Awards and Honors

Congratulations to:

Fidelis Onwuagba

K-State Geology grad student, Fidelis Onwuagba, and his international team, EnerGreen, won the Switch International Energy Case Competition. This year’s competition featured over 180 teams from 27 countries worldwide. Onwuagba’s team was praised by the judges for their critical thinking and innovative techniques. Featured in K-State Today, you can click here to read more about Fidelis' accomplishment and his advice for young people interested in a sustainable and equitable energy future

Dr. Karin Goldberg

Congratulations to Dr. Karin Goldberg, who was recognized as the Professor of the Week in the College of Arts and Sciences at the Nov 10 K-State men's home basketball game. We are so proud of her and her accomplishments! Click here to read more about Karin's many accomplishments.

Undergraduate and graduate students

K-State Geology awarded more than $200,000 in scholarships and stipends for the 2023-2024 academic year, thanks to the generosity of our alumni and other donors. We recognized undergraduate and graduate student scholarship recipients at our annual awards banquet on October 27. Click here to see photos of the scholarship recipients at the banquet. Click here detailed list of scholarships and recipents.

Dr. Claudia Adam & Dr. Sabreen Gad

Congratulations to Dr. Claudia Adam and Dr. Sabreen Gad, who were selected by members of the Geology Alumni Advisory Council Executive Committee to receive the 2024 geology teaching awards.

Dr. Behzad Ghanbarian

Congratulations to Dr. Behzad Ghanbarian, who was recently recognized as an honored listee by Marquis Who’s Who, AND named in the Top 2% of Science Researchers in the World for the 3rd year in a row!

Marquis Who's Who is a well-known publisher of biographical directories that highlight the achievements and accomplishments of individuals from various fields and professions. Recently, Marquis Who's Who recognized Dr. Behzad Ghanbarian as an honored listee for his accomplishments in the field of flow and transport in porous media. Inclusion is based on a combination of factors, including an individual's achievements, contributions, and impact in their area of expertise.

Dr. Matthew Brueseke

Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Brueseke on being named Fellow of the Geological Society of America!

Dr. Matthew Brueseke is recognized for the breadth of his accomplishments as an outstanding teacher and mentor; a leader in service to GSA and the profession; and a renowned researcher who integrates field and lab methods with quantitative analysis to address problems in igneous petrology, volcanology, geochemistry, petrogenesis, and tectonics. You can read more about his momentous accomplishment here.

Dr. Matthew Kirk

Congralations to Dr. Matthew Kirk on the publication of his new open access textbook, 'Microbiology for Earth Scientists'

Dr. Matthew Kirk, Associate Professor of Geology at Kansas State University, has recently published a new open access textbook – Microbiology for Earth Scientists – available here. The book seeks to advance understanding of the important roles that microorganisms play in shaping the Earth, including impacts related to water quality and climate change. This free ebook will be used by students at K-State and beyond.

Congratulations to Sarah Lamm and Dr. Brice Lacroix for their successful publication of Sarah's first paper, 'Empirical Raman calibration of trioctahedral ferromagnesium chlorite minerals'

Sarah Lamm, Undergraduate Class of 2018 & Graduate Student Class of 2021, has been recently published her first paper. This research was conducted as her masters projects under the supervision of Dr. Brice Lacroix. They took chlorite samples with known chemical compositions and correlated them to subtle shifts in Raman spectra, which is generally used for identifying molecular or mineral composition, not for determining chemical composition.

Awarded a student travel grant from AGU to participiate in the AGU 2023 Annual Meeting in December 2023. Luqman is a GRA with Dr. Behzad Ghanbarian, focusing on petroleum geology.

Congratulations to Dr. Sabreen Gad on her successful promotion to Teaching Associate Professor!

Congratulations to Muhammed, Tochukwu, and Fidelis for receiving prestigious SEG scholarship awards! You can read more about their momentous achievements here.

Quinton was awarded a K-State Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Award for his research with K-State Geology Department Head and Professor Dr. Pamela Kempton on copper isotope heterogeneity in oceanic basalt glasses

Dr. Karin Goldberg was selected to receive the Davids-Dunham Award, which recognizes her excellence as a teacher and scholar, as well as her support of the mission of Kansas State University to K-State Arts and Sciences to promote diversity through teaching and scholarship.

Congratulations to Dr. Behzad Ghanbarian for the publication of his book, "Physics of Fluid Flow and Transport in Unconventional Reservoir Rocks"

Fidelis received a graduate award from the Johnson Cancer Research Center for his research on the potential of natural contamination of groundwater by uranium in SE Kansas. Fidelis is working with Dr. Karin Goldberg.

Placed third for his presentation on 'Adjusting the Syn-Tectonic and Structural History of the Arbuckle Mountains, OK' at the 2023 Geotechnical Conference! James has been working with Dr. Brice Lacroix. He just completed his bachelors and will begin working toward his masters in Fall 2023.

Congratulations to Dr. Behzad Ghanbarian for his successful application for promotion with tenure. Please join us in congratulating our newest associate professor!

