I was born in Virginia. We moved a number of times – but for most of my childhood we lived in Mexico City, and then we moved back to Virginia when I was in highschool. From around ages 5 to 12 I was insistent that I wanted to be an astronomer and was also an avid rock collector; somewhere in there is where the interest in earth sciences started for me.

The people. The EEPS department has always been so welcoming, and I really like the small classes because you get to know everyone. Also, all of the field work that we are able to do is very cool, and I’m glad that I’ve had that opportunity while in college.

I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the drums and how to do glass blowing. I don’t have the facilities for either of those things, but the dream lives on. I would also love to learn more about lichens.

Tell us about your senior research thesis.

My senior thesis is looking at the diffusion of chromium in troilite. Diffusion in troilite (and other ferrous sulfides) is by and large due to point vacancy diffusion, which varies as what elements are present can affect the cation vacancy concentration. Troilite is abundant in iron meteorites, and chromium is a common trace element in them. Diffusion rates within iron meteorites can be used to study the size, cooling rates, and impact histories of their parent bodies.

I’m heavily involved in student filmmaking and try to do as much filmmaking related stuff as I can off-campus as well. I’m a big fan of the Cleveland music scene and I host a show on WRUW FM 91.1, Case’s college radio station. I also really enjoy knitting, especially making my own patterns (when I have the time).