Memorial Fund Summary for 2017
Peter Barkmann, CSS Past President
One of Colorado Scientific Society’s most important functions is providing assistance to the next generation of scientists by awarding grants through its Memorial Funds Grant Program. The Society maintains six funds that are supported by gifts from members and friends. The six funds are the Ogden Tweto Fund, the Steven Oriel Fund, the Edwin Eckel Fund, the Bill Pierce Fund, and the George Snyder Fund. Each fund targets specific geoscience disciplines. Total income ranges from about $8,000 to $11,000 that is awarded to senior undergraduates and graduate students through a competitive application process. The principle balances remain untouched assuring continuation of the program.
In 2016 the Society continued this time honored tradition with a generous total of $11,000 available for distribution as listed in the following table.
- Tweto $3,100
- Oriel $2,050
- Eckel $1,550
- Pierce $1,100
- Snyder $3,200
Twenty eight students submitted applications totaling $33,090 in requests. Needless to say the selection process was very competitive. There were many excellent submittals covering a wide variety of topics. Applications came in from 16 institutions from across the country with University of Buffalo winning the furthest reach. Colorado institutions were well represented and included five applicants from Colorado School of Mines, four from Colorado State University, one from Fort Lewis College, and one from University of Colorado.
The Memorial Research Funds Committee consisted of Peter Barkmann, Society Past President and committee chair; Marith Reheis, Society President; Melissa Foster, Councilor; and Karl Kellogg, Society member and Past President. The following students received grant awards:
Mike Zawaski, PhD candidate at University of Colorado: Stromatolites as chemical and isotopic probes of paleo- environmental conditions across the Permian-Triassic extinction. Awarded from the Snyder Fund.
Avriel Schweinsberg, PhD candidate at University of Buffalo: What caused the onset of alpine glacier retreat following the Last Glacial Maximum?: A high-resolution deglaciation chronology in the Rocky Mountains, U.S.A. Awarded from the Tweto Fund.
Johanna Eidmann, MS candidate at Colorado State University: Understanding Post-Flood Channel Adjustments and Reservoir Sedimentation. Awarded from the Eckel Fund.
Joseph Milligan, PhD candidate at Baylor University: CO2 reconstruction of the early Paleocene from the San Juan Basin, New Mexico. Awarded from the Tweto and Snyder Funds.
Lee Alford, MS candidate at Colorado School of Mines: Evolution of Au-bearing quartz-pyrite veins and their association to base metal mineralization in Central City, CO. Awarded from the Tweto and Eckel Funds.
Erin Lathrop, MS candidate at Utah State University: Capturing changes in the Mesoproterozoic carbon cycle: C-isotope stratigraphy of the ~1254 Ma Bass Formation, Grand Canyon Supergroup, AZ. Awarded from the Snyder Fund.
Harriet Cornachione, PhD candidate at Utah State University: Chronostratigraphy of dune fields in southern Utah: Implications for Holocene drought patterns of the southwestern Colorado Plateau. Awarded from the Pierce Fund.
Charles Mogan, MS candidate at Northern Arizona University: Paleoecological and Fire History from Crater Lake, Colorado. Awarded from the Tweto Fund.
Paige Wilson, PhD candidate at University of Washington: Environmental Change and Plant Response Across the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) Boundary: A Study in the Hell Creek Area of Montana. Awarded from the Oriel Fund.
Emily Perry, PhD candidate at Colorado School of Mines: REE partitioning between fluid-calcite as tracer for metal transport and mineralization processes in alkaline and carbonatitic igneous rocks of New Mexico, USA. Awarded from the Tweto, Oriel, and Pierce Funds.
Jacob Thacker, PhD candidate at University of New Mexico: Regional tectonic analysis of Laramide orogenesis using field studies, apatite fission track, and (U-Th)/He fission track, and (U-Th)/He. Awarded from the Oriel Fund.
Jacob Milton, Undergraduate at Illinois State University: Detrital zircon geochronology of the Permian Abo Formation, Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico. Awarded from the Snyder Fund.
Congratulations to all those awarded grants and commendations for jobs well done for all who submitted but did not get picked this year. Keep up the great work!
