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. We are also grateful to AGU for their cooperation and assistance with logistics before, during, and after the meeting.
Poster Presentation Winner
James Muirhead – University of Idaho
The evolving contribution of border faults and intra-rift faults in early-stage East African rifts: insights from the Natron (Tanzania) and Magadi (Kenya) basins
Coauthors: Simon Kattenhorn, Edwin Dindi, Remigius Gama
From the Judges: “James demonstrated an excellent knowledge of regional geology, tectonics, and theory related to his research” “His poster was really well presented and articulated” “Significant and mature, integrative”
Oral Presentation Winner
Megan Newcombe – Caltech
Chemical zonation in olivine-hosted melt inclusions: A record of syn-eruptive cooling
Coauthors: Alessandro Fabbrizio, Youxue Zhang, Chi Ma, Marion Le Voyer, Yunbin Guan, John Eiler, Alberto Saal, Edward Stolper
From the Judges:“This was a super high quality talk.” “The discovery of chemical zonation *inside* melt inclusions is new … she’s developing a crystal clock method for minutes-hours timescales!” “This is mature work…”
Honorable Mention
Suzanne Birner – Stanford University
Variations in Oxygen Fugacity among Forearc Peridotites from the Tonga Trench
Coauthors: Jessica Warren, Elizabeth Cottrell, Oscar Lopez, Fred Davis, Trevor Falloon
From the Judges:“Suzanne spoke clearly and with enthusiasm for the scientific problem that she is trying to understand” “The speaker gave a clinic on the subject matter”
Honorable Mention
Ryan Gallacher – National Oceanography Centre Southampton
Mantle structure beneath the Afar triple junction derived from surface wave tomography
Coauthors: Derek Keir, Nicholas Harmon, Graham Stuart, Sylvie Leroy, James Hammond, J-Michael Kendall, Atalay Ayele, Berhe Goitom, Ghebrebrhan Ogubazghi
From the Judges:“Ryan was engaging and enthusiastic” “He attracted a steady stream of visitors, including geochemists and geodynamicists”
Honorable Mention
Stephanie Grocke – Oregon State University
Storage conditions and temporal signals for the Tara supereruption magma; insights from geothermobarometry and quartz chemistry
Coauthors: Shanaka L. de Silva, Jan M. Lindsay, Rodrigo Iriarte, Elizabeth Cottrell, Benjamin Andrews
From the Judges:“Wow, Stephanie is a dynamite speaker” “Her Ti thermometry and diffusion profiling provided a novel clock for magma processes at this novel clock for magma processes at this super volcano”
Honorable Mention
Jiyao Li – Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Constraints from seismic reflection signature on the seismogenic region in the Alaska/Aleutian subduction zone
Coauthors: Anne Bécel, Donna J. Shillington, Mladen R. Nedimovic, Harold Kuehn, Spahr C. Webb
From the Judges:“Jiyao did a very good job highlighting the importance of understanding the plate interface… using seismic reflection images. These findings provide important constraints” “Jiyao had a very strong presentation that rivals work of postdocs”