Congratulations to Dr. Claudia Adam for her successful application for promotion with tenure. Please join us in congratulating our newest associate professor!

Inducted into the K-State Mortar Board Society in recognition of her academic achievement, leadership, and service.

Dr. Karin Goldberg was selected to participate in the competitive Voices for Sciences program from the American Geophysical Union.

2022

Awarded an Outstanding Student Presentation Award for his poster at the AGU Fall Meeting on Alaskan Slab Tears

Recognized in the list of 2022's top 2% of scientists in the world - this is his second year in a row receiving this honor.

Named one of K-State's nominees for The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundaction at the collegiate level. He is now able to compete at the national level for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation.

Inducted into the Kansas State University chapter of the Tri-Alpha Honorary Society

Awarded 2022 National Association of Black Geoscientists Scholarships.

2022-2023 Scholarship

Recipients

2022-2023 Department of Geology Scholarship Banquet.

Inducted into the Kansas State University chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Beta of Kansas. Phi Beta Kappa is one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious academic honor societies.

MSc student wih Dr. Matt Brueseke, who was awarded the Don Richter Memorial Scholarship from the Alaska Geological Society for his fieldwork in volcanic petrology in the Wrangell Mountains.

MSc student from the Porous Media Research Lab, who was awarded the Barrett Family Named Grant from the 2022 American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Foundation Grants-in-Aid Program.

Awarded a 2022 GSA J. David Lowell Field Camp Scholarship for the summer French field camp in Besancon and the Jura Mountains, as well as Saint-Chinian and the Montagne Noire. She was one of 30 winners in a pool of 112 applicants.

Awarded a travel scholarship from the College of Arts & Sciences for the summer French field camp in Besançon and the Jura Mountains, as well as Saint-Chinian and the Montagne Noire.

Special winner of the KC Gem Show Scholarship in March 2022.

Graduated MSc student from the Porous Media Research Lab, for his recent publication ‘Effect of pore-scale heterogeneity on scale-dependent permeability: Pore-network simulation and finite-size scaling analysis' in the Water Resources Research journal. Link to online journal can be found here, link to PDF article can be found here. Misagh is now a PhD student at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

Graduated MSc student from the Porous Media Research Lab, for his recent publication 'Determing effective permeability at reservoir scale: Application of critical path analysis' in the Advances in Water Resources journal. Link to online journal can be found here, link to PDF article can be found here. Barnabas is now a PhD student at the Lehigh University.

Graduated MSc student from the Porous Media Research Lab, for his recent publication 'Soil Classification: A New Approach for Grouping Soils Using Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity Data' in the Water Resources Research journal. Link to online journal can be found here, link to PDF article can be found here. Brandon is now a PhD student at Idaho State University.

Received the 2021 GSA Planetary Travel Award from the GSA Planetary Geology Division. A list of past award winners can be accessed here - one of the 2012 winners (Jessica Watkins) is an astronaut. Sarah is now a PhD student at Kansas University.

Carrie Brooks, Hallie Bruce, Alyssa Endrich, William Jarvis, Alex Karrasch, Sarah Lamm, & Vidhesh Shukla

Received the Graduate Student Council Travel Award.

Received the GSA Lipman Graduate Student Research Grant and the Sibayne- Stillwater/Wheaton Precious Metals Scholarship at the end the Spring 2021 semester.

Graduated MSc student from the Porous Media Reserach Lab, for his publication 'Rock Typing Based on Wetting-Phase Relative Permeability Data and Critical Pore Sizes' in the SPE journal - link to online journal can be found here, link to PDF article can be found here.

Publication of 'Scale-dependent permeability and formation factor in porous media: Applications of percolation theory' in the prestigious journal Fuel with impact factor 5.6 - link to online journal can be found here, link to PDF article can be found here.

Published an article, "Rural water wells that

show large increase in nitrative levels", in the

lasest edition of Seek. Link to the article can be

found here: https://k-state.edu/seek/2020/images/2020-seek-magazine.pdf…

Published an article on Environmental Lead

Contamination. The article details Pompeani's

recent research that indicates that environmental

lead contamination from prehistoric

metalworking can be detected in North America

for thousands of years. Link to the article can

be found here: https://www.k-

state.edu/today/annoucement/?id=60495

Recieved a grant from the American Chemical

Society for Arbuckle Mountain Study. The

purpose of this research is to better understand

the timing and conditions of past fluid-flow that

occurred along faults through the Arbuckle

group rocks, which would have potentially

altered them.

Secured a summer internship with KDHE. She'll

be working in the Geology & Well Technology

Unit on the Water Well Program under the

supervision of KSU Alumni, where she'll have

the chance to work with data and conduct

fieldwork.

Secured an internshipwith NASA's Origins &

Habitability Lab in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

She'll be working on deconvoluting geochemical

signatures of metastable minerals relevant for life

in Mars & ocean floor environments using LIBS

& Raman. More information can be found at this

link in K-State Today.

Recently had his USGSEDMAP proposal accepted.

This project will allow his graduate students,

William Jarvis and Ben Walters, to continue

mapping a part of the coastal range of Central

California.

