Helen Thompson (’17)
Congratulations to Geography Professor Jeff La Frenierre and Geography and Environmental Studies double major Helen Thompson (’17) for being awarded a Gustavus Presidential Faculty-Student Collaboration Grant for 2015 for their study Hydrological Implications of Glacier Retreat on Andean Volcanoes.
They will travel to Ecuador in June for a three-week field season at Volcán Chimborazo. Their work will include an assessment of existing climatic and hydrologic data collection infrastructure in the area; identification of spring locations in each of Chimborazo’s four glacierized watersheds; measurement of spring and surface stream discharge rates; and sampling of spring, well, and surface waters to identify unique hydrochemical signatures of different water sources for future hydrological tracing efforts.
Helen says, “I’m very excited to be have such an amazing opportunity to do research abroad this summer. This is such an invaluable experience and I still haven’t fully grasped that I actually get to do it. The summer will be filled with many new experiences; I can’t wait to get started!”