houck2040/artisci huggingface dataset:
dr randolph bill bromery the first black chancellor of umass amherst pictured engaging with students on umass campus (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant at the first annual bromery panel at umass bryant co-founded the panel to bring together the geosciences department and afro-american studies department to discuss intersectional issues including environmental racism justice and mining and more (photo courtesy of dr bryant)
building supportive communities in academia another component of bryant's success and resilience in academia is her understanding that she needs to find and build communities inside and outside of her academic spaces as an undergrad at brown she helped develop an independent study course race and gender in the scientific community the course took an interdisciplinary approach to understanding why there is underrepresentation in stem they had readings and invited speakers ranging from history sociology psychology and education i was learning about these phenomena that were going to start controlling my life once i got into grad school bryant said by the time i got to umass i knew what i needed to invest in my own resilience and success in grad school while in graduate school bryant worked with fellow graduate students to found the bridge lecture series by working with other graduate student groups in other departments they were able to build their graduate student community and solve problems in diversity equity and inclusion within their university we designed the lecture series that we had always wanted to see in academia bryant said my favorite part about bridge were the grad student lunches because it would be a space where especially students of color could see themselves in the bridge scholars additionally bryant served as co-chair of the #safeatwork campaign a part of a student organization called graduate women in stem (gwis) through the campaign she advocated for graduate students navigating experiences with sexual violence in academia and raised awareness to sexual violence in stem academia it was inspiring because i was involved with a team where we knew we couldnt be quiet anymore bryant said as a women in science organization we felt we were the first line of defense for students who are experiencing harm and violence in their stem environments the campaign was designed to frame the issue of sexual violence as a workplace safety issue if you are an abuser of your students you're out of compliance all of these experiences helped shape bryant into the well-rounded dynamic scientist she is today and inspired her next chapter her post-doctoral studies at texas a&m
dr byrant pictured with fellow co-founders of the umass bridge lecture series (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant pictured with fellow members of the graduate women in stem (gwis) umass chapter (photo courtesy of dr bryant)
leading the next generation of geoscience leaders in addition to her current paleoclimate and geochemistry research bryant is also focused on developing the next generation of geoscience leaders this past fall bryant co-led the geological society of america (gsa) 2020 online connects pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusion the symposium provided a collaborative space where participants worked together to develop solutions that address justice equity diversity and inclusion (jedi) challenges specific to their geoscience community the goal was to empower participants to organize and lead initiatives by equipping them with a network of support an action plan and tools and strategies for overcoming obstacles after the pardee symposium success bryant is looking to develop the next generation of geoscience leaders and build strategic relationships inside and outside of traditional academia its coalition building it's brave space it's challenging space but it doesn't really exist yet bryant said i'm still dreaming it up i think the pardee symposium was a big first step to show people what it would mean to be a part of the next generation of leaders bryant credits the power of key transformative experiences throughout her undergraduate and graduate school experiences and seeks to bring those positive experiences to others bryant is also a principal investigator on the nsf collaborative research grant alliance-building offshore to achieve resilience and diversity (all-aboard) this award builds on her previous experiences as a mentor and instructor with another nsf program science technology engineering and math student experiences aboard ships (stem seas) bryant served as a graduate student mentor and instructor for the program and mentored over 28 undergraduates during her years with the program it showed me how important near-peer-mentors are for students especially students from marginalized communities because you already are feeling out of place bryant said it's not an easy leap to them ask a professor for help bryant built on what she learned from participating in stem seas to envision all-aboard going on research vessels has been demonstrated to be a transformative experience it can change the way you think about yourself and see yourself as a scientist bryant said with all-aboard we are taking that and adding intergenerational teams so that you are having this experience across a mentorship spectrum bryant is working with the other co-pis dr benjamin keisling and sharon cooper at lamont-doherty earth observatory and dr brian chad starks
dr bryant with dr keisling leading the gsa 2020 pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusion (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant pictured serving as a mentor and instructor for the nsf program science technology engineering and math student experiences aboard ships (stem seas) (photo courtesy of dr bryant)
