While some students spend their summer vacations at the beach, budding geophysicists Sam Jensen and Miah Mol opted for something a little more down to earth—literally.
Jensen, a second-year master’s student in geophysics, and Mol, a junior double-majoring in geology and applied geophysics, spent six weeks this summer in Iceland as part of a National Science Foundation-funded paleomagnetic research project, studying prehistoric magnetic fields found in the geological landscape of northwestern Iceland.
The research team was led by Leonid Surovitskii and Elisa Piispa, who both earned their PhDs from Tech’s Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences (GMES) and went on to become leaders in the field of paleomagnetism. The team also included their collaborator Zoé Lacaze from the University of Strasbourg.
Today, Piispa is a research scholar at the University of Iceland and head of the paleomagnetism laboratory at the university’s Institute of Earth Sciences. Surovitskii is the current director of the Paleomagnetic Laboratory at the Research Center of St. Petersburg State University and remains a frequent collaborator with the GMES department, where he serves as adjunct assistant professor.
Research field days were spent hiking to lava flow outcrops, drilling core samples, and cataloging samples for analysis. In their free time, Jensen and Mol were able to explore Iceland’s landscapes, visit historical sites, and immerse themselves in the local culture.
For the full story, read the GMES department blog, where Jensen and Mol share their experiences as researchers and travelers, and offer advice to future students.
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