RU Geology student earns professional recognition and experience

Senior geology major Robert Huber was recognized as a Martin L. Stout Scholarship recipient at the annual meeting of the Association of Engineering and Environmental Geologists (AEG).

AEG Foundation acknowledged Huber as an outstanding and deserving student based on demonstrated ability, scholarship, potential for contributions to the profession, character and activities in student/professional societies.

For Huber, it was a return to his hometown of Pittsburgh and a chance to make his first presentation before professional colleagues. At the three-day event, he presented a poster of detailing his project done with Geology Professor Skip Watts titled "Mountain Lake alternative water supply feasibility study."

Robert Huber was recognized at the annual meeting of the Association of Engineering and Environmental Geologists’ (AEG) annual meeting

Senior geology major Robert Huber, shown here before his research poster, was recognized at the annual meeting of the Association of Engineering and Environmental Geologists’ (AEG) annual meeting as a Martin L. Stout Scholarship recipient.

"It was the culmination of two years' work. I started by helping others with their projects and this summer was able to spearhead my own," said Huber, who aspires to be an engineering geologist focusing on rock stability and natural hazard mitigation.

"I really appreciate the environment here at Radford," said Huber. "The University is not shy about supporting the work I do and Dr. Watts has guided me while encouraging me to figure things out on my own. It is great to be learning from and working with someone as respected in the field as he is."

As a Student Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF), Huber made his initial presentation of the project at the third annual Summer Research Celebration that featured Radford University’s 2015 SURF grant recipients Sept. 16.

Huber’s work and professional development will continue in November when he will be part of a team led by Watts that will present a project titled “3D Geologic Mapping using unmanned aerial vehicles and Structure-From-Motion software” at the Geological Society of America conference in Baltimore. The Radford team will be among the more than 7,000 geoscientists who will be presenting 4,700 abstracts at the event. 

Oct 13, 2015