Ph.D. Update (End of Year 2)

Okay, so it has been a while…again. In January, I had hoped on getting into the swing of writing on this darn thing. However, past Jade was ambitious. Shortly after that post, I was slammed with lab work. I spent many hours hiding in the lab doing heavy liquid separations for zircons. These zircons needed to be separated out in time for a two-week journey to Heidelberg University, Germany where they would be prepped, mounted, and analyzed on a Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (SIMS) for age dating. It has been a wild two terms.

Presented at conferences. Lots of research was done. New data were collected. New samples were delivered. Received a Kleinman volcano research grant. I had my first committee meeting. Stressed about my written comprehensive exams. Hosted my field assistant. Talked about volcanoes. Passed my written exams. All in the name of science. Stay tuned for more writing.