Student Theses
You can also download a list of senior theses by year.
2025-2026
Alivia A. Hartz: Stratigraphic Analysis of the Middle to Late Ordovician Valcour and Orwell Formations at Crown Point State Historic Site, New York (Alexis Mychajilw)
Asha Kannan: Optimizing Biocrusts in a Dryland Carbon Cycling Model (Kristen Coe)
Kijani Derenoncourt: Sinuous Rilles On The Tharsis Montes Rift Aprons, Mars: Distribution, Characteristics, And Implications For Large Shield Volcano Evolution (Sean Peters)
Kristyn Carroll: Petrology And Geochemistry Of The Late Triassic Abbott Mountain Complex, Southwestern Maine (David West)
Anna Scott Krouse: Bedrock Geology at the Middlebury Snowbowl: Evaluating Basement-Cover Rock Relationships in the Green Mountains of West-Central Vermont (David West)
Lake Willett: Reconstructing Deglacial Hydroclimate Variability In Central California Using A Novel Calcium Isotope Proxy In Stalagmite Ml1 (Cameron de Wet)
Lucinda D. Pollitt: Evolution of the Mount Holly Complex at Silent Cliff, Vermont: An Integrated Petrological, Geochemical, and Geochronological Study (David West)
Caitlin Sheen: A Multi-Site Comparison Of Stalagmite Proxy Records And The Itrace Transient Climate Simulation In The Western Us Over The Last Deglaciation (Cameron de Wet)
Harper Marie Steele: The Effects of Hurricane Disturbance on Wildfire Activity within Forests of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico Coast (Peter Crowley Ryan)
2024-2025
Alexander Christos Takoudes: Automated Mapping of Rock Glaciers Using Image Segmentation with Deep Learning (Alexander L. Handwerger and Jeffrey S. Munroe)
Josh Hulbert: Effects Of Wildfire Intensity On The Clay Mineralogy And Chemistry Of California Chaparral Soils: An Experimental And Field Comparison
(Peter Crowley Ryan)
Lucas Nerbonne: River Profiles as Evidence for Rejuvenated Topography in the Adirondack Mountains, NY (William Amidon)
Piper Harring: Comparison between Sedimentary Charcoal and Wildfire Indicators from a Transient Climate Model for the Western US over ~15 ka (Cameron de Wet)
2023-2024
Elizabeth L. Austin: Paleoclimate Inferences from Rodent Coprolites in Southern California (Alexis Mychajilw)
Ethan DeMaio: Liming in Vermont: An Assessment of Carbonate Application Implications For Agricultural and Environmental Utility in the Champlain Valley (Peter Crowley Ryan)
Eliza Jane Tod: Geologic Evolution and Educational Opportunities On Hog Island, Muscongus Bay, Maine (David West)
Erin Hansbrough: Mineralogy, Petrology, And Geochemistry Of The Cretaceous Randall Mountain Igneous Complex In Southwestern Maine (David West)
Lizzy Vanderkloot: An experimental analysis of enhanced rock weathering with Costa Rican basaltic powders (Peter Crowley Ryan)
2022-2023
Molly Arndt: On Thin Ice: The future of glacial runoff in La Paz, Bolivia (Elizabeth Ultee)
Sam Messina: Climate Reconstruction and Community Engagement: Connecting research to secondary education (Allison Jacobel/Tara Affolter)
Max Frederick Hanscom: Investigating Late-Ordovician Tectonic Settings in Mid-Coastal Maine Through the Passagassawakeag Gneiss (David West)
Amanda A. Manoogian: Reconstructing the Depositional Environments of Late Pleistocene Fossil Deposits from Rancho La Brea (Alexis Mychajilw)
Essa Moodie: An experimental and empirical analysis of the relationship between lake temperature and internal phosphorus cycling: A case study of Lake Carmi, Vermont (Peter Crowley Ryan)
