2017 cohort image

The 2019 ESVI REU Cohort of 10 visiting students from across the US.

ESVI REU Program 2019 — Overview

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This was our third summer of the ESVI NSF/REU site program. Our program offers undergraduate students a unique opportunity to visit Hawaii and work with individual faculty mentors on cutting edge research projects.

This year we hosted 10 undergraduates and each student spent nine weeks working on a research project with their individual mentor or mentor pair. See below for a brief summary of each participant’s project and mentor.

In addition to research, our group has many cohort activities on their summer calendar:

  • A three-day oceanographic cruise on the R/V Kilo Moana to explore an area southwest of Kaho‘olawe. We are also hosted two Kapiolani Community College students and two teachers from Kamehameha Schools on this voyage.
  • A three-day geologic field trip to the Big Island.
  • Visit to the Hawai‘i Institute for Marine Biology (HIMB), Coconut Island.
  • Quaternary geology kayak expedition to Mokulua Islands.
  • East Oahu geology field trip.
  • Several professional development workshops sponsored by the UHM SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research Experience) program
  • Several ESVI short courses: MATLAB, ArcGIS, Python programing.
  • The program concluded with a joint symposium with other REU programs on the UHM campus, sponsored by the UHM SURE program.

Click on the small poster images below to see a larger version.

Nerissa Barling poster image. Click to see a larger version. Nerissa Barling [Colorado College. Mentor: Glenn and Smith]. Nerissa’s project examined possible land-based sources of nutrient pollution in Kāneʻohe and Waialua Bays by examining algae found at the study sites. She analyzed the tissues of various algae species to demonstrate that wastewater inputs are polluting coastal waters. Her work is in conjunction with hydrological studies focused on discharges into Waialua Bay from the surrounding watershed. Nerissa will be presenting her work at the 2019 Fall AGU meeting in San Francisco.

Gerardo Barrera Giron poster image. Click to see a larger version. Gerardo Barrera Giron [University at Buffalo. Mentor: El-Kadi]. Modeling is an essential tool for understanding and accurately predicting the transport of contaminants through subsurface media. Gerardo investigated three different groundwater cases that tried to reproduce fractured system results through a porous media approach. He developed the conceptual models, using results from a fracture flow model as observation values, and he calibrated each case by applying a two-step calibration method in attempt to replicate water level and contaminant transport.

Jiana Blaha poster image. Click to see a larger version. Jiana Blaha [American University. Mentor: Glenn and Smith] Jiana's project focused on the inter-calibration of common bio-assay species to be used as biogeochemical indicators for land-based sources of pollution. She looked at two main areas, Kāneʻohe and Waialua Bay, which have high levels of on-site sewage disposal. Jiana deployed starved algae in cages and analyzed their tissue to demonstrate that wastewater nitrogen was detected in coastal algae and used that information to come up with an inter-calibration of the species. Jiana's work will help provide a universal understanding of the algae as biogeochemical indicators to help in remediation efforts in creating a healthier and more sustainable coastal ecosystem. Jiana will be presenting her work at the 2019 Fall AGU meeting in San Francisco.

Meritxell Colet poster image. Click to see a larger version. Meritxell Colet [Carleton College. Mentor: Butler] Meritxell project studied the Kīlauea volcano eruption and caldera collapse in 2018. She examined infrasound data provided by the Infrasound Laboratory (ISLA) of the University of Hawai‘i and geodetic and earthquake data provided by the USGS Hawai‘i Volcanoes Observatory (HVO) to understand the relative timing of contemporaneous event between May and August 2018. Meritxell will present her results at the 2019 Fall AGU meeting in San Francisco.

Molly Cunningham poster image. Click to see a larger version. Molly Cunningham [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Mentor: Konter] Molly’s project investigates the magmatic origin of two clusters of unusual submarine volcanoes, the Enigmatic Seamounts. Their size, structure, and geographic location raise questions on how exactly they were formed. A lead isotopic analysis was used to compare the geochemical signature of the Enigmatics to three proposed eruptive mechanisms: arch volcanism, extension-induced reactivation, and crust-building. Altogether, this project aims to deepen scientific understanding of the development of Pacific volcanoes. Molly will be presenting her work at the 2019 Fall AGU meeting in San Francisco.

Daniel (Jake) Harrington poster image. Click to see a larger version. Daniel (Jake) Harrington [University of South Carolina. Mentor: Glenn and Smith] Jake studied land-based contaminant pathways into the coastal waters of Waialua Bay, O‘ahu. He used a drone equipped with a thermal camera to identify sites of submarine groundwater discharge along the coast and tested water samples from different inputs into the coast for nutrient levels. His work was linked to a project examining contamination of the bay from nearby sewage disposal systems.

Madeline Hunt poster image. Click to see a larger version. Madeline Hunt [University of North Carolina, Chappell Hill. Mentor: Apuzen-Ito] Madeline studied thrust faulting at accretionary wedges using a 2D finite differencing model in MATLAB. She wanted to determine the conditions that control the orientation in which thrust faults form. Madeline investigated the effects of shear strength of a substratum basal layer and the effects of the elastic strength of the sediments. She will present her work at the 2019 AGU Fall Meeting, and will continue her research into the school year.

Grant Kirchhoff poster image. Click to see a larger version. Grant Kirchhoff [University of California at Berkeley. Mentor: Glazer] The SMART AlaWai Project endeavors to produce low-cost sensors for oceanographers. Grant spearheaded the development of a functional conductivity sensor prototype that is both suitable for long-term deployment and more affordable than its research-grade equivalents. He intends to present his progress at the 2019 Fall AGU Meeting and 2020 Ocean Sciences Meeting.

Jacob Switek poster image. Click to see a larger version. Jacob Switek [Colorado State University. Mentor: Manghnani]. Jacob’s project involved characterizing the composition and crystallinity of Hawaiian submarine basaltic glasses that were brought to high pressure and temperature conditions and then quenched. Jacob used a 2000-ton multi-anvil press to compress the samples and then analyzed them with a scanning electron microscope, Raman spectroscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.

MJ Wilner poster image. Click to see a larger version. MJ Wilner [Whitman College. Mentors: Apuzen-Ito and Grobbe]: MJ studied the stability of Kīlauea’s southern flank by modelling the flank's response to a variety of conditions in MATLAB. She looked at the effects of different flank properties and the influence of external factors, with an emphasis on the effects of fluid in the rock. She observed the resulting faults in order to understand the features seen in seismic data. She is continuing this work as her senior thesis, where she will start focusing on the impact of intruding magma bodies, and plans to present the results at the 2019 AGU Fall meeting.

 

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