from the himalayas to exxonmobil this aggie geology grad is ready for anythingdec 13 2017senior melanie bowen reflects on her time in the texas a&m college of geosciencesstanding at the foothills of the himalayan mountains is a moment melanie bowen will never forget "as a geology student getting to see the lower himalayas was just a dream so breath-taking and beautiful and geologically complex said bowen a graduating senior in the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university how did bowen wind up traveling with a group of scientists to india undergraduate research was the ticket conducting research as an undergraduate research assistant in the international ocean discovery program (iodp) had afforded bowen the opportunity to travel to india with her supervisor dr denise k kulhanek iodp expedition project manager and staff scientist they attended iodps july 2017 post-cruise meeting for expedition 355 which had sailed in 2015 bowen was studying indian ocean floor sediment cores that were collected during that research cruise melanie bowen at an outcrop in the himalayas (photo courtesy of dr denise k kulhanek) at iodp it was my job to do the processing of a lot of the data from expedition 355 in the indian oceans laxmi basin she said i studied variations in calcium carbonate and other geochemical proxies over time trying to relate that to carbonate burial production or dilution and at a larger scale trying to relate those variations to the uplift and erosion of the himalaya mountains and changes to the summer monsoon her research has implications for better understanding monsoons which are a major annual threat to public safety in india we obtain that elemental data through a method called x-ray florescence which involves using instruments that shoot x-rays at sediment core samples which then emit characteristic wave-lengths that can be analyzed and identified as calcium or other elements she said this research could help us better understand monsoon and how it could change and evolve in the future based on what we've seen in the past bowen started conducting research at iodp when she was just a sophomore and she advises that fellow undergraduates take that leap as well try to do undergraduate research because it opens so many doors she said and find something that you love whether that be one individual class that you can specialize in or run with or a research area if i wasnt passionate about what i was reading or researching i wouldnt be motivated to work as hard try your best because it really does pay off in the end melanie bowen and dr denise k kulhanek in new dehli (photo courtesy of dr denise k kulhanek) but her passion for geological exploration wasnt always at the front of bowens mind when she began at texas a&m as a freshman she was studying petroleum engineering after taking one geology course she soon realized that the aspect of petroleum that she was most interested in was geology bowen said that after reassessing my skills and passions transferring to the department of geology and geophysics was a perfect fit the department is highly acclaimed and has phenomenal programs she said ive been very fortunate to receive several scholarships from the college and department thanks to our generous donors bowen received the murry d page endowed scholarship from the college of geosciences and the george w crocker ii scholarship from the department of geology and geophysics after graduating from texas a&m in december with her bs in geology and as the top-ranked geology student among december graduates bowen began a paid internship at exxonmobil this january after a paid summer internship with sm energy she is planning to pursue graduate school later in 2018 she said bowen overlooking palo duro canyon during aapg student chapter field trip march 2017 (photo courtesy of melanie bowen) but first bowen is culminating her undergraduate research experience by presenting a research poster on her work at the american geophysical union (agu) fall meeting the largest gathering of space and earth scientists in the world in new orleans in january as she looked ahead to her career moving forward bowen said what shell miss the most about aggieland is the people ill miss the sense of community that ive grown to become a part of here in g&g she said my peers and our professors who have given me such fantastic advice over the years – i will miss them ill miss them a lot by leslie lee media contact: leslie lee communications coordinator college of geosciences (979) 845-0910 leslielee@tamuedu bowen in an iodp core repository housed at texas a&m and an example of what ocean core samples which are each several feet long look like in the iodp labs (photos courtesy of melanie bowen and iodp)