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All Geology students present their capstone research each year at the end of the spring semester. The students work one-on-one with a faculty research advisor to develop a project of interest, acquire data in the field or lab, and, after analyzing their data, present their research at the ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ Scholars Forum and Geoscience Day.

Students will present their research at the annual Geoscience Day on Friday, April 24, 2026.

• Geoscience Day, Friday, April 24
• Kopchick Hall, room 104
• The talks can be viewed on the department’s

Geoscience Day Schedule

• 8:30 a.m. Opening Remarks by Dr. Nick Deardorff

• 8:35 a.m. Lauren Fike
  Analyzing Foliations to Aid Understanding in the Formation of Taiwan

• 8:50 a.m. Nolan Read
  Strain Partitioning Between Clasts and Matrix in a Pebbly Phyllite from the Eastern Central Range, Taiwan

• 9:05 a.m. Megan McCracken
  Constraining Mineral Chemistry in a Well-Preserved Seafloor Stratigraphic Section of the Eastern Central Range, Taiwan

• 9:20 a.m. Grant Baker
  Investigation on How Heat and Time Spent in Volcanic Environments Affect Crystallization in Volcanic Tephra

• 9:35 a.m. Poster Session and Break

• 10:10 a.m. Cameron Danchanko
  Investigating Microplastic Contamination in the Streams of The Stoney Run Watershed in Indiana, PA

• 10:25 a.m. Toni Venslosky
  Assessment of Microplastic Contamination in Stream Sediments of the Stoney Run Watershed

• 10:40 a.m. Jenna Conrad
  An Analysis of Microwear on Tyrannosaurid Teeth

• 10:55 a.m. Break

• 11:15 a.m. Alumni Speaker: Heather Furlong ’19
  What Norwegian Sea Diatomites Reveal About Climate During One of Earth’s Most Extreme Warming Events