Student Successes
Geology Student Stands for Educational Equity
Wendy Hernandez
Educational equity doesn’t always start at the top. Sometimes it starts with a student standing up to say, “I want to learn and if you can’t offer me those opportunities, I’ll teach myself.” Wendy Hernandez is such a student.
Andrew Barnhart
Andrew Barnhart, a transfer from Pasadena City College, is pursuing his Bachelor's degree in Geology with great zeal. Andrew was recently awarded our Henderson-Valles scholarship in June 2012 to recognize his academic abilities and efforts to conduct research.
Audra Banks
Recipient of our 2011 Henderson-Valles Academic Achievement scholarship, Audra is a senior Geology major. She has gained much practical experience through geoscience research and various industry internships.
Logan Wicks
Logan Wicks is joining our new Master's degree program this fall (2012) after two years away from Cal Poly working as an environmental geoscientist with RMT, Inc.
Jessy Bruns
Jessy Bruns finished her Bachelor's degree in Geology last winter (2012) after completing two research projects on very different topics (volcanic geochemistry and rare earth mineral exploration). Results were presented in separate posters at GSA conferences in Anaheim, CA and Logan, Utah.
Rebecca Greenwood
Rebecca Greenwood is a Senior Geology major working this summer (2012) as an intern for Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC). Her past research endeavors include investigation of earthquakes induced by Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Shawn Morrish
Shawn Morrish, also joining our Master's program this fall, recently completed his senior thesis project on Quaternary river terraces along the Rio Ora on the central Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. Shawn is coauthor on several GSA presentations.Recent Internships
Students have been actively gaining practical experience through a variety of internships in both industry and academia. Below is a list of several students for whom internship information is available:
- April Davis started an internship at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena in June 2015.
- Larissa Kupfershmidt spent fall quarter working at Marshall Space Flight Center, ing ArcGIS techniques to analysis of lunar surfaces.
- Lara Pannosian started an internship at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena on Dec. 15. She will be working on rock strength characterization for the upcoming Mars 2020 mission.
- Alex Mundo spent a week last summer in Boulder, Colorado as an intern for the SOARS (Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science) Academy. Among other things, he gained hands-on experience working with Doppler radar tools.
- Ryan Santos spent all summer working with Cal Poly Geology Alumnus Leo Mercy as an intern for Cal Portland. His duties in the Mojave Desert included geological mapping of limestone deposits and driving a quarry truck.
- Paula Soto and Danny Miranda were awarded internships through the USDA’s Water Resources Policy Initiative program to support their watershed-related thesis research.
- Steven Pastana was awarded a "Student Investigator" position with NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS) working under Dr. Susan Hoban with the Small Bodies Node at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
- Austin Baca was invited back to Los Alamos, New Mexico for a second summer to serve as a teaching assistant with the SAGE (Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience) program.
- Rachel Hatch, Debbie Hernandez, Magali Barba and Jamie Kang have been working various internships with JPL in Pasadena related to Planetary Science investigations.