looking forward in spring 2021 bryant co-taught geol 450 geology senior project with dr belanger this is a win-win-win bryant said the undergraduate students worked all semester to build new morphological data sets based on samples from one of bryants dissertation chapters so i had a way to test some of the ideas in my first paper and the students got valuable research experience and i got to see well 'zoom' with a group of people regularly which was awesome because being a postdoc can get pretty lonely this summer i will be working on writing up a paper based on the preliminary studies the students conducted not only did they find super cool results their results fit in really well with some of my hypotheses! bryants passion for ancient geologic systems and inclusive geosciences stems from her appreciation of the whole earth system people are on the earth so they are also a part of the earth system bryant said we have to care about understanding both the earth and the people who live here you can follow dr bryant on twitter at @foramsraqu or visit her personal website at https://wwwraquelbryantcom by ali snell
sherman presenting at texas a&m student research week as a part of dr don conlees directed studies group; she and the group won the sigma xi interdisciplinary award for this research (all photos courtesy of erin sherman)sherman (right) and leanne blind-doskocil (left) in 2019 setting up a nasa disdrometer to measure the velocity and drop size distribution of hydrometers
erin sherman 21 has wanted to become a meteorologist since she was eight years old this week when she walks across stage during texas a&ms spring commencement ceremonies shell achieve that dream during her time as a meteorology major in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences at texas a&m sherman has pursued several amazing opportunities from conducting research for nasa and noaa to helping lead the storm chasing student organization to traveling to costa rica to learn about water and the environment after graduation sherman will be moving on to colorado state university where she will be a masters student in the department of atmospheric science turning dreams into reality like a lot of meteorology majors i had a fascination with weather and storms from a very young age sherman recalled whereas other childhood interests such as ballet and art came and went her fascination with weather stayed with her over the years i remember one day saying ‘i wish there was a job where i could just deal with weather all the time and my mom said ‘you know that is a job right and i was so surprised she said i was around eight years old and ever since then ive been working toward becoming a meteorologist when sherman was in high school she prioritized her meteorology aspirations when selecting what universities to apply to i had just moved to texas with my mom and my sister and i wanted to stay close to home but i also wanted to go to a school with a great meteorology program she said when i heard that texas a&m had a storm chasing group thats what sold me i could stay close to home i could get to storm-chase and texas a&m has a really good program so i felt like i was getting the best of all worlds
erin sherman in the rainforests of costa rica during a trip that was part of a first-year seminar class taught by judy nuñez and dr wendy jepsonsherman assisting with a weather balloon launch holding the radiosonde which is the instrument that sends back all of the data
now after four years of intensive course work receiving and providing mentorship and conducting and presenting rigorous research projects sherman has earned her meteorology degree from texas a&m incredible opportunities as a freshman at texas a&m sherman traveled to costa rica as a part of a course focused on water security taught by judy nunez geosciences director of student recruitment judy nunez has been an amazing awesome mentor ever since my freshmen year sherman said her sophomore year sherman helped conduct weather balloon launches as a part of a noaa-funded research campaign by the department of atmospheric sciences the verification of the origins of rotation in tornadoes experiment in the southeast (vortex-se) 2018-2019 field campaign named meso18-19 was a national field project funded by noaa graduate and undergraduate students in the department coordinated and conducted the weather balloon launches for meso18-19 sometimes wed have to get up at 3 am to go to the o&m building and launch balloons sherman said that was one of the highlights of my undergraduate career it was a great bonding experience for the students and i really felt like i belonged in the meteorology major in the summer of 2019 she was selected for a national science foundation-funded research experience for undergraduates (reu) summer program at colorado state university i had been conducting research as a part of dr don conlees specific studies group for a while and he wrote a letter of recommendation for me for a summer reu at colorado state university which i was selected for she said i got to work with really amazing scientists there and i got to do my own research which i ended up presenting at the american meteorological society annual conference and received an award for
sherman was the vice president of tamscams and organized a visit to a san antonio tv station to learn more about broadcast meteorologysherman presenting her research poster that she completed during her summer reu with her summer mentor dr kristen rasmussen who will also by her graduate school advisor at colorado state university
