Graduate Students' research and classes amidst pandemic

This fall's new students arrived at Dartmouth with backgrounds in biology, astrophysics, geology, civil engineering, and computer science. They arrived from Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Montana, and San Francisco in the midst of the pandemic. One even came from Mars (simulated Mars, but closer than anyone else has been)! Fortunately, they were able to meet each other during EARS 201 classes held outside behind Fairchild. 

Even when the weather turned cold, they shared their early research with one another in an outdoor poster session. The EARS graduate sequence has provided them many opportunities to experience the challenges and great rewards of communicating their research to peers studying in different disciplines. This group will be well prepared to communicate with people online and in real life.

As for many of you, this year has offered us the opportunity to explore new hobbies in the place of other activities put on hold. A widespread interest in hiking and other outdoor activities across the group is perhaps not surprising. While most of us tolerate the cold weather, Maggie embraces it. She has continued her cold-water swimming habit, born in San Francisco Bay, where she developed, in her words, the "blubber layer of a seal."  Newfound pastimes include playing the guitar for Alex and baking for Kat. Jordy, a mountain sports enthusiast, adopted a kitten, Pip, who you may meet when the two attend zoom classes together. Laura spent a semester on a sailboat in the Caribbean, yet she decided to come back to landlocked Vermont. Carrie is just glad to be back on Earth, after her simulated Mars mission was recalled to Earth early due to a devastating pandemic.

Despite being really attached to our sweatpants, we are all beyond excited to return to campus fully and get to know all of you better in the coming seasons!

Kat Lutz (Masters, Palucis and Hawley labs)

• Before coming to Dartmouth, I studied astrophysics at Yale University. There I fell in love with planetary research, where I identified potential distant exoplanets, modelled Kuiper Belt objects, and studied seismology here on Earth. I currently work with Marisa Palucis and Robert Hawley investigating the Martian polar deposits, focusing on the history of the northern poles. I also enjoy playing sports, specifically volleyball and ice hockey, and recently took up baking during the pandemic. Looking forward to meeting everyone eventually (so you all can save me from eating an entire batch of cookies)!

Alex Cox (Masters, Keller lab)

• After studying Civil Engineering at Princeton, I decided to swap bridges and concrete for rocks and climate. I was inspired to shift my focus to the ancient world after spending my undergraduate summers in the field researching fossils and glaciers instead of working for construction firms. While stuck in covid-times, I've decided to try my hand at 1) chess and 2) the guitar. Please let me know if you know how either of those things work! I work in Brenhin's computational geology group, and I'm also a JSEP fellow, which is a polar science outreach program for high school students based in the US and Greenland.

Jordan Herbert (Masters, Kelly lab)

• After a two year stint in the world of private sector geology I decided to follow the urge to get back to doing the type of research I carried out as an undergraduate. Here at Dartmouth I am focusing on using past glacial extents as a proxy to examine climate change in the tropics. When I'm not in the lab you can find me somewhere on a mountain - whether it be on a bike, a snowboard, or on foot - which makes the Upper Valley an ideal place to call home. 

Maggie Lonergan(Masters, Osterberg lab)

• I moved to the Upper Valley from San Francisco where I worked as a data scientist in the tech industry. I spent most of my free time (and some of my work time) riding my bicycle up and down the California coast, and I spent a lot of time swimming in San Francisco Bay where I developed the blubber layer of a seal. I'm studying polar climate with Erich Osterberg, focusing on wildfires in Alaska and northern Canada. I spent quite a bit of pre-covid time as a digital nomad, but that was always with jobs where I had already established relationships with my coworkers. Starting a new role while campus is shut down has resulted in my social circle being far less Dartmouth oriented than it likely would have been otherwise. I really look forward to meeting everyone when we get back on campus!

Laura Blum (Masters, Leavitt lab)

• Before beginning my Master's in the Leavitt Lab, I studied biology at Middlebury College, VT and developed a fascination for environmental microbiology.  Despite being a self-described "mountain person," I studied abroad on a sailboat in the Caribbean, which is enough to make anyone fall in love with the ocean. Still, I'm excited to continue my education in snowy New Hampshire and to bring a stronger Earth Sciences background to my research. For now, you can find me pondering the limits of life while in my pajamas. 

Carrie Harris (PhD, Leavitt lab)

• Before joining the Leavitt Lab, I spent the last 10 years studying polar ecology and biogeochemistry, with a brief foray into environmental archaeology. Most recently, I was living in Montana and studying ice-covered lakes in Antarctica. Before that, I earned my MS in Marine Science from UT Austin studying food web dynamics of the Beaufort Sea Coast. I love hiking and I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2016, so I am very excited that the AT is now part of my commute!