Justin Moran: Analyzing Laurentian Dolomites In The Champlain Valley Of Ny & Vt Using The U-Pb Dating Of Dolomite (William Amidon)
Raffi Krikor Gennetian Najarian: Response of the Central Equatorial Pacific Thermocline to Astronomical Forcing; Implications for the El Niño Southern Oscillation (Allison Jacobel)
Abigail Santis: Examining the Effects of Long-Term Dust Deposition on Alpine Soils in the Southwestern United States (Jeff Munroe)
2021-2022
Ezra M. Flint: Testing Taphonomic Hypotheses for Tar Pits of the World: An Analysis of Sediment Characteristics from Seven Fossiliferous Asphaltic Deposits (Alexis Mychajilw)
Jackson Hawkins: Ice, Ice Maybe: Investigating the Seasonal Flow and Microclimatic Role Of a Talus Field Spring in Wallingford, VT (Jeff Munroe)
Camryn Kleutmeier: An insar-based characterization of rock glacier kinematics in the La Sal Mountains, Utah, USA (Al Handwerger and Jeff Munroe)
Maxwell D. Memeger: Groundwater Modeling of a Eutrophic Lake Watershed in Northwestern Vermont: Lake Carmi, Franklin VT (Peter Crowley Ryan)
Mikayla Pascual: Simulating Glacier Change Over Time-Variable Topography (Elizabeth Ultee)
Samuel J. Chester: Early Cretaceous exhumation in the eastern Adirondack Mountains and Champlain Valley revealed through apatite (U-Th)/He and fission track modeling (William Amidon)
Sophie Alena Johnson: Petrology, Age, and Geochemistry of the Yarmouth Island Formation, Casco Bay, Maine (David West)
2020–2021
Jack Brady: Physical hydrogeology of the Ordovician carbonate aquifer in NE Weybridge, Vermont
Isabelle Davis: Mineralogical and geochemical analysis of low-grade metamorphism of the Champlain Valley Sequence, western Vermont
Torre Davy: Water chemistry and potentiometric surface anomalies in a fractured carbonate aquifer in Weybridge, Vermont
Anna Loewald: The hydrogeological budget of a small watershed (Lake Carmi, Vermont) with a focus on N and P
Tyler DeShong: Modeling uplift, erosion, and equilibrium: Using remote sensing for a stream profile analysis of the Adirondack Mountains
Rachel Nahirny: Investigating ocean carbon storage: Quantitative analysis of dissolution using foraminifera proxies from a sediment core in the Line Islands
Virginia Stanley: Mineralogical and chemical analysis of slip surfaces from landslides triggered by Hurricane Maria (Puerto Rico)
Valeriia Vakhitova: Geochemical and mineralogical analysis of terrestrial and reef sediments: Implications for reef ecosystems and human health
Emma Waugh: Characterization of a flowing artesian aquifer in western Vermont
Thesis Completed Spring 2020
Spencer Ainsworth: A semi-automated approach to LiDAR-derived mapping of surficial geology
Cameron Weiner: Comparing Cl, S, and F Gas Emissions from Cinder Cone Eruptions in the Lassen Volcanic Region and La Palma, Canary Islands
Karina Zyatitsky: Explosivity of Pleistocene cinder cones in the Lassen Region determined by textural analysis of scoria
2019–20
Spencer Ainsworth: A semi-automated approach to LIDAR derived mapping of surface geology
Quinn Brencher: Using InSAR to characterize rock glacier movement in the UINTA Mountains, Utah
Alex Cobb: Tracing Groundater Flow of PFOA contamination in Clarendon, VT
Pratt Olson: Geochemical investigation of the hydrologic significance of rock glaciers in the Uinta Mountains, Utah, USA
Miranda Seixas: A characterization of microbial diversity in the Winter Wonderland Ice Cave, Uinta Mountains, Utah
Kira Waldman: Analysis of volcanic sediments as a potential source of groundwater arsenic in the Guanacaste Region of Costa Rica.
