Aubri Jenson Awarded a GSA Graduate Student Research Grant

Congratulations to Aubri Jenson who was recently awarded a Graduate Student Research Grant from the Geological Society of America (GSA). The primary role of the GSA research grants program is to provide partial support of master's and doctoral thesis research in the geological sciences.

Aubri obtained a B.S. in geology from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. She is currently working toward a Ph.D. in aquatic resources and plans to apply her degree to inform responsible urban development in karst regions. Her dissertation is a hydrogeologic characterization of a karst aquifer in Quintana Roo, Mexico, an area with groundwater resources strained by rapid population growth and economic development. Her work describes the structure, history, and modern hydrodynamics of a groundwater basin drained by Sistema Jaguar, a recently mapped cave system containing nearly 40km of passage.

The funds provided by GSA will support two weeks of fieldwork in the region. The results of this research will ultimately be used to inform scientific and numerical groundwater models that may be applied to water resource management in the Yucatan peninsula and other coastal karst regions.

Aubri has applied for GSA grants every year since 2015, and this is the first one that has been accepted. Her advice to other students is to keep applying. Be as specific and realistic as possible with your timeline and budget and use feedback from previous grants (whether rejected or accepted) to refine the next one.

Congrats once again on this accomplishment, Aubri!