My mentoring experiences have included working with interns through UNAVCO as both a graduate assistant and instructor and working one-on-one with undergraduate student researchers at University of Colorado Boulder.
UNAVCO Internships 2018 Professional Development
During Summer 2018, I was the professional development instructor for the three internship programs at UNAVCO. Research Experiences in Solid Earth Sciences for Students (RESESS) supports undergraduate student summer research to help increase the diversity of students within the geosciences. Geo-Launchpad is a summer internship program for Colorado community college students with interests in the geosciences.
UNAVCO Student Internship Program (USIP) is an internship program for undergraduate and graduate students that allows the interns to learn about working at a non-profit organization whose goal is to support geoscience research and education. I taught a Communications Seminar to all three programs that focused on professional and science communication including resumes, cover letters, poster presentations, sharing science with the public, science policy, and policy for science. I also taught a Skills Workshop to the Geo-Launchpad interns that covered topics like conflict resolution, technical writing, and Google Earth. The Geo-Launchpad interns presented their work at the Geological Society of America’s Annual Meeting this year; see their abstracts here and here. The RESESS interns all presented their work at the 2018 AGU Fall Meeting.
UNAVCO Research Experiences in Solid Earth Science for Students (RESESS) Internship 2017
During summer 2017, I worked as the Graduate Assistant for the UNAVCO Research Experiences in Solid Earth Science for Students (RESESS) Internship. The RESESS program has a goal of increasing the number of students from underrepresented groups in the geosciences. As the Graduate Assistant, I helped with professional development instruction and writing seminars. In addition, I assisted on field trips; during one field trip I explained my research to the interns and gave a brief lesson on injection-induced seismicity in Colorado. I also provided a sounding board to the interns and shared my work and graduate school experience.
Alexis Ahlert: Investigating Hydraulic Communication Between Wells During Hydraulic Fracturing Treatments in the Piceance Basin, Colorado, USA
I have been working with Alexis Ahlert on this project since early summer 2018. She is using groundwater models to investigate the circumstances necessary for hydraulic communication between production wells in the Piceance Basin (when another well is affected due to pore pressure transfer during hydraulic fracturing). Alexis presented her work at the Geological Society of America’s Annual Meeting. She also presented her work at CU Boulder using sidewalk chalk. This work was part of her Honor’s Thesis. Alexis graduated with honors in Spring 2019 and is headed to graduate school for a Master’s degree.
Mazi-Mathias Onyeali: Denver Basin Combined Disposal Zone Hydraulic Conductivity Estimation via Constant-Head Permeameter Testing
I worked with Mazi-Mathias Onyeali from Spring 2017 into Summer 2018. First, Mazi was trained to run the constant-head permeameter. Then, he took over the testing of core samples from core stored at the USGS Core Research Center in Denver, Colorado. These samples are used for hydraulic conductivity estimates for the groundwater models I create as part of my injection-induced seismicity research in Greeley, Colorado.
In addition to conducting the permeameter testing, Mazi used permeability measurements of the core previously tested by oil & gas companies and created empirical relationships between the previous results and our results in order to estimate hydraulic conductivity for the entire 500 meter disposal interval. He used these relationships to create a generic model to test the effects of small scale heterogeneity of hydraulic conductivity in the injection interval. Mazi graduated from CU Boulder in Spring 2018 and now works for an environmental and water resources engineering company.
Christine Nims: Analysis of Historical Groundwater Level Variability in Boulder County, Colorado
I worked with Christina Nims in 2016. I first guided Chrissie in data digitalization of historic hydrogeologic testing data for Colorado. In addition, we worked on a research project studying historic groundwater level data in Boulder County, Colorado.
Chrissie looked for trends in groundwater level changes from 1950 through 2016. She presented her work in the Showcase of Undergraduate Research in Hydrogeology at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting and won an Honorable Mention for Undergraduate Research in Hydrogeology for her presentation. She worked as a Research Technician in the Biomineralization Lab at Penn State. She now is working on a graduate degree.
Megan R.M. Brown 