Reunited!
I am excited to announce that for the next few days I am going to have the wonderful opportunity to work with Dr. Iverson, Dr. Hooyer, Dr. Zoet, Reba, Geoff, Libby, and James at their home universities!
The three day trip to Iowa State University and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will provide my students and me with a much closer look at how AMS samples are analyzed for magnetic fabrics, how Pre-Consolidation tests are analyzed for stress patterns, and most importantly, what life is like for a polar scientist back at home in the lab.
Here is a quick run down on the tentative itinerary for our three days together:
Tuesday: Work with Reba and Neal in the lab at ISU on processing some Pre-Consolidation samples. After that, I hope to join Geoff and Dr. Zoet on campus to check out how computer models can be used to help better understand glacial mechanics. Finally, we're going to prepare for our big presentation about the team's research at Múlajökull for the Iowa Science Center in Des Moines that will take place later in the evening. I have been working with Reba and Geoff over the last month of two on a fun interactive activity to do with the audience at the show to help them learn the difference between the two competing drumlin formation hypotheses that the team is researching. A little kinesthetic learning never hurt, right?
Wednesday: Get up in the morning and head to Dr. Iverson's Process Geomorphology lecture on campus. I took this course at University of Montana during my BS in Geology a while back, so I am thrilled to get a little taste of how Dr. Iverson teaches the course. More so, I am excited to see Dr. Iverson in the action of teaching. I learned quite a lot from his and Dr. Hooyer's informal lectures in the cook tent and while walking to our field site in the morning back at Múlajökull, so it will be nice to see him in action in the classroom. After class, we are headed to Milwaukee to meet up with the rest of the team! Dr. Hooyer cordially invited us to his house for an oddly familiar dinner of lamb stew, stale wasa crackers, weak tea, and generic chocolate bars for desert... I wonder if he'll really set the mood with fans blowing wind towards the dinner table at 60 mph?? I better bring my warm coat...
Thursday: Bright and early on Thursday morning the team is headed to the AMS lab to run through some of the many samples taken from Múlajökull back in August. Thanks to the EXCELLENT technology support staff back home at Lake City High School, my WONDERFUL substitute Laura, and a some VERY generous extra work from Dr. Hooyer, we are going to Skype back home to my first period IB Environmental Systems class from the AMS lab! This will allow the students to see how the magnetic properties of the till can be quantified by the device, and what these data indicate about the competing drumlin formation hypotheses.
It is going to be an exciting few days back with the team, and I am ready to get back at it. Stay tuned for plenty of photos from the lab!
Cheers, Jamie