houck2040/artisci huggingface dataset:
donald hood wins award at texas a&m postdoctoral research symposiumthe department of geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associate received 2nd place in the flash-talk presentation competition at texas a&m universitys fourth annual postdoctoral research symposiumoct 30 2020dr hood pictued in front of a saturn v rocket at the nasa marshall space flight center huntsville al his team collaborated with nasa to develop the code he presented on at the postdoctoral research symposium (photo courtesy of hood)dr donald hood department of geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associate won second place in the outstanding flash-talk presentation category at texas a&m universitys fourth annual postdoctoral research symposium the symposium was held virtually on sept 23 with over 40 postdoctoral participants presenting their research to an audience of 162 fellow postdocs faculty members and staff from 17 institutions six postdoctoral researchers received awards in the two categories outstanding flash-talk presentation and outstanding poster presentation hood presented his research on the martian boulder automatic recognition system (mbars) a toolset he developed to detect and measure boulders on the martian surface the ability to quickly and consistently measure boulders on planetary surfaces not just mars is very powerful for a number of applications he said by knowing the location and size of boulders we can better understand the geologic processes that create them (ie meteor impacts) as well as the erosive processes that break them down in addition boulders are a major hazard for landing and rover operations and landing sites are thoroughly inspected for potential hazards before missions are launched hood said automating this process has numerous benefits one of which is that this analysis can now be done faster even as the craft is landing allowing the craft to pick the safest landing site i participated in the symposium as a way to encourage myself to keep moving forward with the research among other priorities hood said this has been a great reminder that you never know which opportunity you take is going to turn into something bigger so keep your eyes open! the symposium was organized by the texas a&m postdoctoral association the health science center postdoctoral association and the college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences postdoctoral association by ali snell
dr hood pictued in front of a saturn v rocket at the nasa marshall space flight center huntsville al his team collaborated with nasa to develop the code he presented on at the postdoctoral research symposium (photo courtesy of hood)
dr donald hood department of geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associate won second place in the outstanding flash-talk presentation category at texas a&m universitys fourth annual postdoctoral research symposium the symposium was held virtually on sept 23 with over 40 postdoctoral participants presenting their research to an audience of 162 fellow postdocs faculty members and staff from 17 institutions six postdoctoral researchers received awards in the two categories outstanding flash-talk presentation and outstanding poster presentation hood presented his research on the martian boulder automatic recognition system (mbars) a toolset he developed to detect and measure boulders on the martian surface the ability to quickly and consistently measure boulders on planetary surfaces not just mars is very powerful for a number of applications he said by knowing the location and size of boulders we can better understand the geologic processes that create them (ie meteor impacts) as well as the erosive processes that break them down in addition boulders are a major hazard for landing and rover operations and landing sites are thoroughly inspected for potential hazards before missions are launched hood said automating this process has numerous benefits one of which is that this analysis can now be done faster even as the craft is landing allowing the craft to pick the safest landing site i participated in the symposium as a way to encourage myself to keep moving forward with the research among other priorities hood said this has been a great reminder that you never know which opportunity you take is going to turn into something bigger so keep your eyes open! the symposium was organized by the texas a&m postdoctoral association the health science center postdoctoral association and the college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences postdoctoral association by ali snell
each individually renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science four exemplary award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences the recipients will be celebrated and honored during the college of geosciences virtual distinguished achievement awards gala which will be held online nov 6 at 5:30 pm bill read 71 76 bill read 71 76 is being honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal read received his bs and ms in meteorology from texas a&m in 1971 and 1976 respectively his decades of experience serving in the meteorology field include flying into and forecasting tropical cyclones and other severe weather events for the us navy and the national weather service (nws) working as a senior forecaster in the nws fort worth office and serving as meteorologist-in-charge of the nws houston-galveston office for 15 years he rose through the ranks of the nws and was named director of the national hurricane center (nhc) in 2008 serving through 2012 read has since worked as a hurricane consultant to major