Recent Senior Theses
Eleanor Amann, 2019
With the help Dr. Oze, Eleanor is exploring the effects of magmatic elevated carbon on vegetation and soil in the tree kill zones of the Mammoth Mountain region. By using a LiCor gas analyser to record and analyses the amount of carbon being released from the ground, she has been able to record the effects of the carbon on the the local pine trees to better understand how vegetation could be affected by an overall increase in carbon.
Lauren Berger, 2019
Sand ripples tell us about modern physical properties on Mars. As part of my research at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, I mapped sand ripples at the Mars 2020 Rover's landing site, western Jezero Crater, to better understand wind movement in the region and how wind causes changes in sand ripples over time.
Aria Blumm, 2019
Aria Blumm is working on reconstructing past fault activity on the Teton fault from sediment cores in Grand Teton National Park, WY.
Eddy Dabsys, 2019
Eddy Dabsys is doing biogeochemical with Dr. Oze. His project consists of analyzing synthetic Martian soil in an attempt to develop strategies to eventually terraform the red planet. His research is particularly focused on perchlorate.
Annika Dechert, 2019
Through an accepted experimental method of modeling dikes by injecting fluids into translucent gelatin, Annika Dechert's thesis expands upon previous studies concentrating on two-dimensions of these dikes by exploring three-dimensions. Dechert completed the physical modeling and began finding the analytical solutions (see Figure) during an REU program at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa under the mentorship of Dr. Stephen Martel and continued the analytical solutions at Occidental College with the support of Dr. Margaret Rusmore.
Spencer Patrick, 2019
Using detrital apatite fission track thermochronometry, Spencer Patrick analyzed the cooling history of river sediments from the Far Western region of the Nepalese Himalaya to determine the propagation of a lateral young-ing trend (East to West) seen in the Central region.
Iris Smith, 2019
Iris Smith’s research is about a fault block on the southeast side of the Garlock fault. Smith took samples across a transect of the block and used apatite fission track analysis to determine that there is in fact a fault block there.
Yiming Zhang, 2019
Yiming Zhang works with Professor Scott Bogue on reconstructing a Pliocene-age R-N geomagnetic reversal recorded by a stack of lava from Anahola, Kauai.