Geology Students Awarded Summer Research Grants

Ion Simonides ’14 and Lauren Schricker ’14 have been awarded competitive grants in support of undergraduate research from the Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of America. They will be conducting field research during the summer, followed by petrographic microscope analyses in the fall as part of their senior thesis projects.

Lauren will travel to western Montana for three weeks to study ancient deposits from the headwaters of the Missouri River. She will also conduct lab work involving uranium-lead dating of river sands.

Lauren with Doug Barber '13 and Professor of Geology Bob Schwartz on their trip to Montana in Summer 2012. The three will return this summer along with Mary Statza '16. — Lauren with Doug Barber ’13 and Professor of Geology Bob Schwartz on their trip to Montana in Summer 2012. The three will return this summer along with Mary Statza ’16.

Ion will work in the Catskills of southeastern New York State studying sandstone formations at Kaaterskill Falls. The sandstone rocks represent an interval 20 to 30 million years between the Middle to Upper Devonian Periods. The source rocks that provided sediment to form the sandstone were part of the ancient Appalachian Mountains.