MGPV Student Research Grants

The MGPV Graduate Student Research Grant program began in 2010, the year after the Division's start-up.   Initially supported entirely by MGPV funds, in 2013 additional support came from the James B. Thompson Jr. Student Research Grants in Metamorphic Petrology and Geochemistry.  The recipient receives $2,500 directly from the MGPV Division.

Make a contribution to the MGPV Fund online.


Applying for a grant.

To be considered for an MGPV Graduate Student Research Grant, candidates should submit a research proposal to GSA’s Graduate Student Research Grants program.  Each year, GSA generally accepts proposals from 1 December through 1 February. The proposals to be considered for an MGPV Graduate Student Research Grant are forwarded to MGPV.  These are in the areas of:
Volcanology
Economic Geology
Geochemistry
Geothermal
Mineralogy/ Petrology
Criteria for selection by MGPV - how well the proposal integrates and depend on a range of geology (field) evidence that may be combined with lab work or modeling to answer the posed question or select the samples.  Will the study would make an important or interesting contribution.  Will the techniques to be used have a good chance of answering the question(s) posed.  The difficulty here are that there are proposals that are excellent but rely little on geology (field) evidence.  

Awardees (2011-2023)

2024

Sebastian Barkett, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, for their project Deciphering Wildfires of the Past: Establishing a molecular proxy for paleo-fire at the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).  (description & biography)

Akshay Jayachandran, University of Connecticut, Willimantic, CT, for their project Cenozoic climate and fire connections in the North American Cordillera.  (description & biography)

Elena Lee, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, for their project Investigating Water Stress in the Morrison and Cloverly Formations of the Bighorn Basin with Carbonate Triple Oxygen and Clumped Isotopes.  (description & biography)

2023

Alaina Helm, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, for her project: Experimentally Constraining a New Trace Element Barometer in Garnet.  (research description & biography) 

Victoria Konieczka, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, for her project: CO2-Water-Rock-Interactions and Metal Mobility from The Opeche Formation, Powder River Basin, WY, USA.  (research description & biography)

Leah Shteynman, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, for her project: The U-Pb system and structure of natural reidite.  (research description & biography)

2022
Megan Kalina, The University of Texas Permian Basin, Odessa, TX, for her project Evaluation of Cementing Phases in the Cherry Canyon Formation of the Delaware Mountain Group, Ford Geraldine Field, Texas  (research description & biography)
Luiza Maria Pierangeli, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, for their project Can we use portable-XRF soil geochemical analysis for lithium exploration? Building a machine-learning predictive algorithm (research description & biography)

2021

Sally Stevens, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, for her project: Refining the temporal record of the end-Lomagundi excursion in Franceville, Gabon (research description & biography)

Haley Olson, Harvard University, Brighton, MA, for her project: Using triple oxygen isotopes to improve the phosphate d18O paleothermometer (research description & biography)


2020
Natashia Drage, Dalhousie University, for her project: An Experimental Study of the Effect of Pressure on the Formation of Chromite Deposits  (research description & biography)
Jacob Forshaw, University of Calgary, for his project: Assessing the interplay between equilibrium and kinetics in regional metamorphism  (research description & biography)
Christopher Schuler, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, for his project: Oxidative Disequilibrium in Iron as a Source of Energy to the Deep Biosphere (research description & biography)

2019
Maria Fahnestock, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH for her project: Improving the Accuracy of Barometric Methods Used for Metamorphic Rocks with Raman Microspectroscopy (research description & biography)
Mayara Fernanda Cizina, Boise State University, Boise, ID for her project: Improving the Accuracy of Barometric Methods Used for Metamorphic Rocks with Raman Microspectroscopy  (research description & biography)
Mebrahtu Fisseha Weldeghebriel, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY for his project: Major, minor, and trace element evolution of Phanerozoic seawater: implications for reconstructing drivers of secular variability of seawater chemistry (research description & biography)

2018
Ezequiel A Moreno FloresThe University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX for his project:  Structural variations of abiotic and biogenic iron sulfide nanoparticles (research description & biography)
Folios Fouskas, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN for his project:  Mass-independent fractionation of mercury isotopes as a tool for tracing the evolution Earth’s oxygenation (research description & biography)
Jacob Klug, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI for his project:  Volatile evolution of post glacial rhyolites at Laguna del Maule, Chile (research description & biography)
Bryan Maciag, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS for his project:  Speciation of Arsenic and Antimony in Felsic Magmas and Apatite (research description & biography)
Donald Maute, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX for his project:  Investigation of the Fe+Ti+REE+Zr+P enrichment in the Raftsund Batholith, Lofoten, Norway
Hannah Shamloo, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ for her project:  Developing a Diffusion Chronometer for Determining the Timing Preceding a Supereruption (research description & biography)

