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| Joshua Hernandes and Bethany Rysak in the geoscience lab at Stanford University Photo by Kathleen Surpless |
Bethany Rysak and Joshua Hernandez, two Trinity University students, went to California for the Spring Break.
But no, they didn’t get sun bathing on the beach. Instead, they submerged themselves in the geosciences laboratory at Stanford University.
In the lab, one of the world’s most advanced fallibilities of its kind, Rysak, a sophomore, and Hernandez, a senior, both majoring in geosciences, studied rock samples from sunny California’s Sierra Nevada mountain chain. So perhaps Rysak and Hernandez can still check off the “exotic location” box for their Spring Break.
They were chosen by Trinity geosciences professor Kathleen Surpless, who every year receives grants to research rock samples from varying locations. She usually selects two of her top students, such as Rysak and Hernandez, to help her with these research projects.
The instrument they used primarily throughout the four-day project was called a Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro Probe, SHRIMP for short. The particular SHRIMP Rysak and Hernandez used to collect data from their rock samples is one of only five such instruments in existence in the entire world, and the only one in North America, which is currently valued at around $5 million.
“This was actually my second year working on this project, so getting out to Stanford and using the SHRIMP has been on my mind for quite a while,” said Hernandez. “It’s the culmination of a lot of the work I’ve done during my time at Trinity.”
Last year, during an early phase of this same research project, Hernandez and his team focused on familiarizing themselves with the rocks in the area, he said. “This year however, was entirely devoted to using the SHRIMP to get as much raw data as we could from our samples.”
That meant intense work. Rysak and Hernandez would generally get to the SHRIMP lab at 8 p.m. and wouldn’t leave until 9 p.m.
Despite the hard work, Rysak, who participated in such major geoscience research for the first time, loved every minute of it, partly because of her passion for the subject.
“My appeal towards geoscience is being able to be outside and view that outside world in a scientific manner,” she said. “You can look at rocks and derive lots of interesting information about them, and it really changes how you look at the world.”
Hernandez also was drawn to the outdoor appeal of geosciences. "I can't possibly imagine having a career that doesn't at least let me be outside every once in a while," he said. Besides that, he likes geosciences "simply because they let me use my talents in regards to the sciences and analytics."
In the lab, one of the world’s most advanced fallibilities of its kind, Rysak, a sophomore, and Hernandez, a senior, both majoring in geosciences, studied rock samples from sunny California’s Sierra Nevada mountain chain. So perhaps Rysak and Hernandez can still check off the “exotic location” box for their Spring Break.
They were chosen by Trinity geosciences professor Kathleen Surpless, who every year receives grants to research rock samples from varying locations. She usually selects two of her top students, such as Rysak and Hernandez, to help her with these research projects.
The instrument they used primarily throughout the four-day project was called a Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro Probe, SHRIMP for short. The particular SHRIMP Rysak and Hernandez used to collect data from their rock samples is one of only five such instruments in existence in the entire world, and the only one in North America, which is currently valued at around $5 million.
“This was actually my second year working on this project, so getting out to Stanford and using the SHRIMP has been on my mind for quite a while,” said Hernandez. “It’s the culmination of a lot of the work I’ve done during my time at Trinity.”
Last year, during an early phase of this same research project, Hernandez and his team focused on familiarizing themselves with the rocks in the area, he said. “This year however, was entirely devoted to using the SHRIMP to get as much raw data as we could from our samples.”
That meant intense work. Rysak and Hernandez would generally get to the SHRIMP lab at 8 p.m. and wouldn’t leave until 9 p.m.
Despite the hard work, Rysak, who participated in such major geoscience research for the first time, loved every minute of it, partly because of her passion for the subject.
“My appeal towards geoscience is being able to be outside and view that outside world in a scientific manner,” she said. “You can look at rocks and derive lots of interesting information about them, and it really changes how you look at the world.”
Hernandez also was drawn to the outdoor appeal of geosciences. "I can't possibly imagine having a career that doesn't at least let me be outside every once in a while," he said. Besides that, he likes geosciences "simply because they let me use my talents in regards to the sciences and analytics."
Now back at Trinity, the team is facing vast amount of raw data that they’ll need to sort through over the coming months, including part of summer, which means cutting short their summer vacation.
In November, they plan on presenting their findings on the correlation between rare earth element presence and magmatic processes at a national conference in Denver, Colorado.
In November, they plan on presenting their findings on the correlation between rare earth element presence and magmatic processes at a national conference in Denver, Colorado.
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