television networks and shared his advice and expertise with countless students and texas a&m classes paula bontempi 95 dr paula bontempi dean of the graduate school of oceanography at the university of rhode island has been awarded the geosciences distinguished alumni award after earning a ms in oceanography from texas a&m in 1995 she obtained her phd from the university of rhode island in 2001 and then served as an assistant professor of oceanography in the university of southern mississippis department of marine sciences from 2003 to 2019 bontempi worked at nasa as a program scientist focusing on ocean biology and biogeochemsitry in the earth science division at nasa headquarters she rose in leadership within nasas earth science division serving as acting deputy director of the earth science division in 2019 managing the agencys entire earth science portfolio in august 2020 she began serving as the dean of the graduate school of oceanography at the university of rhode island
agilent agilent has been awarded the geosciences innovator award a leading company in advancing geosciences research and education agilents contributions to analytical instruments empower advances in critical environmental and earth system research agilent technology continuously advances the state-of-the-art in precision particularly for compounds found in very low abundances in complex marine atmospheric and earth system sample matrices agilents mass spectrometers deliver ultra-high sensitivity and enable accurate quantification of trace levels of natural and anthropogenic compounds in the atmosphere ocean and terrestrial ecosystems said dr yina liu assistant professor of oceanography agilents advanced data analysis pipeline has significantly advanced untargeted workflow permitting geoscientists to look into unknown compounds in the earth system michael gutierrez 13 michael gutierrez 13 has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award gutierrez earned his bs in geology from texas a&m in 2013 after an internship with bays exploration he earned his first full-time position with exxonmobil development company in january 2014 he later joined the exxonmobil exploration companys gulf of mexico group and in april 2019 he joined the newly formed exxonmobil upstream business development company gutierrez led in the creation of the exxonmobil aggies geosciences scholarship endowment which provides scholarship support for exceptional students in any texas a&m geosciences degree program he is also one of the youngest professionals to every serve on the texas a&m geology and geophysics department advisory committee (geodac) for more details on the colleges awards program read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee 09
from small laboratories to spectacular field stations the film picture a scientist chronicles women scientists leading the way for new generations of researchers picture a scientist was an official selection of the 2020 tribeca film festival and chronicles researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists a virtual screening of the film "picture a scientist" will be held for the texas a&m university community oct 27 when the film will be available for viewing online for free anytime from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm registration is required for the free event sponsored by texas a&m advance the film features biologist dr nancy hopkins chemist dr raychelle burks and geologist dr jane willenbring who lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences along the way viewers encounter scientific luminaries including social scientists neuroscientists and psychologists who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse equitable and open to all following the film screening there will be two virtual panel discussions over the next two days: oct 28 from 1:00 – 2:00 pm texas a&m advance will host a panel discussion with dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m; dr mary e bryk associate dean for academic affairs for the college of agriculture and life sciences at texas a&m; and dr marcetta darensbourg distinguished professor in the department of chemistry registration is required for this event oct 29 from 1:00 – 2:00 pm the international ocean discovery program (iodp) at texas a&m will host a panel discussion focused on fieldwork gender and diversity in the earth sciences this panel will include: dr jen biddle associate professor university of delaware; dr hiroko kitajima associate professor texas a&m university; dr jennifer middleton postdoctoral research scientist lamont-doherty earth observatory; dr suzanne oconnell professor wesleyan university; and dr dawn wright chief scientist esri
a scientist on iodp expedition 369 (photo by iodp jrso) iodp expedition 378 leadership: ursula röhl co-chief scientist; lisa crowder laboratory officer; laurel childress expedition project manager/staff scientist; and debbie thomas co-chief scientist aboard the joides resolution (photo by tim fulton iodp jrso)
after sailing on and leading iodp expedition 378 the first science party to sail on the joides resolution in which the three primary leadership roles as well as the lab officer all were filled by women and the majority of the entire science party was female many scientists in the texas a&m and iodp communities have sought to continue diversity and inclusion efforts together one of the resulting projects was partnering with texas a&m advance and colleagues to help organize the picture a scientist field work discussion these events are open to all texas a&m university faculty staff and students as well as members of the bryan-college station community the screening and panel discussions are part of the yearlong 10th anniversary celebration of advance at texas a&m university by leslie lee 09
