Get to know the 2023 cohort
Members of the Summer 2023 COLDEX REU Cohort
01 / 11
1
Noah Brown
Home Institution: University of Washington.
Host Institution: University of Washington
2
Angelina Bucco
Home Institution: University of Maine, Orono.
Host Institution: University of Maine, Orono
3
Alissa Choi
Home Institution: University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Host Institution: Scripps Institution of Oceanography
4
Wendy Chu
Home Institution: Community College of Allegheny County.
Host Institution: University of Texas Institute for Geophysics
5
Eads Fouché
Home Institution: Amherst College.
Host Institution: University of Washington
6
Mi'ila Gollette
Home Institution: University of New Mexico.
Host Institution: Oregon State University
7
Elizabeth Mayo
Home Institution: Rutgers University.
Host Institution: Oregon State University
8
Jamie O'Reilly
Home Institution: Red Rocks Community College.
Host Institution: University of Washington
9
Ian Rampton
Home Institution: Pepperdine University.
Host Institution: University of California, Irvine
10
Alejandra Vega-González
Home Institution: University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez Campus.
Host Institution: University of Texas Institute for Geophysics
11
Caroline Wexler
Home Institution: University of Connecticut.
Host Institution: University of California, Irvine
Goals
Being a successful researcher requires critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and perseverance. Learn about the goals of our 2023 cohort at the start of their research experience.
Members of our 2023 cohort think about what they would like to be able to do at the end of their COLDEX REU experience
Collaboration
An impromptu tour of the National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility - REU researcher Alissa Choi (with special guest COLDEX PhD student Austin Carter) gave us a tour of the Ice Core Facility (ICF) during the COLDEX core processing line in June 2023. COLDEX REU researchers Eads Fouché and Jamie O'Reilly also worked at the ICF during this time and all had excellent advice on working in the cold and getting to work with ice cores fresh from the field!
Alissa gives us a tour of the Ice Core Facility (ICF) in Colorado with special guest PhD student Austin Carter.
Students reflect on how they are collaborating in their research experience so far...
Alissa Choi: This is a picture from our final day of CPL in Denver. Originally, I was hoping to send a picture of us unpacking the ice since it definitely took some collaboration to lift those heavy boxes, but I couldn't get any since I was also there helping lift those boxes!
Eads Fouché: The University of Washington OGIVE group hiking back from Emmons Glacier on Mt. Rainier. Being part of a group invested in understanding the Paleoclimate has been awesome, and learning about everyone’s unique interests has shaped how I think about future climate research.
Mi'ila Gollette: Learning to stretch my imagination to cultivate my creativity has been one of the most important takeaways during my research throughout this REU. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to carefully listen and learn new perspectives from how my mentors think about ice. We're doing an experiment that leaves us with lots of open-ended questions that challenge us to integrate each of our ideas to essentially come to one conclusion. I have come to find that, sure, maybe one day a computer might be able to do the job for us. Yet, there is empathetically both beauty and fun behind a set of minds formulating the different approaches they'd take while working together. That being said, this is not just some block of ice to any of us, but a story from the past to preserve for the future. Developing how my mentors and I wanted to cut, label, and sample the ice in the first few weeks had to be one of the key moments that meant a lot to me. Once the ice gets cut and melted, there's no going back. So, we treated those first couple of weeks with high priority making sure we got every angle, detail, and measurement of the ice. Oh yeah, and having fun was included as a high priority as well!
Bridget Hall: A photo of our crew putting up the drill tower, which was a full camp activity. Two of us were holding onto the drill tower and pushing it up, while three people held onto/pulled on the ropes that were eventually tied down to stabilize the tower. Even the person taking this photo was working - he was helping to determine if the tower was straight up or not!
Jamie O'Reilly: Collaboration has looked like being close to my family, and loved ones, trying to stay focused with lots of emails and my favorite mentor response, “Let’s jump on a zoom call real quick”
Liz Mayo: Christo is in Italy, which means oh so many Zoom meetings at inconvenient times (for him at least).
Ian Rampton: Though scientists may not know each other personally, we are all collaborating everyday through published articles and shared data to encourage each other's pursuits of science.
Marc Sailer: Collaboration in my REU experience has allowed my peers and I to explore the outdoors and grow closer together, improving our teamwork and giving us memorable experiences.
Caroline Wexler: Ian and I are doing inventory for Greenland and Allan Hills ice core samples here!
