Happy Fourth of July! It’s been an activity-filled weekend
for me. After helping a friend move, having a giant iftar, and then spending a
sun-bleached day at New Hampshire’s Hampton Beach, I’m very ready for a day to
just sit and chill for a while at my favorite coffee shop, the Thinking Cup on
Boston’s Newbury Street. Or, at least,
I’ll chill until the fireworks happen! Anyway, this past Friday I drove to
UMass Amherst to meet with a group of professors and students that work on my
new research focus, so I figured I’d chat about that a bit.
The meeting was really interesting because students were
presenting research on water-related topics for the Altiplano* region beyond
just groundwater, which is going to be my research focus, so it gave me a more
holistic perspective on all the complex factors that affect the area’s hydrologic
system**. From MIT, one student was dating ancient corals to study the past
levels of prehistoric lakes, which would give insight into how the area’s climate
has changed over time; a second student uses satellite images to get a more
moderate understanding of how the Altiplano’s current lakes fluctuate
seasonally. So it sounds like, going back fifteen thousand to a hundred and
fifty thousand years, that whole area of Chile used to be a much wetter and
much more temperate climate than it is now. And, even though the region is
generally very arid, the lakes dramatically fluctuate based on the little rain
that comes.
A UMass student, who’s also working with my advisor, talked
about his work on the chemistry of near-surface waters in the eastern area of
the Atacama. It was really good to hear from him and made me excited to work
with him in the future. Another student from Penn State shared her killer study
on Calcium isotope variations throughout specific areas of the Altiplano to
pose different questions about how the hydrologic system affect those isotope
variations. Basically, the water’s chemistry suggests that the hydrologic
system is incredibly complex, with mind-blowingly old water mixing with much
newer water in different ways throughout the Altiplano.
Afterwards, my advisor invited us all to his place for
snacks and drinks. He’s so chill. Below are some photos from the day.
Anyway, the closer I get to entering graduate school, it’s
really nice to find different ways to get focused and excited about what I’m
about to do. Just being able to spend an entire day to think deeply about how
complicated my future research would be gave me a huge peace of mind,
especially when I saw all these impressive graduate students. Just watching
them unpack their ideas, to see how they delve so intricately into their focus,
helped me to see how I could do that same.
For all the upcoming graduate students out there, if you’re
feeling like you need to find that focus and refuel that positive energy, you
can always start your education before it happens. Especially in academia for
natural sciences, you can learn from students in your program, discuss project
ideas with your potential future advisor, read articles on your field of
interest, or chat with researchers outside your program. Never be embarrassed
to ask a question, and if someone gives you the “academic stink eye” because
they presumably think it’s a dumb question, ignore them and ask someone else. And,
above all else, give yourself lots of positive energy!
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| Meeting Room at UMass |
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| After-Meeting Chill Session with my Advisor! |
*Altiplano refers
to the northeastern area of Chile that is way lifted high above sea level. It’s
an interesting area to study because precipitation is so rare there, since the
altitude blocks moisture and also the weather systems curl around and away from
the area thanks to climate-defining convection currents.
** Hydrologic system refers to the process by which water
cycles through the atmosphere, precipitates to become surface water, drains
into the soil to become groundwater, enters surface waters, and then gets
evaporated back into the atmosphere.
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