alyssa schultz '17 geography phd student in the lab (photo by the texas a&m foundation)jane and the late ken williams '45 excitedly stand in the laboratory during its construction phase
its not an exaggeration to say that alyssa schultzs life was changed by her experiences in the r ken williams 45 radiogenic isotope geosciences laboratory it all began with fish teeth schultz 17 was majoring in wildlife and fisheries sciences at texas a&m university she knew she wanted to pursue an advanced degree when she completed her bachelors though her area of academic interest was hazy no matter what scientific specialty she chose lab experience would be essential so she went to work as a research assistant in the williams lab her job was to sort through samples of deep-sea sediment searching for the tiny dagger-like teeth of fish from the cretaceous period squinting through a microscope schultz painstakingly isolated the teeth with a miniscule static-charged brush theres a lot of isotopic information in teeth and other marine materials schultz explained using a mass spectrometer and other equipment in the williams lab these sediments could be analyzed to reconstruct a picture of ancient ocean conditions including acidity temperature and the movement of currents from different time periods the samples may have looked like an unremarkable tube of ashy powder to the untrained eye but to schultz stepping into the lab and leaning over the microscope was like gazing through the veil of time to a period when massive reptiles ruled the land and seas like a fish she was hooked life under water schultz added an oceanography minor to her degree before applying to the phd program in the college of geosciences today she is studying paleoceanography and paleoclimatology examining ocean life of the past to gain a clearer picture of what the future holds her current research looks at information contained within 4 000-year-old deep-sea corals these incredibly long-lived organisms are under threat from increasing temperatures and acidification of the oceans their skeletons are literally dissolving schultz said schultz explores the isotopes of boron from core samples of the corals which live more than 50 meters below the surface in the dark and cold regions of the ocean boron acts like a fingerprint for ph over time so we can use that data to reconstruct ocean acidity over the lifespan of the coral she explained we look at how the ocean has responded to different climatic events in the past and use that information to better understand what our ocean might do in regard to current climatic change those findings can better inform policy conservation efforts and ocean management
kimber de salvo '18 working in the lab (photo by chris mouchyn)alyssa schultz '17 in the lab (photo by the texas a&m foundation)
texas a&m universitys dr colleen petrik assistant research professor in the department of oceanography recently began leading three new research projects supported by nearly $800 000 in funding from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) this work is part of a much larger program that includes multiple studies conducted across several institutions to make up the modeling analysis predictions and projections (mapp) marine ecosystems task force noaa's mapp task forces are projects conducted by 30-40 researchers aiming to create a synergistic web of similarly themed research that can help improve noaa services the research projects will span the next three years petrik has been chosen as one of the new mapp marine ecosystems task force leaders petrik and her team will use earth system modeling to predict how short- and long-term changes in climate and oceanic conditions affect fisheries to predict the weather we use sophisticated models of the atmosphere that that are based on physics petrik says we use very similar models now to simulate the entire earth system these models allow scientists to know how the atmosphere oceans ice etc all interact and how they affect each other moving forward in time and across locations she explained one of the research projects proposes to extend currently available earth system models to include fish in order to predict fish distributions food web structure and potential fisheries catches the other two studies will examine the predictions made by simulations on seasonal to decadal time scales of physical and biological properties not currently under investigation these properties include subsurface variables (eg oxygen concentration sinking organic matter seafloor temperature) and the prey of juvenile fish (zooplankton) this project is aimed at studying those new earth system model predictions and seeing how well they predict the physical and biological properties of the ocean that affect fish petrik says that might be things like temperature that affects all living things; and how well they predict plankton the base of the food web for higher things on the food chain like fish
summary schematic of petriks 3 mapp projects (image provided by petrik with design services by accdon llc)
