As an AGI Policy Program Intern, Bryce reported on federal geoscience policy for AGI’s Monthly Review, managed the program's social media content, and attended geoscience coalition meetings as a representative of AGI. Bryce also created and updated AGI website products, including the 2018 State Geoscience Information factsheets and Geoscience Policy Program Advisory Committee membership list. Bryce’s internship was supported by the Paleontological Society. After her time at AGI, Bryce will be interning at American Geophysical Union in the Talent Pool Program.

Bryce graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in Earth and Environmental Sciences and minors in Spanish and Environmental and Sustainability Studies. Bryce's research interests include investigating potential paleoecological indicators of anthropogenic influence, which she explored in her thesis on foraminifera mutations and heavy metal concentrations in the Bahamas. Outside of academia, Bryce also interned at Urban Green Lab, a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public on science and sustainable living.

Chris actively worked with federal agencies and Congress to represent the geoscience community and promote sound public policy in Washington, D.C. He also managed the Geoscience Policy program’s social media presence, contributed to information products such as news briefs and the Monthly Review, and updated AGI’s web content. In addition, wrote an article about the ocean acidification, which will be published in EARTH magazine later this year.

Chris earned a B.S. in geology and environmental science at Allegheny College. For his senior thesis he studied how a flood control dam in Crawford County, Pennsylvania is impacting the fluvial geomorphology and the floodplain ecosystem of a local creek. His research interests involve the investigation of past climates through practices of sedimentology and geochemistry, and he plans on pursuing a master’s in the next few years.

Veronica focused on communicating relevant geoscience information to state and local-level decision makers. As the Critical Issues intern, she helped maintain and update the AGI website and publish web-based information products. Her article for EARTH Magazine, which will be published in November 2018, explores the concept of mineral criticality in response to the Department of the Interior Critical Minerals List.

Veronica is entering her senior year at Stony Brook University, where she is pursuing a BS in Geology. She will be participating in study abroad programs in Madagascar and Kenya for the entire academic year. So far, her undergraduate career at Stony Brook has focused on research in mineralogy and mineral physics. She conducted research with a faculty member affiliated with Brookhaven National Laboratory, and she was a member of the Summer 2017 cohort of the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates at the American Museum of Natural History. She recently was a Stony Brook University nominee for the nationally competitive Goldwater Scholarship for excellence in undergraduate STEM research.

Katja was a Critical Issues intern at AGI after her second year as a doctoral student in Geosciences at Princeton University. Her graduate research is investigating how constraints on microbial growth, like energy and electrons, control globally important processes like nitrogen fixation, the reaction that converts inert nitrogen gas into fertilizing ammonia. She worked with the Critical Issues team to help create resources to help decision makers apply knowledge from her field of microbial biogeochemistry to the challenges facing their communities. Prior to her graduate work, Katja studied chemistry (B.S. 2014) and geobiology (M.S. 2014) at Caltech and did research at ETH Zurich as a Fulbright Fellow.

Abby Ackerman graduated with her Bachelors in Geology from Bryn Mawr College in 2017. While in undergrad, she worked on research projects ranging from Martian mineralogical analysis to museum mineral curation and work on coal-related acid mine drainage (AMD) sites in Pennsylvania. Her EARTH Magazine article, published in the January/February 2018 issue, focuses on federal policies surrounding AMD legislation, which she got to explore as a policy intern. Following her Policy internship, Abby will stay at AGI as a Research Intern in the Critical Issues Program creating outreach materials on the importance and applications of geologic mapping in collaboration with the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP).

Franklin Wolfe received a bachelor's degree in Geology from Washington and Lee University in 2016. His undergraduate thesis focused on using zircon (U-Th)/He dating to better constrain the exhumation history of the Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range metamorphic core complex in northeastern Nevada. Inspired by a coal ash spill in his home state of North Carolina, Franklin studied the potential to extract critical rare earth metals from coal ash disposal sites during his time at AGI. This fall, he will begin a Ph.D. program in structural geology through Harvard University's Earth and Planetary Sciences Program.

Meg Freiberger graduated from Bowdoin College in 2016 with degrees in Chemistry and Earth and Oceanographic Science. Her undergraduate honors project investigated trace metal proxies in bamboo coral calcite as part of her lab’s broader effort to reconstruct intermediate water conditions in the California Margin over the past century or more. As a policy intern, Meg enjoyed following the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Subcommittee and writing about the environmental challenges associated with Arctic offshore drilling. This fall, Meg will begin her pursuit of a Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Columbia University, with a focus on paleoclimate and marine geochemistry.

Liana Agrios received a Bachelor of Science in Geology and Environmental Geosciences with a minor in Environmental Science from Lafayette College in 2014. Her undergraduate thesis focused on the origin and composition of cobbles in portions of the Newark Basin in New Jersey and New York. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Geology at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) to better understand ice streams in the Weddell Sea Embayment in Antarctica. At AGI, she enjoyed exploring permafrost hazards and the adaptation strategies of coastal cities to address sea level rise and other climate change hazards. After graduate school, she hopes to work in a job that applies geology to address real world environmental problems facing society. 

Sam Jacobson is a rising junior at Bucknell University majoring in Geology and East Asian Studies. His primary interest lies in economic geology and the consequences of exploiting mineral resources, particularly in regard to Chinese policy. He previously researched community health indicators in central Pennsylvania and helped sign people up for the Affordable Care Act. While at AGI, Sam assisted in the development of the 2016 Critical Needs Document and reported on the state of rare earth elements in the U.S.  He is active in his school's outdoor education department and hopes to spend some time in China.  

Archie Creech is an Environmental Science major at the University of Alabama. Outside of school, Archie works at the Geological Survey of Alabama, where he works in the Hydrologic division as part of the Statewide Groundwater Assessment program. He also worked as an intern for the North River Watershed, a nonprofit that promotes water sustainability and environmental awareness in the North River Watershed north of Tuscaloosa, AL. Archie is interested in water resources, especially quantity, and how humans generally interact with the environment around them. In the future, he hopes to work in environmental policy and law and work to facilitate science communication among the scientific community, policymakers, and the public.