the reu was a really great experience overall i got to meet people from across the country who were also really interested in atmospheric science research thats what spurred my love for research shermans research centered on atmospheric rivers and flood events in california and how climate change could affect those systems she used climate models to simulate those future scenarios and found that snowmelt could be greatly decreased resulting in possible worsened regional water supply problems she received the outstanding student conference poster award at ams 2020 for this research how to thrive in meteorology in addition to her research accomplishments sherman also served as a peer mentor in the college of geosciences and received a texas a&m university system louis stokes alliance for minority participation (lsamp) scholarship that supported her undergraduate research supporting peer mentorship is a priority in the college and sherman said that community-building and mentoring are very meaningful accomplishments for her i pride myself in being a mentor to younger students who are younger than me in the major " she said i was working with one student a junior in our major giving a lot of advice on applying to reus wed been talking a lot about it the application process letters of recommendations etc and just recently he told me that he got into his top choice reu and that he also got other offers for reus so he had options to choose from and that was really exciting i was so proud of that lasting impact in the department sherman advised up-and-coming meteorology students to seek out support in their department my top advice would be to build a community in the major she said when there were times when i didnt have the motivation to study or go to office hours i really leaned on my friends to help push me even when things were really difficult and i also did the same for them having that support system was really important we also leaned on our departments graduate students who are so helpful and really involved with the undergraduate students and the professors as well theyre so open to questions and meeting with you outside of office hours one of shermans favorite classes during the last four years was synoptic dynamics taught by dr robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences it was a really tough class but dr korty is such a great professor he made it really fun and easy to understand she said i felt very accomplished at the end of that semester and like i had understood and retained all of it well i loved that class" beginning her junior year sherman pursued an interdisciplinary research project with researchers in texas a&ms school of public health dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas helped connect her to those teams she said and the project was a great learning experience getting out there and meeting the people who will help you succeed is one of the things that will help you every time by leslie lee
meet the texas a&m students who conducted mars perseverance research in icelandemily champion and kashauna mason were part of a 2019 research project that helped ensure the success of the rover and helicopter operating on mars todaymay 19 2021 many texas a&m students have access to high-impact research opportunities but in the summer of 2019 two texas a&m college of geosciences students helped conduct research that was out of this world in 2019 nasa had tasked texas a&m with researching an environment similar to mars two years before the mars 2020 mission would successfully land on the red planet that environment lifeless gray rocky terrain with mountains and plains that stretch for miles on end was in iceland texas a&m geology undergraduate student emily champion was selected by dr ryan ewing professor in the department of geology and geophysics to assist with the research and phd student kashauna mason was also part of the world-class research team post-doctoral researcher dr marion nachon was a member of the research team as well for three weeks texas a&m geosciences students and scientists studied the geology of the terrain and tested a rover and a drone in support of the mars 2020 mission's perseverance rover and ingenuity helicopter which are successfully operating on the surface of mars todaytexas a&m geology and geophysics researchers in iceland: dr ryan ewing professor; emily champion undergraduate student; kashauna mason doctoral student; and dr marion nachon postdoctoral associate (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications)the team was located two hours north of reykjavik in the icelandic highlands near a trio of glaciers and included 19 people representing nasa stanford university purdue university and canadian space firm mission control i learned a lot about what it is to be a scientist what it is to work for nasa but also how to collect measurements in the field how to work with other scientists and how to be a team player champion said she is now a student in the fast track program in geology and geophysics which is an accelerated 5-year path leading to a bachelors and masters degree not only did the students get to interact with renowned scientists and learn how to conduct field measurements in an incredible environment but their research also furthered the operations of the now active perseverance rover the time that champion and mason spent with the research team huddled in a small icelandic hut furthered the worlds understanding of geology here on earth and on other planets the opportunities texas a&m offers its students are extraordinary the question now is where will aggie geosciences students go next by drew davis texas a&m college of geosciences
