Two geosciences faculty members, Bernhardt Saini-Eidukat and Ken Lepper, and undergraduate student, Ashley Breiland, presented research at the Annual Meeting of Geological Society of America held Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 in Denver.

Lepper, associate professor of geosciences, co-chaired a technical session on the applications of optical dating in process geomorphological studies and presented a paper titled, “Water, wind, and gravity: Navigating the complexities of dating alluvial fan deposits with OSL techniques.” Saini-Eidukat, associate professor and chair of geosciences, presented work conducted in conjunction with graduate student Jason Triplett to characterize erionite, a potentially hazardous mineral found in North Dakota. Their poster was titled, “Microprobe analysis of erionite, Killdeer Mountains, North Dakota.” 

Breiland presented, “New insights into the age and geological context of the Walhalla North Dakota mammoth,” a project mentored by Lepper and supported by a Robert Noyce summer STEM internship. “This project has allowed Ashley to participate in the full process of scientific enquiry from literature and archival research through fieldwork and lab work on to interpretation and ultimately presenting the results to scientific peers,” Lepper said. “Ashley did a great job at the meeting and many colleagues that viewed the poster were surprised to learn that she was an undergraduate.”