Broader Impacts
Throughout my journey as a Ph.D. candidate, I strive to leave an impact not just on the scientific community but also through teaching and educating others. I firmly believe that my greatest impact in society is on my students/mentees. I'm passing on the skills and knowledge I've acquired to educate and inform the next generation of geoscientists and environmental scientists.​
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Teaching is amazing! I love getting others excited and curious about new ideas, like getting them to say Eureka! But also, it's a learning experience for me as well. Teaching is a two-way street, and I've learned that it provides an opportunity for me to better communicate ideas more easily to others in a plain language manner, instead of just spewing "big/complicated words". I also understand from experience that having one teaching style is not suitable for everyone's learning patterns, and I strive to be patient and accommodating to everyone's unique learning capabilities.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Geoscience (AAPIiG)
Post lunch selfie with some of outstanding AGILE interns from AGU 2023!
As a member and mentor of the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Geosciences (AAPIiG) through the AAPI in Geosciences Inclusivity Leadership and Experience (AGILE) program, I had the opportunity to co-mentor 8 AAPI undergraduates in geoscience-related fields with Watsawan (Fai) Chanchai. We taught a professional development course that provided a knowledge platform for resume and CV building, technical and networking skills, and career outlooks in government, industry, and academia that complemented the research they were involved in over the summer. Most of these students presented their work at the Geological Society of America Connects 2023 meeting or the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in 2023.
Committee Service
Graduate and undergraduate students attending a social hour gathering with an invited speaker. Note the high graduate student turn out!
PC: Peter Wilf
As a colloquium committee chair (2023 - 2025) for the Penn State Geoscience Colloquium, I am responsible for implementing best practices to ensure that our guest department speakers represent a range of employment professions (academia and workforce), career stages (early, mid, late career), disciplines (physical geology and biogeochemistry), home institutions, race, sex, gender, and hosted by faculty at different career stages. I have also implemented several changes to our colloquium series to increase attendance following the drop from COVID and online seminars with (1) to ensure that talks are targeted toward a broader geoscience audience that is open to the public along with (2) introduction of a social informal gathering with our speakers after their talks to continue to talk about science outside of the "academic" setting and to bolster graduate and undergraduate participation with colloquium speakers (see left) and (3) a bingo during colloquium with prizes at the end for highest attendance and points. ​I am fortunate to have worked with Eric Hasegawa and Fran Meyer during my time in the colloquium committee.
Undergraduate Mentorship
Grace Lundy (2024 WISER Intern) presenting at the Fall Symposium
I have and continue to mentor multiple undergraduate students here at Penn State. Most of the students I have been teaching and mentoring are students that are part of the NASA PA Space Grant Consortium - Undergraduate Research Internship Program (URIP) [formerly known as Women in Science and Engineering Research (WISER)] or are doing their senior thesis. In either case, I aim to do the best I can in creating a safe and inclusive working environment and ignite the flame that inspires my mentees to obtain hands-on research experience and integrate it into their professional skillset/resume! Here are links to some of the students I have mentored:
Ty Wholf (2026 Research Assistant) - current
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From Pixels to Boulders: Detecting >1 m Boulders with Handmapping and Automated Approaches in Swallow Grotto, Taiwan
Marsella Degnan (2026 Research Assistant) - current
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From Pixels to Boulders: Detecting >1 m Boulders with Handmapping and Automated Approaches in Swallow Grotto, Taiwan
Jaimie Madden (2026 Senior Thesis Student) - current
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Characteristics of Dry Sediment Loading following the 2025 Eaton and Palisades Fire, Southern California
Grace Lundy (2024 NASA WISER Intern, 2025 Research Assistant) -
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Mapping sediment cover in the Swallow Grotto reach of the Liwu River, Taiwan: Assessment of automated grain size mapping tools and implications for boulder mobility
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Johnson (2023 NASA WISER Intern)
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Mapping Postfire Debris Flow Scour in the San Gabriel Mountains, California
Grace Druschel (2022 NASA WISER Intern)
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Controls on Dry Ravel Loading following the 2020 Bobcat Fire, California
Broader Community Outreach
I have had the opportunity to teach a short curriculum about the geologic history of Pennsylvania and geologic processes like erosion, deposition, fossilization, glaciation, and sea level change. I have been teaching a short activity for our local elementary school students, demonstrating the local geologic history of central Pennsylvania on (1) how plate tectonics and glaciation influence sea level over geologic time of the North American continent and (2) how sea level affects deposition and erosion through a stream table exercise.
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I am in the process of a new change to accomodate teaching assistants.
Sinead Lyster setting up a stream table exercise.
Photo Credit: Liz Hajek