opportunity for our students to engage their community and perhaps inspire future scientists in the years to come.”

Students participated in a poster presentation competition as part of the event, with cash prizes awarded for best undergraduate and best graduate posters. Members of the Buffalo Association of Professional Geologists (BAPG) served as judges. Four of the six poster winners were from UB: Jeri Stoller, first place graduate poster; Daphne Wong, second place graduate poster; Grace Maxon, second place undergraduate; and Nicole Gerdes, third place undergraduate.

In addition to the UB Department of Earth Sciences, the event was hosted by the Buffalo Museum of Science, BAPG and Holly Schrieber, chief scientist at the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences and BAPG board member.