A 1-millimeter fish vertebra and a slightly longer, unidentified bone recently found at the Waco Mammoth National Monument will tell researchers more about the area’s ecosystem during the lives of the Columbian mammoths whose remains were found there.
WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Baylor’s Planetary Research Group is starting off the semester with a $260,000 grant from NASA to assist in research about the light-colored volcanoes on the moon.
WACO, Texas (Jan. 9, 2023) Silicic volcanoes on the Moon, specifically the mysterious Gruithuisen Domes, are a lunar geologic mystery that still perplexes scientists more than half a century after they were discovered. Based on early telescopic and spacecraft observations, these extinct volcanoes have long been suspected to be silicic in composition, in some ways similar to terrestrial strato volcanoes like Mount St. Helens in Washington state.
Ph.D. student, Nick Wagner, will be travelling to London to obverse and participate in a science team meeting for NASA's InSight mission. The program is called InSight Seers and its designed to allow early career researchers to observe and interact with mission scientists. Nick will be participating in science lectures and working group meetings within the science team meeting. Congratulations, Nick!
When NASA released surface images of Pluto in 2015, the world was enthralled with the never-before-seen beauty of the dwarf planet. But it was much more than that for Alyssa Mills, then an undergrad at the University of Maryland (and now a Baylor Ph.D. candidate). The high resolution photos unlocked Mills’ academic passion — and …
Congratulations to PhD student, Burke Leonce, the winner in the STEM category of the Graduate Student Association (GSA) Research Showcase. Burke's poster title was "Fire influences structure-reactivity mechanisms of organic matter phototransformation in aqueous environments".
October of 2022 saw the welcome return of many of our outreach events. Geoscience graduate students and staff participated in Sic ’Em Science Day at the Mayborn Museum on Saturday, October 15th, allowing students to study physical properties of rocks and minerals. Participants included graduate students Jasmine Kidwell, Alix Fournier, undergraduate Allie North, and lab coordinator Sharon Browning.
Degrees of Science, a series hosted by KWTX Channel 10 Chief Meteorologist, Brady Taylor, talks with Baylor Geologists Dr. Kenny Befus & Dr. James Thompson, who recently returned from studying the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland. As part of their research they were using drones to measure lava temperatures, in order to help model the flow of the lava.
We met up with Nick Wagner, a fourth-year Ph.D. Candidate in Geosciences, to talk with him about his ongoing research—Mars research. That's right, Nick's geoscience research is quite literally out of this world. One of Nick's primary goals is to continue developing a field called comparative planetology. Nick is able to interact with and accomplish cutting-edge planetary science research because of his network and resources at Baylor.
The Baylor Geosciences Department invites alumni and friends of the department to join faculty, staff, and students for our annual Homecoming Open House event. Join us on Friday, October 21st from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm in the Baylor Sciences Building, 4th floor, Clock Tower - Room E.401. We look forward to seeing you!
Congratulations to Ph.D. student, Alyssa Mills, who was awarded the John Mathers Nobel Scholar Award for her internship at the Goddard Space Flight center. This is a prestigious award given to only 8 interns/early career scientists.
A day-long session of scientific talks and research posters will highlight the contributions of Steven G. Driese to (paleo)pedology, critical zone science, clastic sedimentology, paleoclimatology, micromorphology, geoarchaeology and geochemistry from across the geologic time scale.
Dr. Peter James had an unplanned Baylor contingent at the SEG/AAPG IMAGE ‘22 conference in Houston with alumni Elisabeth Rau and Marilyn Wisler Hockstra.
Ms. Zhao Wang has published her first paper in the journal Organic Geochemistry, a new technique she developed at Baylor. The paper is titled, “A streamlined method for pressurized extraction and fractionation of leaf lipids". Congratulations Zhao on your accomplishment!
Anna Lesko – PhD student, Baylor Geosciences, received an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) in June 2022. This award is based on performance in the classroom, student engagement and evaluation, collaboration with other graduate teaching assistants, and supervisor nomination.
Geosciences Ph.D. student, Nathan Wright, was awarded the Paleontological Research Institution’s (PRI) student travel award and the NSF/GSA Graduate Research Award to support his dissertation research.
Baylor University Ph.D. graduate student, Alix Fournier, received a GSA Graduate Student Research Grant to support her dissertation research. The goal of these grants is to support graduate students research projects in any field of the Geosciences.
Toluwaleke Ajayi, Geosciences Ph.D. student, was awarded the E. Russell Lloyd Memorial Scholarship from the West Texas Geological Society (WTGS) Scholarship Committee.
Des Thorn was awarded the Dallas Paleontological Society Frank Crane Memorial Scholarship for 2022 to support her MS thesis research, “Using Sycamore leaves to reconstruct ancient light environments”.
In 2017, Baylor parents James and Christina Price of Sarasota, Florida, established the Price Family Endowed Fund for Undergraduate Studies in Geology. As part of the Give Light campaign, the Prices’ gift creates a permanent and enduring source of support for undergraduate students in Baylor’s Department of Geosciences.
Approximately 90 teens ages 13-18 interacted with Baylor Geoscience personnel in our popular rock and mineral identification activity Saturday, April 9th from 6-9PM. Student groups were timed to allow for more personal interaction. Graduate student Jie Geng assisted lab coordinator Sharon Browning.
Congratulations to Dava Butler who submitted and was awarded a grant on the behalf of the Waco Mammoth National Monument for a 2022 National Park Foundation (NPF) Service Corps Grant for the project, Saving the Waco Mammoths from a Second Extinction: Protecting a Scientifically Invaluable Resource Through Erosion Mitigation.