Student Awards

Joe’s dissertation focuses on the Ice Age history of Earth, with an emphasis on the global pattern of late Pleistocene glaciation. His field areas primarily are Alaska and the Colorado Rockies – two areas with contrasting records of glaciation. He has been to Alaska twice and Colorado once to carry out this work, and followed up each field visit with many months of lab work (grueling hours in the rock crushing room, the patient work of mineral separation on countless samples, and meticulous and detailed wet chemistry procedures that result in trace isotope analysis). Thus far he has one dissertation paper published, another one currently in the works, and a third paper planned for next year. He has, on average, presented twice per year at conferences (e.g., annual meetings of GSA and AGU). Finally, Joe participated in a month-long course in Scandinavia that focused on the glacier history of the Arctic.

On top of his dissertation work, Joe is advising an undergraduate student, who was with
Joe and I in southern Alaska last summer. He is currently mentoring that student through his first
conference. Joe also worked with Bea for a year on a remote sensing and glaciology project
involving a Greenland Ice Sheet outlet glacier. This resulted in an AGU presentation. Finally, in
addition to being on track to be a prolific publisher in scientific journals, Joe also wrote and
submitted a manuscript to a National Parks of Alaska magazine, peer reviewed but geared to a
more general audience.

Joe is a strong student, researcher, member of our department, and I think very fitting for
receiving the Pegrum Graduate Student Researcher Award.
- Professor Jason Briner

Allison, a 4th year PhD student in my group, recently published a paper entitled "Resolving combined influences of inflow and evaporation on western Greenland lake water isotopes to inform paleoclimate inferences" in the Journal of Paleolimnology. This paper lays a strong foundation for research that uses stable isotope proxies measured in lakes to study climate and hydrological changes in the Arctic.

This research has implications for the human condition. Climate change poses a serious threat to society, and to the ecosystems that support our society. The Arctic is experiencing more dramatic warming than the rest of the world. Changes occurring in the Arctic, including retreating sea and glacier ice and shifts in atmospheric fronts, have global impacts via sea level rise, outbreaks of polar air, and changing precipitation patterns that impact agriculture. By refining the tools that we use to study climate change in the Arctic, Allison's manuscript provides a strong basis to better understand and adapt to Arctic climate change and its global impacts. 

-Professor Elizabeth Thomas

Patrick is a phenomenal Teaching Assistant and gifted communicator. His depth of knowledge, as well as his ability to communicate that knowledge, are incredibly valuable teaching attributes, especially for courses that require complex three-dimensional thinking and problem solving, as both the Structural Geology/Global Tectonics and Geological Field Training courses do. Patrick is also both enthusiastic and patient. This allows Patrick to engage the students as they initiate the challenging assignments, and then to also stay focused and work with students through the multiple steps and conceptual leaps required for learning three-dimensional concepts. In addition, both Structural Geology and Geological Field Training are courses that require students to apply book learning to real-world problems and integrate their knowledge in order to piece together disparate observations into a coherent four-dimensional puzzle of geographic space and geologic time. Patrick excelled at working with students in the field and in integrating their field data into cross sections, maps, and geological frameworks. Patrick is truly deserving of the Pegrum Award for Excellent Teaching and has been a tremendous asset to the teaching of undergraduates at UB.
- Professor Margarete Jadamec

Brendan Ash of Apalachin, New York graduates summa cum laude with a bachelor of science in geologic sciences. Ash is a recipient of a departmental award from the James P. Owens Fund, traveled to Alaska for an independent research project with a faculty member which he presented at the International Arctic Workshop. He is a trip leader for the Student Association Outdoor Adventure Club. Ash plans to pursue work in geology or hydrology in the Great Lakes area, or a master’s of science in geology.

My name is Antonio Louis “Louie” Manzella IV, and I am currently a junior in the Geological Sciences program at University at Buffalo. My drive to study Geology comes from the fact that I am rather interested in what is underneath the surface of the earth, and I wanted to know more about it. In the future I would like to be able to work on projects that remediate human caused environmental issues, whether it be restoring a dig site after the site has been left, helping mitigate contaminants in groundwater, or simply planning rain gardens in urban centers.

My name is Mareli Paredes BS'20. During the end of my second year at UB, I took Climate Change with Poinar, PhD and it inspired me to change my major to geology. Now two years later, I am glad I made the switch because through my time here I've learned so much and have been inspired by the faculty. For the future, I will be researching contaminant transport in the subsurface with PhD Oware's research group. Although there is no physical field camp this year, I am very thankful for receiving the Dorothea Duttweiler Field Camp Award to help with tuition costs.

Bailey Valint, BS ’20. I knew geology had a special place in my heart when I took Earth Science in 8^th grade, but I didn’t start off as a geology student. I bounced around in engineering, before finally deciding to major in something I was passionate about. Geology, by the nature of it, makes sense! I’ve enjoyed every course I’ve taken in the department: lectures, labs, field work, and I’m sure virtual field camp. I’m super excited to continue my geology education here at UB with an MS, working in the Geodynamics Research and Visualization Lab under Margarete Jadamec, PhD.

My name is Kimberly Bartlett. I am an undergraduate with the geology department and graduating this summer (2020) after I finish up field camp (virtually of course). My inspiration to becoming a geologist didn’t really start until I moved to western New York and really got to experience my husband’s well drilling company. This kind of sparked my curiosity of clean, drinkable water and how to obtain it. I originally started as an Environmental major but realized that geology is where I truly belong. I do plan to return to grad school eventually to obtain my masters but for now I want to experience the work force with my geology degree. Hopefully this will help me figure out what exactly I want to further pursue my studies in. Thank you so much to the Geology department and all of the amazing teachers I’ve been able to study under. These past couple of years have been nothing short of stressful yet amazing all combined in one. I can’t wait to see where this degree takes me.

My name is Da Lin, as a graduating senior BS student in spring 2020. Generally, I'm long interested in applicational geoscience and history in archaeological contexts. Through these four years of study, I was increasingly acknowledged the importance of non-invasive survey methods in modern archaeology, and the capability of various geophysical and geostatistical techniques. This inspired me to learn more about the archaeological application of geophysical techniques, I’ll continue to study in this direction in my master program, starting next semester. I am thankful for receiving the Gilbert Jaffe Award, and it would help me for my future study.

Katie is a second year student at UB studying geology. From a young age, she was fascinated by Earth science and learning about the natural processes that shape the world. This fascination combined with a passion for environmentalism and advocacy led to an interest in studying environmental science upon arriving at UB. In her second year, Katie narrowed her focus to geology to study the history of the Earth and understanding climate change. Katie plans to continue paleoclimate research while at UB, and wants to eventually work for an environmental-related federal agency.

Maya Prabhakar, University at Buffalo class of 2020, wanted to pursue Geology in high school. The experiential learning and diverse nature of the discipline caused her interest in Geology to grow during college. Elizabeth Thomas, PhD later gave her the opportunity to explore paleoclimatology through laboratory work and introduced her to Kaustubh Thirumalai, PhD. She will join PhD Thirumalai’s lab at the University of Arizona to pursue paleoceanography and micropaleontology at the graduate level.