Geology majors Lenny Ancuta ’10 and Matthew Kissane ’10 presented their research at the 23rd annual Keck Symposium in Houston recently.
The Geology Department is a member of the prestigious Keck Geology Consortium, a group of 18 small liberal arts colleges focused on developing and maintaining a research-rich teaching and learning environment.
More than 50 geology students, their advisors and project directors came together at the three-day conference.
Ancuta gave an oral presentation on his work in Southeast Alaska using fission track dating of zircons, key in understanding the tectonic evolution in the region. Working with his advisor, professor John Garver, he yielded several new research questions for future Union students to tackle.
Kissane gave an oral presentation on the chemical breakdown and weathering of volcanic rocks in central Oregon and how they affect watershed chemistry. His advisor was professor Holli Frey, who plans to continue the research this summer.
With one of the most distinguished track records of research in an undergraduate setting, the consortium repeatedly has been funded by Keck, U.S. National Science Foundation and, most recently, ExxonMobil. During the first day of the symposium, students learned about the oil and gas industry and toured research labs of ExxonMobil geoscientists.
Each student spent four weeks doing summer field research as a basis for a senior thesis or research project. During the academic year, they worked with their advisors to analyze and interpret data.
Before arriving in Houston, they summarized their findings in an extended abstract, archived online.