Keck Geological Consortium

The Keck Geology Consortium is focused on enriching undergraduate education through development of high-quality research experience. As an independent organization, presently housed at Pamona College in Claremont, CA,, the consortium establishes its program priorities based on the educational philosophies of the 18 member colleges: dedication to excellence in undergraduate education, offering students comprehensive and rigorous educational opportunities that promote intellectual growth, integrity, responsibility, and a sense of both individuality and membership in community.

The consortium has been a fundamental component of the undergraduate research landscape for 25 years, supporting about 1,200 students from more than 80 schools across the nation. "Keck" has a tangible meaning in the geoscience community: talented students gaining field experience supported by dedicated, master teachers. Oberlin's membership in the consortium entitles at least two Oberlin students a year the opportuity to participate in Keck-sponosred summer research. Learn more.

Recent Oberlin-led Keck Projects

2012 F. Zeb Page & Emily Walsh (Cornell College):

"Metasomatism and the Tectonics of Santa Catalina Island: Testing New and Old Models"

2011 D. Hubbard & K. Parsons-Hubbard:

"Depth-Related Patterns of Bioerosion: St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands"

(Left) A return from a dive in Lamasure Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. (Center) Sampling corals in Lamasure Bay, St. John. (Right) The Keck St. John group on the deck of the R.V. Jabale holding coral tags (a.k.a ear tags for cattle).

2007 D. Hubbard & K. Parsons-Hubbard:

"Carbonate Depositional Systems of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands"

Past Oberlin Student Keck Projects

2012/2013

Nicollette Buckle (Advisor: K. Parsons-Hubbard): "Biogeochemical carbon cycling in fluvial systems from bivalve shell geochemistry: Using the modern to understand the past"

Henry Towbin (Advisor: F.Z. Page): "Metasomatism and the tectonics of Santa Catalina Island, California"

2011/2012

Elizabeth Whitcher (Advisor: D. Hubbard): "Carbonate cycling in reefs of St. John, USVI: The role of macrobioerosion"

Neva Fowler-Gerace (Advisor: F.Z. Page): "Thermobarometry and the tectonic histories of the Bancroft and Elzevir Terranes, Ontario"

2010/2011

Elizabeth Dalley (Advisor: S. Wojtal): "Fault analysis of basement rocks in the Bighorn Mountains"

Mary Badame (Advisor: S. Wojtal): "Origin of migmatitic rocks in the Sequoia Pendant, Sierra Nevada, California"

2009/2010

Livia Capaldi (Advisor: S. Wojtal): "Chemical weathering in the Deschutes Basin: How watershed features affect cation concentrations in water chemistry"

Zoe Vulgaropolis (Advisor: D. Hubbard): "Paleoenvironments and depositional history of Upper Silurian - Lower Devonian limestone in the Amansair and Tsagaanbulag formations at Ulanshaand and Tsakhir, Gobi-Altai Terrane, Mongolia"

2008/2009

Isis Fukai (Advisor: F.Z. Page): "Garnet-free amphibolites as geothermometers: Testing hornblende geothermometry in the Adirondack lowlands, New York"

Garrison Loope (Advisor: D. Hubbard): "Alaskan climate of the Late Paleocene - Early Eocene as told by the fossil leaves of the Chickaloon Formation"

2007-2008

Lynne Stewart (Advisor: S. Wojtal): "Petrogenesis of lavas of the southern flank of the Arnes Central Volcano, Iceland"

Timmons Erickson (Advisor: D. Hubbard): "Depth-related patterns of infaunal bioerosion in two modern and two fossil Caribbean reefs: U.S. Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic"

Andrew Estep (Advisor: D. Hubbard): "Rates and styles of bioerosion with varying sedimentation: Holocene reefs in the western Dominican Republic versus modern reefs off St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands"

2006/2007

Alice Coleman (Advisor: H. Frey): "Microgranitoid enclaves in the Vinalhaven Intrusive Complex"