many texas a&m students have access to high-impact research opportunities but in the summer of 2019 two texas a&m college of geosciences students helped conduct research that was out of this world in 2019 nasa had tasked texas a&m with researching an environment similar to mars two years before the mars 2020 mission would successfully land on the red planet that environment lifeless gray rocky terrain with mountains and plains that stretch for miles on end was in iceland texas a&m geology undergraduate student emily champion was selected by dr ryan ewing professor in the department of geology and geophysics to assist with the research and phd student kashauna mason was also part of the world-class research team post-doctoral researcher dr marion nachon was a member of the research team as well for three weeks texas a&m geosciences students and scientists studied the geology of the terrain and tested a rover and a drone in support of the mars 2020 mission's perseverance rover and ingenuity helicopter which are successfully operating on the surface of mars today
the team was located two hours north of reykjavik in the icelandic highlands near a trio of glaciers and included 19 people representing nasa stanford university purdue university and canadian space firm mission control i learned a lot about what it is to be a scientist what it is to work for nasa but also how to collect measurements in the field how to work with other scientists and how to be a team player champion said she is now a student in the fast track program in geology and geophysics which is an accelerated 5-year path leading to a bachelors and masters degree not only did the students get to interact with renowned scientists and learn how to conduct field measurements in an incredible environment but their research also furthered the operations of the now active perseverance rover the time that champion and mason spent with the research team huddled in a small icelandic hut furthered the worlds understanding of geology here on earth and on other planets the opportunities texas a&m offers its students are extraordinary the question now is where will aggie geosciences students go next by drew davis texas a&m college of geosciences
a sea turtle was recently rescued by iodp and joides resolution crew members (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso)
one lucky sea turtle tangled in fishing nets was recently rescued by crew members aboard the joides resolution sailing on international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition 395e in the south atlantic ocean texas a&m university operates the joides resolution on behalf of the national science foundation (nsf) and iodp is an international research collaboration that coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor one of the crew spotted the unidentified object in the water near the joides resolution said dr sandra herrmann iodp imaging specialist it drifted closer to the ship and they saw that the assembly of nets included a turtle was the turtle alive the crew watched and continued working to assist it they were unsure if the turtle was alive until it started moving she said once the net-creature-bundle kept drifting closer it reached an area they could get to with a rod the crew hooked the net and hauled it up on the side of the ship with an air-driven tugger (winch) they dragged it up close enough to free the turtle; then the turtle dropped back into the ocean started paddling and swam away
the joides resolution docked in cape town at sunset (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso)these members of the joides resolution crew recently rescued a sea turtle (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso)
the approximate location of the joides resolution the day of the sea turtle rescue (image: google maps)the joides resolution in transit during iodp expedition 395e (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso)
at the time the vessel was seven days transit from land the fact that this turtle rescue happened in the middle of the south atlantic illustrates how far from shore marine debris can affect wildlife iodp officials said iodp expedition 395e began in cape town south africa on april 6 and the crew is conducting engineering activities in the south atlantic to prepare drilling sites for expeditions taking place later this year the joides resolution crew illustrated their adaptability and creativity in solving problems once more through freeing this fortunate sea turtle said dr james f allan program director for the nsf ocean drilling program a premier scientific research vessel for deep-ocean drilling the joides resolution is owned by siem offshores subsidiary odl as and the vessel is chartered to the texas a&m research foundation in 2019 the national science board (nsb) authorized nsf to extend funding for texas a&m to serve as the science operator of the joides resolution (jrso) as a facility of iodp through 2024 the agreement totaled more than $350 million over five years and is one of the largest federal research grants currently managed by texas a&m the iodp drilling platforms provide the only way for scientists to access the sediments and rocks that lay buried deep beneath the deep seafloor jrso director dr brad clement said these materials provide a rich archive of changes in the oceans and the planets climate as well as insights into how earths structure has evolved through time the joides resolution has been the workhorse of the international drilling programs conducting expeditions in each of the ocean basins the jrso is within the college of geosciences at texas a&m and one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is additionally housed at texas a&m by leslie lee