later petrik will work with her co-leads and other researchers in the task force to bring the results of all the different projects together they hope to collate their work into a review that encompasses the task forces findings and assesses to what extent the projects have moved marine ecosystem science forward another co-leader of the task force dr michael jacox a research scientist with noaas southwest fisheries science center and a member of the previous mapp marine predictions task force will be heading one of the other research projects were going to be using climate forecasts produced by us and international climate modeling centers to see when they do a good job of predicting ocean conditions off the west coast and relate that back to conditions in the tropics jacox says these predictions could then be used to understand what fish do and where they go in response to different conditions jacox says the marine ecosystems task force is adding to and building off the findings of the marine predictions task force the end goal is to get information about the climate incorporated into decision-making to improve both the economics and environmental impacts of fisheries he says petrik says this work with noaa not only has a direct line to management decisions currently but can also shape the direction of noaas research in the next few years by justin agan
q&a: how field camp adapted to summer 2020dr brent miller discusses how this summers department of geology and geophysics field camp course adapted to covid-19 safety precautions and transformed the field experience by going totally online oct 20 2020google earth image of mapping and structural interpretation of goosegg dome wyoming (photo courtesy of dr miller)dr brent miller professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university recently discussed the experiences challenges and lessons of the 2020 summer field camp course how did field camp instructors adjust plans to follow safety precautions in the midst of a pandemic with only a few weeks notice the department of geology and geophysicss 2020 summer field camp transformed dramatically from the traditional hiking mapping in-the-field learning practicum to an online geological experience that mimicked as closely as possible the most important goals of the course dr brian balta and i working in conjunction with a massive nationally coordinated effort developed a series of online virtual exercises intended to provide students with a synthesis of the undergraduate curriculum and to give students practice in the large-scale interpretation of geological processes we put an enormous concentrated effort into developing meaningful online activities and i think for the most part we were successful will online field camp be available to students in the future yes the lessons learned from the push to develop an online alternative will not go to waste we intend to continue to develop these online field activities as an alternative for students who for any of a host of reasons are not able to attend the traditional camp in the end the sudden shock of the 2020 field camp transition will increase the diversity and inclusiveness of student participation in field-related activities what were some of the highlights of this summers field camp the highlight of 2020 summer field geology in retrospect was the opportunity it provided to view geology field teaching in a completely new way we will undoubtedly do some things differently going forward but we now have a solid foundation for an alternative virtual field experience for me personally however it is always such a pleasure to work with field camp students and to get to know them in a way that is usually not possible in regular classes its this interaction with our students that excites me about teaching field camp every year by ali snell
google earth image of mapping and structural interpretation of goosegg dome wyoming (photo courtesy of dr miller)
dr brent miller professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university recently discussed the experiences challenges and lessons of the 2020 summer field camp course how did field camp instructors adjust plans to follow safety precautions in the midst of a pandemic with only a few weeks notice the department of geology and geophysicss 2020 summer field camp transformed dramatically from the traditional hiking mapping in-the-field learning practicum to an online geological experience that mimicked as closely as possible the most important goals of the course dr brian balta and i working in conjunction with a massive nationally coordinated effort developed a series of online virtual exercises intended to provide students with a synthesis of the undergraduate curriculum and to give students practice in the large-scale interpretation of geological processes we put an enormous concentrated effort into developing meaningful online activities and i think for the most part we were successful will online field camp be available to students in the future yes the lessons learned from the push to develop an online alternative will not go to waste we intend to continue to develop these online field activities as an alternative for students who for any of a host of reasons are not able to attend the traditional camp in the end the sudden shock of the 2020 field camp transition will increase the diversity and inclusiveness of student participation in field-related activities what were some of the highlights of this summers field camp the highlight of 2020 summer field geology in retrospect was the opportunity it provided to view geology field teaching in a completely new way we will undoubtedly do some things differently going forward but we now have a solid foundation for an alternative virtual field experience for me personally however it is always such a pleasure to work with field camp students and to get to know them in a way that is usually not possible in regular classes its this interaction with our students that excites me about teaching field camp every year by ali snell
director of the berg-hughes center dr mukul bhatiathe michel t halbouty building home of the berg-hughes center