Geology students to present original research at Denver meeting

Six Radford University students are heading to Denver, Colorado, on Sept. 24 to present original research at the annual Geological Society of America Meeting.

Students Antonio Conde, Alexa Harrison, Nick Schrecongost, Dylan Philippart, Abdullah Zulfiqar and Hans Voll will be traveling with Associate Professor of Geology Elizabeth McClellan and Geology Professor Skip Watts to the event, at which 7,000 attendees from across the globe are expected to attend.

The Geological Society of America (GSA) is one of the premier geoscience organizations in the world. The organization has a large international division as well as six sections across the United States and Canada.

Students in Radford's Department of Geology have regularly presented research at the GSA Southeastern Section meetings held in the spring. The past two years, they've also had a big presence at the annual meeting.

Two of the student presenters, Voll and Zulfiqar, were awarded Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) through OURS to conduct their research. They are mentored by Watts.

Philippart, a Scholar-Citizen Initiative grant recipient, is mentored by Geology Professor Parvinder Sethi.

Harrison and Schrecongost are mentored by McClellan. Schrecongost is also a SURF awardee, and both he and Harrison received Geological Society of America Southeastern Section Undergraduate Research Grants.

Conde is is mentored by McClellan, Geology Instructor George Stephenson and Professor Emeritus Bob Whisonant.

"We are thrilled to have such an enthusiastic and motivated group of students and know they will represent Radford University and the Department of Geology well," said McClellan.

Their research topics are:

• Boy Scouts Rock: Updating and Digitizing Legacy Geologic Information for the Blue Ridge Scout Reservation, Antonio Conde
• The Use Of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Digital Topographic and Thermal Modeling o Mountain Lake Virginia, Abdullah Zulfiqar
• Leveraging Gigapan Imaging Technology for Helping Introductory-Level Geology Lab Classes for Understanding Glacial Processes and Global Climate Change, Dylan Philippart
• An Investigation of Thermal Conductivities for Several Different Soil Types in Southwest Virginia, Hans Voll
• Eruptive Sequence and Processes in a Neoproterozoic Intracontinental Rift: The Mount Rogers Formation, Southwest Virginia,  Alexa Harrison
• Bracketing the Age of Neoproterozoic Glaciation in the Virginia Blue Ridge, Nick Schrencongost