2021 Second Year Qualifying Presentations
Qinting Jiang
Monday, April 12, 1 pm – 4 pm
Major Discourse: Acquisition of hydrogen to Earth-like planet by the solar radiation: A possible way to get water within the “Snowline” during planetary formation
Minor Discourse: Gaining temporal constraints on Tonian shales of the DRC and insights into sulphide mineralization systematics in the African Copperbelt
Committee: Karato, Bercovici, Rooney, (+ Laughlin, Astronomy, and Anne Peslier, NASA)
PREComm: Ague, Lora
Tom Reershemius
Friday, April 16, 9 am – 12 pm
Major Discourse: Marine enhanced silicate weathering
Minor Discourse: Reinterpreting the enigmatic Cambrian fossil Harlaniella confusa
Committee: Planavsky, Rooney, Tarhan, Brandon
PREComm: Gauthier, Hull
Will Frazer
Monday, April 19, 1 pm – 4 pm
Major Discourse: On water in the solid Earth: A multimethod seismic search for water in Earth’s interior
Minor Discourse: Dynamic topography and the nature of deep thick plumes
Committee: Park, Karato, Long, Korenaga
PREComm: Ague, Lora
Brian Beaty
Monday, April 26, 8 am – 11 am
Major Discourse: A Mechanistic and Empirical Reevaluation of Atmospheric Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Concentrations Across Earth History
Minor Discourse: Dynamic Interactions Between Bioturbation and Ocean Redox State: The View From the Modern and the End-Permian
Committee: Planavasky, Rooney, Evans, Tarhan, Blake
PREComm: Gauthier, Karato
Roxanne Armfield
Monday, April 26, 1 pm – 4 pm
Major Discourse: The cranial anatomy of alethinophidian snakes: investigating function, evolutionary origins, and evolutionary
drivers
Minor Discourse: The taphonomy and ecological interactions of the arthropod fauna of an early Eocene lake environment,
based on specimens recovered from the Parachute Creek Member (Green River Formation, Colorado)
Committee: Gauthier, Tarhan, Bhullar, Hull (Briggs minor discourse advisor)
PREComm: Ague, Karato
Annie Haws
Friday, April 30, 11 am - 2 pm
Major Discourse: The Impact of Carbon-Bearing Fluids on Metamorphic Systems: Implications for Interpretation of the Rock
Record
Minor Discourse: Searching for Hydrous Minerals in the Alaska Subduction Zone using Anisotropy-Aware Receiver Function
Analysis
Committee: Ague, Brandon, Evans, Planavsky (Long minor discourse advisor)
PREComm: Lora, Rooney
Yantao Luo
Monday, May 3, 12 pm - 3 pm
Major Discourse: Investigating Lithospheric Discontinuities beneath the Eastern Margin of North America and their tectonic
implications
Minor Discourse: Investigating the solubility mechanism of hydrogen in olivine
by varying water fugacity at 5 GPa
Committee: Long, Park, Ague, Karato
PREComm: Lora, Planavsky
Zhiyuan Li
Tuesday, May 4, 11 am – 2 pm
Major Discourse: Coupled Dynamics of The North Equatorial Countercurrent
and The Intertropical Convergence Zone
Minor Discourse: Extratropical Cyclones and Anticyclones During the Mid-Pliocene Interglacial
Committee: Fedorov, Lora, Timmermans, Smith
PREComm: Tarhan, Park
Alex Ruebenstahl
Friday, May 7, 9 am – 12 pm
Major Discourse: Examining patterns of evolution in soft tissue correlates and their implications on the evolution of the
respiratory anatomy of archosaurs
Minor Discourse: Investigating intrinsic and extrinsic factors driving Eurypterid Gigantism
Committee: Bhullar, Gauthier, Briggs, Tarhan
PREComm: Rooney, Timmermans
Jonathan Wolf
Monday, May 10, 9 am – 12 pm
Major Discourse: How does lowermost mantle anisotropy manifest itself in seismic observations and how do we best measure it?
Minor Discourse: Reconciling supercontinent cycle models with ancient subduction zones
Committee: Long, Evans, Park, Karato
PREComm: Gauthier, Rooney
Benjamin Hess
Monday, May 10, 2 pm - 5 pm
Major Discourse: Quantifying the effects of non-hydrostatic stress on mineral equilibria
Minor Discourse: Connecting local deformation to regional processes in the Alps
Committee: Ague, Brandon, Evans, Karato
PREComm: Lora, Planavsky
Guillaume Delaviel
Tuesday, May 11, 8 am – 11 am
Major Discourse: Intraseasonal wind bursts in the equatorial Indian Ocean and their effect on the regional climate variability
Minor Discourse: Inland penetration of atmospheric rivers and their impact on the Great Basin
Committee: Fedorov, Lora, Timmermans, Smith (+ Jerome Vialard, UPMC)
PREComm: Gauthier, Ague
Nicholas Lombardo
Tuesday, May 11, 11 am – 2 pm
Major Discourse: Understanding the Formation and Evolution of Titan’s
Stratospheric Polar Vortex
Minor Discourse: Fluctuations in Bottom Pressure in the Beaufort Sea
Committee: Lora, Fedorov, Timmermans, Smith
PREComm: Evans, Brandon
Manpreet Singh
Tuesday, May 11, 2 pm – 5 pm
Major Discourse: Dynamics and Thermodynamics of Freezing Porous
Media: From Premelting to Poroelasticity
Minor Discourse: Seasonality in Arctic Ocean Mixed Layer
Committee: Wettlaufer, Lora, Timmermans, Smith
PREComm: Bhullar, Briggs
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Procedure: Student will give no more than a 40 minute presentation (30 minutes on the Major Discourse and 10 minutes on the Minor Discourse). This is immediately followed by brief period (approx. 5 minutes) of questions from the general audience.
Attendance:
Required: by the Advisor, Advisory Committee, DGS and PREcomm.
Optional: Other interested faculty and students are invited to attend the presentation and the subsequent brief general-question period.
All are welcome to the presentation. Only G&G and invited external faculty may attend the in-depth question period.