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03Apr20 - Landslides

Last Friday we met remotely with Dr. Keaton, Dr. Vadim, and Caitlyn Rainey to discuss ethics in science. The most illuminating bits of the discussion for me were our conclusion that scientific research is heavily affected by human foibles. Although we tend to think of it as a purely objective process, research - for instance, choosing what data to honor, and what to throw out - involves a great deal of human discretion. Today we'll be meeting with Dr. Paulo Ruiz to discuss landslides, a major consequence of earthquakes and volcanoes for city planning and human life. We're reading through the US Geological Survey's handbook to prepare for this meeting.
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7Mar20 - Preparation

Yesterday we met for the last time until after Spring Break. Over the last several weeks we have met every Friday or Tuesday evening depending on availability. So far, Dr. Levin has provided us with a great deal of reading materials on volcanoes and earthquakes. In the near future, members of our project belonging to the University of Costa Rica will be traveling to the US to meet us. We're also looking forward to a briefing on research ethics from Dr. Keaton sometime in April. My greatest takeaways on our preparatory discussion topics have been: a great deal of what we understand about seismology and vulcanology is fairly speculative; plate tectonics are unique to Earth; and there are an abundance of government resources on earthquakes available to the public. Currently there is some fear of the possibility of summer travel due to the COVID-19 "Novel Coronavirus". By May we expect to have to make a call about whether or not we can pursue this. If not, my summer plans
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31Jan20 - Expectations

Today will be the second meeting of the Rutgers The Geoscience Research At the Cordillera Talamanca (GREAT) Project. Last week, the primary investigator Dr. Vadim Levin asked that the new cohort write out our expectations for research. This will be compared with our future impressions of the program for posterity. This will be my third foray into physics research. The goal of my first project was to investigate the changes instigated in graduate physics departments by introducing APS Bridge Program students into levels of education made otherwise inaccessible to them because of systemic discrimination. Preparation for this research required us to read studies on race and academic culture, train to build and fund research from the grant-proposal stage, and consider methodology for face-to-face interviews with human subjects. At this time this research is on hold, and so I can only say that I've seen such a project in its infancy. Last summer I performed astr
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