Meet the 2012 Cohort

Joseph Bard (Portland Community College, Portland State  University).

Major: Geography

"My Internship at the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory has kept me busy with a variety of projects since I started work in July 2012.  This summer I have been splitting my time into two foci; GIS (Geographic Information Science) mapping projects, and preparing volcano monitoring instrumentation for foreign deployment in support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Volcano Disaster Assistance Program.  The mapping projects in progress are the creation of geodatabase maps of landslides in Skamania County, WA, and the geologic map of San Francisco volcanic field in northern-central Arizona.  The instrument preparation involves wiring and building ruggedized enclosures for seismic and communication stations."

The geodatabase project that Joe put together for Newberry Volcano is now published and available on-line.  This geologic map database of Newberry Volcano contains mapping published as Sheet 1 and Sheet 2 in U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-2455 (MacLeod, Sherrod, Chitwood, and Jensen, 1995).  The database distinguishes rocks and deposits based on their composition, age, and lithology.

Joseph has since earned a bachelor’s degree, and is now working towards a Master’s Degree in Geography through the University of Oregon.

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Angela Clegg (Linn Benton Community College)

Major: Geology

Eric Hartstein from the South Santiam Watershed Council (SSWC) is my mentor. I have continued working as the coordinator for the Youth Watershed Council at Sweet Home High School.  We have been working on the design for an interpretive sign that goes in at the mouth of Ames Creek where a new fish ladder was built.  We also participated in a riparian planting on private land that runs along the South Santiam River.

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Elia DeJesus (Linn Benton Community College, Oregon State University)

Major: Biology

Elia DeJesus is working with his mentors Dr. Peter Clark and Jeremy Hoffman, a Ph.D. graduate student, to characterize sediment cores from the North Atlantic. The marine sediment cores are being separated and prepared for geochemical analyses to find abrupt climate change event signatures- specifically Heinrich events. Jeremy says, Elia “has become an integral part of our project's success. We look forward to having him join our group at AGU 2014.” Here is a photo of Elias presenting his poster at AGU, entitled, “A High-resolution Detrital and Oxygen Isotope Record from Flemish Pass, Labrador Sea.” Here is the abstract. 

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Mindi Hartzell-Jones (Linn Benton CC, Oregon State University)

Major: Communication and Geology

Mindi’s project focused on geo-communication, specifically how Earth Sciences information is communicated to high school students. Surveys show that middle and high school students are interested in the geology and geohazards associated with their communities but lack knowledge about these topics.  To overcome this limitation Mindi developed a workbook aimed at middle and high school students to communicate the geohazards and formations associated with subduction and arc volcanism endemic, in western Oregon.

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Corey Juarez (PCC- Rock Creek, Oregon State University)

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Through the IDES Program, Corey Juarez was mentored by Dr. Adam Schultz. Adam said that Corey “worked at designing a system to extract air bubbles from electrodes we manufacture, which involved both modeling in SolidWorks, obtaining quotes for manufacture, and then manufacturing a prototype himself. He also works with Brady Fry on aspects of the Multiphysics Bottom Lander, tackling more of the mechanical design issues including design of an internal instrument frame and a burn-wire drop weight release system.”

Corey is featured in a June 2014, OSU blog entitled, “Taking Fight.” On March 9, 2015 Corey defended his thesis entitled, “The Influence of Gas Extraction on Bubble Dynamics,” through the University Honors College.

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David Konyndyk (Linn Benton Community College)

Major: Physics

David interns with the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences under Dr. Joseph Stoner, where he studies the magnetic properties of ocean and lake sediment core samples. He specializes in designing and building lab equipment and machinery, and his work contributes toward understanding the history of the Earth's magnetic field, climate, and geology. Here is a photo of David, on site at Steens Mountain, OR with the paleomagnetic research group, where they gathered lake sediment cores from Fish Lake.

Dr. Stoner says, “David Konyndyk has been working in the Paleo-and-Environmental Magnetism Laboratory and at the Marine Geology Repository learning a variety of skills, getting trained to operate a variety of instruments, get a general understanding of sediments and magnetism and helping design instrumentation to measure these sediments.” David is now using his IDES research toward a Bachelor’s degree - honors thesis. David presented his research at the 2014 Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium Student Symposium, held at Oregon State University, November 14, 2014.

Though David has completed the IDES Program, in April 2014, David wrote, “I'll be working with NASA in Huntsville, AL for 10 weeks. The title of my internship is "Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion". I'm extremely excited, and very proud. I know that my internship with [OSUs] College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric  Sciences played a part in my selection, so I just want to extend a HUGE thanks to [the IDES Program] for continuous support and for the work you've done in making IDES a reality for me and my peers. Thank you!!” Through this project, David worked on thermal-nuclear propulsion design and analysis. Here is a photo of David standing next to the Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator (NTREES) nuclear fuels testbed at Marshal Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. 