Cameron Weiner: Comparing chlorine, sulfur and florine gas emissions from cinder cone eruptions in the Lassen Volcanic Region and LaPalma, Canary Islands
Karina Zyatitsky: A textural analysis of the explosivity of pleistocene cinder cones in the Lassen Volcanic Region
2018–19
Malia Barca: Correlation of volcanic deposits in Costa Rica: Implications for assessing volcanic activity and risk
Bryce Belanger: Modeling climate constraints on the formation of pluvia Lake Bonneville in the Great Basin, USA
Miranda-Max de Beer: Low-temperature thermochronology across a portion of the Norumbega fault system, Casco Bay, Maine
Sam Graf: Structural setting of select post-Paleozoic calcite veins in the Champlain Valley of Vermont
Sam Kaelin: Explosivity of Pleistocene cinder cones, California: Insights from integrated textural and geochemical analyis
Kristin Kimble: Classification of cryogenic cave carbonates from the Winter Wonderland Ice Cave, Uinta Mountains, Utah
Octave Lepinard: Using satellite imagery, LiDAR and machine learning to quantify the carbon storage of Vermont’s biomass
Morgan McGlashon: Late Quaternary paleoenvironments from Laguna Cari-Laufquen, Rio Negro province, Argentina
Kye Moffat: Clinopyroxene barometry of Red Lake Mountain Lava Cone, California: Implications for magma storage depths
Caleb Walcott: A Late-Pleistocene luminescence-based chronology of pluvia Lake Clover, Nevada
2017–18
Andrew Hollyday: Utilizing trace element diffusion models in olivine and pyroxene to determine ascent timescales of cinder cone magmas in the southern Cascades
Atticus Proctor: Bedrock Geology of the Ordovician Casco Bay Group, Harpswell, Maine
Brenden Edwards: Analysis of geotechnical properties of slope failure interfaces in Lake Champlain
Connor Pisano: Analysis of the effect of regional climate on soil mineralogy and chemistry in the tropics: A case study from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica
Emmet Norris: Mineralogical, Chemical and Isotopic Analysis of Atmospheric Dust in Alpine Environments of the Uinta
Joel Wilner: Mechanical Implications of Spatially Differential (U-Th)/He Thermochronology in the Adirondack Mountains, NY
Liesel Robbins: Evaluating geochemical signatures & corresponding tectonic implications of calcite vein generations within the Champlain Valley, VT
Morgan McGlashon: Late Quaternary Lake Chronology in Argentina
Nathan Beningson: The Effect of Calcite Veins on Groundwater Geochemistry and Flow
Sam Cartwright: Detrital zircon geochronology of strata from multiple accreted terranes in south-central Maine
Sophie Leiter: Magma storage and ascent in the southern Cascade Arc: Insights from high-pressure CPX in primitive basalts
Tina Chen: 3D Hydrodynamic modeling on the effects of Missisquoi Bay causeway removal and water quality
2016–17
Eli Orland: Using Remote sensing and high resolution digital elevation models to identify potential erosional hotspots along river channels during high discharge (Will Amidon, advisor)
Luna Wasson: Reconstructing the post-glacial dust record in the eastern Uinta Mountains: Constraints from the Taylor Lake watershed (Jeff Munroe, advisor)
Matt Barr: U-Pb dating of calcite veins in New England: Constraints on post-Paleozoic orogenic activity (Will Amidon, advisor)
Jessica Chen: Igneous petrogenesis and overprinting deformation and metamorphism of the Edgecomb Gneiss, mid-coastal Maine (Dave West, advisor)
Mackenzie Best: Petrographic and geochemical analysis of volcanic rocks on North Haven island, Penobscot Bay, Maine (Dave West, advisor)
