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2021 Student Research Grant Awardees

Students submitted applications outlining proposed research topics aligned with the mission of SEPM and its science objectives. The below students were awarded research grants this past year. We look forward to highlighting their work to our membership!

2021 Awardees

MS Awards


Last NameFirst NameSchoolProposal
BirkettBrookeMissouri University of Sci & TechExploring the impacts of Maya occupation on lacustrine environments, Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala
BunceLaurenBinghamton University.What Drives Formation of Modern Spring Deposits at the Great Salt Lake?
Chacón BuitragoNatalyColorado School of MinesAutomated Facies recognition using digital outcrop models and Machine Learning
ClarkTimothyUniversity of MississippiThe Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Paleocene-Aged Bauxites in North Mississippi
CoholichMarianneStanfordMechanisms of sand depositionwithin the Lucia Chica Channel System, offshore California, U.S.A.: Implications for petroleum reservoir developmentand geohazards
CrowellJenniferUniversity of OhioClimate-Induced Changes in Fluvial Ichnofossil Assemblages of the Pennsylvanian-Permian Appalachian Basin
CoutretBaptisteUniversity Rennes (France)Environmental controls on trace fossil distribution from the early Cambrian Le Rozel Formation in Normandy, NW France: Integrating sedimentologic and ichnologic datasets to unravel the early metazoan evolution of an unexplored area
FriendJustinNew Mexico TechDetermining the extent, degree, and mechanisms driving albitization of detrital K-feldspar from Early Permian (Wolfcampian) nonmarine strata throughout New Mexico
GilesKatelynUniversity of MemphisInvestigating alongshore sediment transport and mixing in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico using detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology
HartsteinAmandaUniversity of NebraskaMicroplastics in the Sediment of the Platte River in Nebraska
HeinhuisYoupUtrecht University (Netherlands)Using drone imaging, 3D software, and facies analysis to reconstruct the architecture of a deepwater biosiliceous ramp, Triassic-Jurassic, McCarthy Formation, Alaska
KapolasAletheaUniversity of IowaComparison of geochronologic and geochemical provenance proxies in the Cook Inlet Basin, south central Alaska
KilmuryAaronUniversity of Manitoba (Canada)Vertebrate Faunal Assemblages of the Late Cretaceous Manitoba Escarpmentin Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada
MartinezPriscillaCalifornia State University Northridge The Origin and Correlation of Mafic Volcaniclastic Intervals in the Pleistocene Marine Sedimentary Succession Recovered During Expedition 385, Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California
RutledgeRandolphGeorge Mason UniversityPaleo-oxygenation and uranium isotope behavior in Lower Mississippian black shales of North America
SladeNoahUtah State UniversityThe Sedimentology of Wahweap Creek and its Tributaries: Linking Mammoths, Climate, and Incisions Records in Southern Utah
StaufferEricNorthern Arizona UniversityPennsylvanian-permian Mixed Carbonate-siliciclastic Deposition and Astrochronology Along the Continental Slope of Western Laurentia
Young-DahlErinUniversity of IdahoReconstructing Eocene paleotopography across the northern United States Cordillera using stable isotope paleoaltimetry of hydrated volcanic glass
ZaffinoNoahUniversity North Carolina WilmingtonMillennial-scale paired inorganic and organic carbon record of theLate Devonian punctata event




PhD Awards


Last NameFirst NameSchoolProposal
AlasadRawanUniversity Texas AustinCharacteristics of gravelly sediment gravity flows in alluvial fans and fan-deltas of synrift deposits of the Valecito -Fish Creek Basin, Gulf of California rift
BeelenDaanColorado School of MinesChannel and dun earchitectures of seismic-scale, tide-dominated deltas in outcrop, Rifian Corridor, Morocco
BoanPhilipUniversity California RiversideFilling in the Spaces: spatial patterns and ecology of the Ediacara Biota
BrophyShannonUniversity Southern CaliforniaComparing the Biotic Response of Methane Seep Paleocommunities to Environmental Perturbations Across Time and Space
BruceDavidVirginia Polytechnic InstituteQuantifying Coseismic Land-level Change Along the Cascadia Subduction Zone in Central Oregon
CassadyVictoriaUniversity Southern CaliforniaExamining Microbe-Mineral Arrangement in Actively Lithifying Microbialites
DePaolisJessicaVirginia Polytechnic InstituteInvestigating the earthquake rupture history of the Cascadia subduction zone using coastal lacustrine diatoms, Lake Ozette, Washington, USA
HashimMohammedWestern Michigan UniversityIodine Incorporation into Dolomite: Experimental Constrains on the Iodine Paleo-redox Proxy
KrizovaBarboraUniversity Ferrara (Italy)The Occurrence and Demise of Rudists Bivalves in the Upper Cretaceous Carbonate Platforms of the peri Adriatic Area
LaGrangeMayaUniversity Alberta (Canada)Understanding global marine paleo-redox conditions during deposition of the Middle to Late Devonian Horn River Group, Northwest Territories, Canada
LakerRachelUniversity ChicagoSequence Stratigraphic Analysis in the Upper Cretaceous of Big Bend National Park
LonsdaleMaryJohns Hopkins UniversityAn Investigation of the Distribution and Composition of Early Cambrian Archaeocyathan Reefs in Esmeralda County, Nevada.
MccrawJessieUniversity AlabamaPaleobiology and paleoenvironment of ammonites using stable isotope geochemistry
Menozza da RosaEduardoUniversity Wisconsin MilwaukeeThe paleogeography of the Paraná-Huab-Kaokoveld Basin during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age
MetzJamesOld Dominion UniversitySediment Budget and Dynamics in aForested Sub-Basin of the Sundarbans National Forest, Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, Bangladesh
MottinThammyFederal University of Paraná (Brazil)Paleoenvironment, sedimentary dynamic sand paleoecology of a lycopsid fossil forest buried in the early Permian (Brazil)
NorthrupDustinUniversity of IowaFingerprinting the fluvial-tidal transition zone using facies analysis and elemental chemostratigraphic approaches
PalafoxLuis Erick AguirreUniversity California DavisBuilding a U-Pb geochronologic framework for the Pennsylvanian Midcontinent cyclothems, U.S.A.
ParrishEthanUniversity WisconsinA Tale of Two Rivers: a Source-to-sink Comparative Analysis of the Aspen and Idaho Paleoriver Systems
RomeroMariahMontana State UniversityEvaluating the thermal history of Cretaceousstrata from the Great Valley Forearc basin, California using detrital low-temperature thermochronology
ShekutSamuelUniversity British Columbia (Canada)The Altiplano - How tectonics and climate shape our environment
ThoresenHaleyUniversity of IdahoEocene Basin Record of Metamorphic Core Complex Exhumation in the Western United States Cordillera
WhiteEmilyTexas A&M UniversityProvenance and Crustal Evolution of the Bolivian Retroarc Thrust Belt: Insights from Combined Detrital Zircon U-Pb and Hf isotopes
WhiteStephanieBaylor UniversityPaleoecological Response to Extrinsic Mechanisms During the Pennsylvanian-Permian Transition, Paradox Basin, SE Utah

Below are a few pieces of additional data about our 2021 research grant recipients: 


In addition to managing contributions designated for support of recognition awards, the SEPM Foundation, Inc. manages the distribution of various designated student assistance grants. Questions? Email: SEPMFoundationPresident@sepm.org

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