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Cale Miller (Linn Benton Community College, Oregon State University)

Major: Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences

Cale’s IDES Internship Advisor is Dr. George Wahlbusser who specializes in Benthic Ecology & Sediment Biogeochemistry. Cale says, “My current research project looks at the effects of ocean acidification and on early bivalve development. I am currently working on a population model that identifies a specific life stage of a hard shell clam. Bivalve larvae are more susceptible to changes in the water chemistry and can be adversely affected in regards to survival and growth. The aim of this model is to identify the range of tolerance for clam larvae which are exposed to a decreased pH and varying carbonate chemistry.” Here is a photo of Cale analyzing bivalve larvae samples from experiments run at Hatfield Marine Science Center.

Cale is the recipient of the Linn-Benton Community College Program Grant for the Science, Engineering and Technology Division (2012); OSU’s Gerald L. Fisher Internship in Aquaculture and Hatchery Management Award (2013); and the Academic Recruitment Scholarship from Western Washington University (2014).

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Michelle (Neeson) Neely (Portland Community College, Portland State University)

Major: Geology

Michelle first worked with Andrew Fountain, she says, “I was helping to identify over 10,000 rock glaciers in the contiguous U.S. We also built a physical model of a sub-glacial and en-glacial hydrologic system and measured conductivity through the system to mimic dye tracing results found in the field.”
 
Michelle’s internship would then continue through Shan de Silva. Michelle says, “I'm analyzing clasts from megaripples in Argentina that were used in wind tunnel experiments.  The goal is to determine threshold wind velocities for movement of these clasts in order to better understand the movement and morphology of the megaripples. Once threshold velocities are established, they can be applied to similar landforms on Mars (transverse aeolian ridges).”
 
Through this project, Michelle has presented her research as a poster presentation at the 45th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference held March 17-21, 2014, at The Woodlands, Texas.

Her other accomplishments include an oral and poster presentation at 2013 IDES Symposium, and being elected as the Portland State University Geology Club President for 2013-2014. She was awarded an Oregon NASA Space Grant Internship at NASA JPL for summer 2014, which included an oral presentation, as well as a written report. Further, Michelle is also a published coauthor of "Formation of gravel-mantled megaripples on Earth and Mars: Insights from the Argentinean Puna and wind tunnel experiments," in Aeolian Research, volume 17 (2015), pages 49-60, and in a paper submitted to Icarus, currently in review.

Michelle has gone on to earn a Bachelor's degree in Geology from PSU, with a minor in Space and Planetary Science. She is currently working on a Masters degree in Geology at OSU. Her second IDES Mentor, Dr. Shan de Silva is her Master’s advisor; her Master’s thesis expands on her IDES research.

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Latifa Salih (Portland Community College, Oregon State University)

Major: Environmental Sciences

Latifa’s IDES work started with a summer project with the EcoInformatics Summer Institute and the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory where she studied the effect that bulrush stems have on wave attenuation in Tillamook Bay estuary. In her first academic year with the IDES program, Latifa worked with Anita Morzillo on the policy component of the Willamette Water 2100 Project, an NSF-funded modeling project of the Willamette Basin. Starting with the summer of her 2nd year with IDES, Latifa began working with Megan Kleibacker as a program assistant at Oregon Sea Grant where she remained for two years.

At Oregon Sea Grant Latifa worked on a few key projects: the StreamWebs Student Stewardship Network, a field-to-classroom youth watershed science program; the Clean Boater Program, an outreach and education project which deals with water quality issues related to recreational boating as part of the Clean Vessel Act legislation; and the Oregon Master Naturalist Program, a statewide initiative to inform and encourage citizen stewardship of natural resources. As part of each of these programs, Latifa assisted in various capacities throughout. This includes ongoing strategic development, research, curriculum development, policy development, education & outreach, evaluation, and web development.
 
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Stacy Sims (Oregon State University)
 
Major: Bioresource Research
 
Stacy’s IDES mentor was Dr. Itchung Cheung, the Academic Program Coordinator and Head Instructor of Hatfield Marine Science Center.  Stacy’s project involved collecting GPS points out in the mudflats. She collected information on experiment markers on Idaho Flats, a mudflat in Yaquina Bay adjacent to the HMSC. It was essentially a mini-marine spatial planning project of a larger one for the entire bay.

Stacy changed her major from Bioresource Research to Physiological Sciences. Though no longer in the IDES Program, she received a first place (tie) as a 2013 Celebrating Undergraduate Excellence participant. Here is a video showcasing her work in “Intelligence is an illusion: Evaluating the accuracy of intelligence assessments in social situations.”

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Tenaya Smith- Oregon State University)
 
Major: Pre-Business
 
Tenaya explored research projects.

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