2017
Miguel Cisneros, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX for his project:  Quartz-in-epidote solid inclusion mineral barometry: an experimental calibration (research description & biography)
Emily First, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI for her project:  Mg diffusion in plagioclase: Insights from experiments on natural volcanic materials (research description & biography)
Kyle Makovsky, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY for his project: The Role of Crustal Recycling in the Petrogenesis of Grenville High-Zirconium Granitoids (research description & biography)
Michael Mohr, Boise State University, Boise, ID for his project: Chevkinite: A Petrochronometer Sensitive to Pre-Eruptive Magma Dynamics (research description & biography)
Alexandra Nagurney, Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA for her project:  Analysis of Garnet-Quartz Grain Boundaries in Metamorphic Rocks via Transmission Electron Microscopy (research description & biography)
Jonathan Rivas, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Wilmington, NC for his project: Testing models of terrane accretion using the Rattlesnake Creek terrane, Klamath Mountains, northwestern California (research description & biography)

2016
Jacob Anderson, Boise State University, Boise, ID, for his project: Constraining nonlinear air wave propagation from vulcanian eruptions at Tungurahua volcano, Ecuador (research description & biography)
Andrew G. Harp, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, for his project: Vertical and lateral propagation of mafic radial dikes inferred from flow-direction analysis of an exposed radial dike sequence, Summer Coon Volcano, CO, USA (research description & biography)
Rebecca Paisley, McGill University, Quebec, Canada for her project A Geochemical approach to constraining magmatic degassing in rhyolitic systems (research description & biography)
George Reo, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL, for his project: The Partitioning of Platinum and Palladium between Silicate and Sulfide Melts  (research description & biography)
Nikki Seymour, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, for her project: Timing and Magnitude of Slip along the Atacama Fault System, northern Chile  (research description & biography)
David Hernandez Uribe, Central Washington University, for his project: Estimating the thickness of an ultra-high pressure (UHP) terrane: Insights from phase equilibria modeling and Zr-in rutile thermometry, Dulan area, North Qaidam terrane, Northwest China  (research description & biography)

2015
John Wesley “Wes” Buchanan, II, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, for his project: Partial melting history of the Nashoba terrane with implications for tectonic evolution(research description & biography)
Nicholas Paul Levitt, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, for his project: Temperature and Geochemical Composition of the Archean Ocean by Clumped Isotope Analysis of Stromatolitic Carbonates(research description & biography)
Chelsea Mackaman-Lofland, University of Texas Austin, TX, for her project: Deformational history associated with flat-slab subduction in the southern central Andes(research description & biography)
Madison Myers, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, for her project: Timescales associated with the opening phase of large caldera forming eruptions. (research description & biography)
William O. Nachlas, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, for his project:  Experimental constraints on the geochemistry of low-temperature quartz growth: Application to pressure solution, fault sealing, and sandstone diagenesis(research description & biography)
Demian Nelson, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, for his project: Age and source of the Hanson Formation, Antarctica-unlocking the Early Jurassic history of Gondwana. (research description & biography)

2014
Thomas Benson of Stanford University for his project: Metallogeny of energy-critical elements in mid-Miocene rhyolites associated with Steens/Columbia River flood basalts (research description & biography)
Joshua M. Garber of University of California -Santa Barbara for his project: Lu-Hf Ages of Sub-Ophiolitic Rocks, Semail Ophiolite, Oman: Testing Models for Ophiolite Obduction (research description & biography)
Rohanna Gibson of Queens University for her project: Along-strike strain variation in the Himalayan metamorphic core, west Nepal (research description & biography)
Ming Tang of the University of Maryland for his project: Large variation of Li isotopic compositions in zircons: evaluating the role of kinetics (research description & biography)

2013
Emily Hernandez Goldstein of the University of Texas at Austin for her project: Magnetite (U-Th)/He and (U-Th)/Ne geochronology: constraining serpentinization along magma-poor continental margins (research description & biography)
Ben Luetkemeyer, of Saint Louis University for his project: Clumped isotope thermometry of carbonate veins and breccias from the SAFOD drill hole (research description & biography)
Madison Myers, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, for her project: Timescales associated with the opening phase of large caldera forming eruptions.  (research description & biography)
Kirsten Sauer of the University of Nevada-Reno for her project: Sediment Incorporation in Arc Systems: Insights from the North Cascades.  (research description & biography)
Chris Yakymchuk from the University of Maryland for his project: Separating superimposed high-temperature metamorphic events using Lu–Hf garnet geochronology.  (research description & biography)

2012
Anthony Pollington of the University of Wisconsin for his project: Silicon Isotope Fractionation Factors between Quartz and Water at Low Temperatures (research description & biography)
Kyle Samperton, of Princeton University for his project: Emplacement and evolution of the Bergell Intrusion, N Italy: insights from U-Pb TIMS-TEA (research description & biography)

2011
William F. Defliese of University of Michigan for his project: Evaluation of mass-47 Clumped Isotope Thermometry in Meteoritic Calcite Cements as a Proxy of Earth Surface Paleotemperatures. (research description & biography)
Stephanie B. Grocke, of Oregon State University for her project: The Cerro Galan caldera, NW Argentina: tracking the evolution of postcollapse volcanism using melt inclusions. (research description & biography)