Tucker Meredith: Geochemical analysis and origin of uranium in groundwater wells in the Clarendon Springs Formation, Colchester, VT (Pete Ryan, advisor)
2015–16
Will Burke: Petrologic and Geochemical Analysis of Gushee Meta-Volcanics within the St. Croix Belt, South-eastern Maine
Sam Cowan: Assessment of As in the Shale Dominated Bedrock Aquifer System of the Southern Champlain Valley
Amanda Fishbin: Geochemical and Hydrochemical Analysis of the Bedrock Aquifer in Monkton, Vermont
Drew Gorin: Paleoclimate Reconstruction from a Weybridge Cave Speleothem
Maeve Grady: Modeling the chemical evolution of of tropical soils in regions of coastal uplift
Caitlin Haedrich: LiDAR Ground Surface Classification in Middlebury River Watershed
Will Jacobs: Using Lidar to Identify Stream Erosion
Stefan Koenigsberger: Analysis of uranium speciation in phosphorites: insights from sequential chemical extraction & mineral synthesis experimentation
Ryan McElroy: Of Sky or Land? Determining the Influence of Dust on Post-Glacial Lacustrine Sedimentation in the Uinta Mountains, Utah
Sam O’Keefe: Climatic Interpretations of a Quaternary Lacustrine Dust Record: Marshall Lake, Uinta Mountains, Utah
Patrick Scott: U-Pb Dating of Detrital Zircons in the Umbrella Hill and Shaw Mountain Formations, North-Eastern Vermont
Perri Silverhart: Dating Slumps on Lake Champlain to Determine Recurrence Rates of Large Earthquakes
Jack Steel: OSL ages from Lake Terreton, Idaho
Noah Stone: Petrology and geochemistry of the Cuttingsville igneous stock
2014–15
Abra Atwood: Paleoseismology of the Hat Creek Fault, northern California
Nicholas Bachman: Geochemical and hydrological analysis of uranium associated with phosphorite breccias of the Clarendon Springs Formation, NW Vermont
CC Connard: U-Pb dating of detrital zircons in the Cram Hill Formation: Implications for Paleozoic paleogeography and orogenesis
Riley Ebel: Analysis of sub-micron sediment in high alpine lakes of the Uinta Range, Utah
Logan Miller: Stratigraphy, structure, and geo-chemistry of the Little Jarvis region of the Palmer volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit, southeastern Alaska
Brent Nixon: An integrated approach to understanding dynamics of sulfate and TDS enrichment in three reservoirs in Eastern Montana
Ellen Taylor: Pollen analysis of a Champlain Sea peat layer, St. Albans Bay
Piper Rosales Underbrink: Analysis of multiple slumps in Lake Champlain, Juniper Island to Quaker Smith Point
2013–14
Emily Attwood: Interpretation of atmospheric dust deposition rates and origins in the Uinta Mountains, Utah
Kevin Chu: Cartographic analysis of watershed scale surface and groundwater interactions in Bristol, Vermont
Jeff Colt: Mapping Mylonites along the Norumbega Fault, Maine
Kris Falcones: Rates of Soil Formation and Tectonic Uplift of Marine Terraces, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
Julia Favorito: An analysis of the lithologic control on major elements, radionuclides, and other trace elements in groundwater south of Bristol, Vermont
Sarina Patel: The Origin and Petrologic Evolution of the Mt. Herbert Volcanic Group, Banks Peninsula, New Zealand
Zach Perzan: Evolution and Paleoenvironmental History of Weybridge Cave, Weybridge, Vermont
Lauren Pincus: Variations in Cation Exchange Capacity along a Tropical Landscape
Dan Reed: Petrologic and Geochemical Analysis of the Alfred Complex in Southwestern Maine
Sebastian Schell: Age and Erosion Rate Model for the Lower Rio Iruya Canyon, Northwestern Argentina
Katie Schide: Alpine Soil Development in the White Mountains
Daphne Tuzlak: Relationship of Tectonic Uplift and Soil Evolution along the Pacific Coast of Ecuador]