Congratulations to all those that entered the GeoPRISMS Student Prize. Of all the quality entries, this page recognizes those that were most highly rated by the judges. Many of the outstanding presentations are available to download via the links from this page.
The GeoPRISMS Prize accepts international entries from any student who can establish a topical link between their research and a stated aim of a GeoPRISMS Program Initiative. To date, winners and honorable mentions have come from both the U.S. and abroad and have gone to around the same number of male and female entrants, and poster and oral presentations.
Thank you to the Judges and the students who entered, whose efforts allow the GeoPRISMS Student Prize to take place.
Poster Presentation Winner

Kayleigh Harvey – University of Maryland
Constraining the temperature conditions of paleo-subduction plate interfaces, Part I: Petrologic case study of the Rio San Juan Complex (Dominican Republic)
Coauthor: B. Dragovic, S. Penniston-Dorland, I. Wada, X. Zhou, P. van Keken, R. Bodnar
From the Judges: “very clear presentation, a nicely laid-out poster, and interesting results with a clear set of questions raised for future work. She was concise and organized in her presentation “”well spoken and knowledgable about their subject material, calm with presenting the science”
Oral Presentation Winner
Hannah Tilley – University of Hawai’i
3D seismic investigation of sedimentation and deformation in the Tuaheni Basin, Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand
Coauthors: G.F. Moore, S. Han, N.L. Bangs, R. Arai, P. Barnes and the NZ3D Team
From the Judges:“one of the best subduction zone talks at the AGU meeting this year””Hannah is an excellent speaker and it was easy to follow her talk. clear slides carefully prepared with just enough and not too much information. Hannah’s talk centered on an amazing new 3D seismic reflection data set collected on the Hikurangi Margin of New Zealand, with a focus on the structure of the Tuaheni Basin. This is an immense and complicated data set and Hannah excellently interpreted the main features while tying in the interpretation with data from nearby wells and past studies. Overall a winning presentation and a stellar GeoPRISMs student.”
Honorable Mention
Christine Chesley – LDEO Columbia University
Mapping the along-strike fluid distribution of the Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand using marine electromagnetic methods
Coauthors: S. Naif, K. Key
From the Judges:“This was one of the clearest, most coherent presentations of all the student presentations I attended. It was well motivated, data collection, analysis, and interpretation were well described, and the conclusions were well supported by the presentation. Nicely done.””Christine did a great job presenting the result. The presentation was visually very clear and verbally informative. She effectively kept eye contact with the audience. I enjoyed hearing her talk.”
Honorable Mention
Ricardo Garza-Giron – UC Santa Cruz
Hidden earthquakes as a tool to conduit evolution during an explosive eruption
Coauthors: E. Brodsky, Z. Spica, M. Haney
From the Judges:“Ricardo knows how to present. He drew us in with a great set-up and guided us through his results in a way that we all reached his conclusions together. Excellent use of pug imagery. His command on his science is clear. The slides were clean, the thinking logical, and the conclusions impactful. The text was concise and to the point. He did a great job with the questions.”
Honorable Mention
Caroline Seyler – McGill University
Fracture energy of Cascadia input sediments integrated into a global compilation
Coauthors: J.D. Kirkpatrick, H.M. Savage, T. Hirose, D. Faulkner
From the Judges: “Caroline presented a well-motivated story for her study. Her introduction framed a broader scientific question, and zoomed in to show how she was going to address it with her work. She had compelling, nicely designed plots to support her results, and made compelling interpretations to address her original question. Caroline demonstrated breadth in her presentation of her poster, and through questioning, showed she has a strong understanding of her method, scientific question, study, and broader field.”
Honorable Mention
Andrew Gase – UT Austin
Subduction of rough seafloor facilitates sediment underplating beneath a low velocity prism
Coauthors: N. Bangs, H. Van Avendonk, T. Luckie, D. Barker, D. Bassett, K. Jacobs, D. Okaya, S. Henrys, S. Kodaira, G. Fujie, Y. Yamamoto, A. Arnulf, L. Wallace, D. Saffer
From the Judges: “Andrew is using high-quality seismic data to study the potential structural control on the generation of slow-slip events at the Hikurangi margin. He is knowledgable about his research and can answer questions effectively.”