Erin Camp, a native of Santa Monica, CA, graduated in 2011 from Amherst College with a B.A. in Geology. Her senior thesis focused on mercury retention in peat bogs and its correlation with paleoclimate and paleovolcanism. While at Amherst, she was heavily involved with the environmental club on campus, played varsity volleyball all four years, and spent lots of time exploring the outdoors of beautiful New England. Erin interned with the Wilderness Society (DC) in the summer of 2009, studied abroad for a semester in New Zealand during her junior year, and also participated in an Earth Systems field camp while abroad. Her academic and career interests include alternative energy technology, sustainability systems, geoscience education, and environmental issues on a global scale.

Erin is now working as a Geothermal Energy Analyst for SRA, International at the Department of Energy in Washington, DC and will begin an Earth Energy PhD program in the fall at Cornell University. (3/12)

Publications while at AGI: Casing Gets Early Blame in Fracturing Studies, AAPG Explorer, January 2012; AAPG GEO-DC blog post.

Victoria Bierwirth will be graduating with her Bachelor of Science degree in Geological Engineering and minor in Geospatial Technology in May 2014 from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Her interests in politics and natural resources led her to work in former Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin’s field office in Rapid City and as a park guide at Jewel Cave National Monument. At each location, she communicated the importance of national resources on a political and educational level, respectively. She came to AGI after completing an internship at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and is interested in energy, space, and public lands policy.

Vicki has been selected to the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program for Young Professionals and will spend a year studying geological engineering and participating in an internship in Germany. (04/12)

Publications while at AGI: What Makes a National Park Awesome?: The Geology, of Course, The Professional Geologist, Nov/Dec 2011

Erica Dalman is a rising senior at Grand Valley State University (GVSU), where she will graduate with a B.S. in Geology and a minor in International Business. She is a member of the Fredrick Meijer Honor’s College and an active student life participant as president of Sabrosísimo (GVSU’s latin dance group). Erica came to us from the state of Michigan by way of Venezuela; she is bilingual, fluent in Spanish and English. In the summer of 2010, she was selected to participate in an ExxonMobil/GSA undergraduate field course.  Erica has presented a joint geoscience education research poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Oct. 2010). She recently completed field camp in the Republic of South Africa and hopes her career as a geologist will continue to open opportunities for travel.

Erica will begin graduate school at the University of Kansas in 2012 and will be conducting neotectonics research in the Andes Mountains of Columbia. (5/12)

Publications while at AGI: Adapting a Nation to an Ever Changing Ocean, The Professional Geologist, Nov/Dec 2011

Presentation to the American Institute of Professional Geologists:Three Interns on Capitol Hill, September 2011

Lauren received a B.S. in Geosciences and a B.A. in Geography in May 2011 from Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). She graduated from the Schreyer Honors College and completed her senior thesis on the use of electrical resistivity imaging to model the flow of acid mine drainage.  She spent a summer in Germany as a research assistant studying landscape development during the Holocene.  She studied abroad for a semester in Ghana and has done research projects in West Philadelphia, Bulgaria, and India.  At Penn State she volunteered as a high school math tutor, education abroad Peer Advisor, and community language partner.  Lauren’s policy interests include water and energy resources, climate change, and science education.  In her free time she enjoys running, trying to learn Persian, drinking good coffee, grocery shopping, looking at maps, reading, and eating Indian food.

Lauren is currently abroad in Tajikistan studying water resource issues on a Fulbright grant. You can follow her blog here. (05/12)

Publications while at AGI: Developing Alaska's Oil and Gas Resources: How Should the U.S. Proceed?, The Professional Geologist, Nov/Dec 2011

Dana completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Geology at Louisiana State University in August of 2010. She served as a field assistant in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana looking at metamorphic rocks as an early Earth analogy and as a laboratory assistant for clay mineral analysis with Professor Ray Ferrell. She was an active member of the LSU Geology Club, organizing educational visits to K-12 classes and coordinating member field trips. She spent a summer as a geology intern for Southwestern Energy Company analyzing a potential oil field. Within the community, Dana has devoted more than 4 years of time as a swim instructor for Crawfish Aquatics of Baton Rouge and as a Reading Friend for Volunteers in Public Schools in Baton Rouge. She started her internship in January 2011 after traveling through Southeast Asia and is interested in energy policy and science education.

Dana will be attending Stanford University in the fall of 2011 to begin an advanced geoscience degree with a research focus on geochemical aspects of carbon sequestration and mineral trapping.