Communication
Tell us your research conclusion (so far) in 5 words or less:
COLDEX REU Reflection
Blog post by COLDEX REU student Sa'angna Mi'ila Gollette
It’s a warm Saturday in Newport Beach, Oregon. The sky is perfect blue with unique dispersions of clouds surrounding me. The waves excitingly approach the shoreline then slowly recede back. I sigh, understanding the feeling of the waves as they come and go. It wasn’t just any Saturday but my last Saturday in Oregon. Two months ago, I was unsure what type of experiences I’d have living in another state for the first time. All I knew was that I would be doing research that sparked a special passion of mine. I felt my stomach twist into knots. I wasn’t ready to go back just yet. I took a deep breath and glanced away from the water. I looked around and was suddenly warmed by the sight of families laughing, two dogs playing tag with each other, and surfers waxing their boards. I felt whole and content, a feeling I couldn’t' put into words.
Admit it, two months can feel either relatively long or quite short, depending on one's perception of time. However, I believe we can agree that a lot can transpire within a span of two months. The time I spent at Oregon State’s Ice Core Lab, I had the privilege of collaborating with exceptional paleoclimatologists, which provided me with fantastic opportunities to learn the intricacies of studying our Earth’s history. I pushed the boundaries I gave myself in terms of my approach to learning new subjects. I broke through my limitations and started venturing beyond my comfort zone. I began to actively participate with my mentors as we posed open-ended questions; I became in awe of Antarctica’s oldest ice. On the days I lacked clarity on how to proceed with my research, my REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) cohort offered me valuable support. Throughout this time, I observed a growing sense of confidence in my identity. I dedicated the majority of my time outside the lab to bonding with new friends that were also REU students in different programs at Oregon State. We spent lots of our time soaking in Oregon’s summer sun through hikes in the Cascades, renting wetsuits to surf the cold water of the coast, and trying numerous ice cream flavors from Sugar J’s in downtown Corvallis. I had never experienced such an amazing summer.
I felt content knowing I’d go back home with new skills I learned through my research, but also the new memories I made with (who are now) my best friends. I felt a sense of community; I found my people. There's a reason why I related to those waves coming and going on the shoreline that Saturday....how could I want to leave?
Growth
Our cohort researchers reflect on their thoughts at the start of their REU. Come back at the end of the summer to see their thoughts at the end of their REU.
Alejandra, University of Texas Institute for Geophysics
Beginning thoughts: "Lots of learning!"
Alissa, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Beginning thoughts: Sometimes participating in science and scientific research can feel like you’re in the dark, pushing the boundaries of human knowledge beyond the light of what we know. In this case, just the tip of the ice core is illuminated, showcasing how little information we have about the climate record, especially how Earth’s climate may have changed and fluctuated in the past. The rest of the ice core is in the unknown, just waiting to be discovered and analyzed. This image is also directly inspired by the edited photograph of the Battle of Los Angeles in 1942 during World War II. This symbolizes the moral responsibility of studying climate science and how communicating it effectively can feel immensely stressful and intimidating. If not done well, the science you have put so much effort into may fall on deaf ears, or worse, used to sensationalize a misinformed news story of the world coming to an end as it may have felt following the publication of that very photograph in 1942. Final Thoughts: In this final thoughts image, I feel that I have a much better idea of the research question I am investigating as well as how to answer those questions. This is partly because of all the collaborators (hence the hands) that have helped and guided me along the way. In this image all the spotlights are much more consolidated onto one part of the ice core, symbolizing and highlighting my contribution to ice core research this summer. Despite being small, it's still a part of the large paleoclimate puzzle and will hopefully help guide future "spotlights" and research in the future.
Angelina, University of Maine
Caroline, University of California, Irvine
Beginning thoughts: "Taking my first steps into the unknown!"
Eads, University of Washington
Beginning thoughts: "Standing in the ICF archive, I am captivated by the millions of years of Earth's history stored in a single room." Final Thoughts: “After studying the Allan Hills, I have a greater understanding of ice flow mechanics and the many questions we still have about this interesting location.”
Ian, University of California, Irvine
Beginning thoughts: ""Where did all these books come from, I thought I was just gonna melt some ice."
Jamie, University of Washington
Liz, Oregon State University
Beginning thoughts: "This was directly after I landed at PDX. My immediate reaction was surprise at the amount of sasquatches everywhere."
Mi'ila, Oregon State University
Beginning thoughts: "'I think I’m going to love it here' I said to myself as we were starting our descent down into the PDX airport. I was lucky enough to have a window seat and got greeted by the popular Pacific Northwest rain clouds I have always heard about. We flew in and out of the clouds as we kept dropping lower in altitude. Seeing absolutely nothing in sight set a foundation for me that I call, ‘the unknown’. Yet, I felt the feelings of new opportunities, new perspectives, and pure excitement from the unknown."
Noah, University of Washington
Wendy, University of Texas Institute for Geophysics
Beginning thoughts: "Exciting first week!"