Luke Rijfkogel,

KayLeigh Rogers,

Ganiyat Shodunke,

Rhowe Stefanski, &

Breanna Waterman

Received Spring 2019 Kansas Geological

Foundation Scholarships for the Spring 2019

term.

Received a grant from the American Chemical

Socitety's Petroleum Research Fund to study the

enrironmental conditions on accumulation of

organic matter in mudstones, using the

Woodford/Chattanooga Shale in Kansas as a

Natural laboratory.

Nina Ataee &

Patrick Manselle

Received the A&S Research Travel

Award.

Received an SEG travel Grant to attend the

SEG/Exxon Mobil Student Education Program in

Anaheim, California.

Received a Kansas Geological Foundation Grant

to support her research.

KayLeigh Rogers

& Emily Fenner

Received the American Federation of

Mineralogical Societies Scholarship Foundation

(AFMS).

Victoria Fitzgerald

Invited to attend the 2018 Catalyzing

Advocacy for Science and Engineering (CASE)

Workshop taking place in Washington, DC on

March 18-21, 2018.

Sarah Lamm

Received the Arts and Science Research Travel

Award.

Nina Ataee,

Trevor Spencer,

Christina Richardson,

Mikaela Rader,

& Ryan Keast

Received the KGF scholarship.

Mikaela Rader

Won the National Association of Geoscience

Teachers Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.

Dr. Sabreen Gad

Received Global Campus funding ($10,640) for

development of GEOL 315 "Geology of the

National Parks" as an online course.

Nina Ataee &

Victoria Fitzgerald

Received the KSU A&S Graduate Student

Research Award.

Karina Galinskaya,

Victoria Fitzgerald

& Nina Ataee

Awarded the Graduate Student Council Travel

Award to facilitate travel to a conference.

Victoria Fitzgerald

Received a Graduate Student Council Travel

Award for her trip to the 15th International

Conference for Luminescence and Electron

Spin Resonance Dating in September.

Dr. Aida Farough

Received ($5,000) in funding for development

of GEOL 103 "Geology Laboratory" as an

Open/Alternative textbook course.

Dr. Sabreen Gad

Received Global Campus funding ($8,794) for

development of GEOL 115 "Environmental

Geology" as an online course.

Dr. Aida Farough

Selected to receive an Academic Advising

Summer Institute Scholarship by NACADA, the

Global Community for Academic Advising.

The Institutes will be held in June 18-23, 2017 in

Daytona Beach, FL. Dr. Farough's participation in

the Institute will not only help geology majors

succeed, it also enables her to better serve KSU

and NACADA.

Chris Wierman

Awarded a Society of Economic Geologists

Student Research Grant to help support his

research on Copper (Cu) behavior in flood

basalts and implications for ore deposits.

Victoria Fitzgerald

Received the AAUW Career Development Grant.

Mikaela Rader

Won the Arts and Sciences Summer 2017

Research Sholarship.

Alexandria Richard,

Karina Galinskaya

& Chris Wierman

Received the Geological Society of America

Graduate Research Award.

William Hagood,

Mikaela Rader

& Tyler Vaughn

Received the Kansas Geological Foundation

Scholarship.

Taylor Crawford &

Allison Walker

Nominated for induction into Phi Beta Kappa.

Victoria Fitzgerald

Awarded a highly prestigious National Science

Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to

support her research on the timing of Lake

Bonnevile Megalake regression.

Ganiyat Shodunke

Received an award from the Association of

Earth Science Clubs of Greater Kansas City!

Adam Lane,

Sarah Lamm,

Ryan Keast, &

Victoria Fitzgerald

Received a generous scholarship from the

Kansas Geological Foundation! Congrats!

Dr. Aida Farough

Received a professional development grant

from the University Advising Committee.

Ben Haller &

Sarah Lamm

Received an A&S undergraduate research award

through the College of Arts and Sciences.

Department of

Geology

During the Society of Eploration Geophysicists

(SEG) annual meeting in Dallas this year (October

16-21, 2016), the K-State Geology SEG Chapter

received Ridge Level status, in recognition of our

geophysical activities and contributions in the

area of exploration seismology.

Adam Lane

Received the prestigeous O.R. Grawe award

from the Association of Missouri Geologists!

The honor is awarded annually to outstanding

upperclassmen in geology in the state of

Missouri.

Jacob Clayton,

Austin Noll &

Kyle Marquart

Received a generous scholarship from the

Kansas Geological Foundation!

Ian Andree,

Katie Garth, &

Grant Zweifelhofer

Received GSA Graduate Research Awards from

Council of Geological Society of America, a

highly competitive student research grant

program!

Colleen Gura

& Michelle Berube

Received an award for their presentations in the

K-State GRAD Forum!

Austin Krehel,

Morgan Richardson,

Anthony Lueck, Aria

Linares, Chance Reece,

& Josh Rennaker

Led by Drs. Raef and Totten, these students took

third place at the 2016 AAPG Imperial Barrel

competition!

Anna Maynard

Received a scholarship from the Geological

Society of Nevada!

Brooks Ryan

Received a K-State Office of Undergraduate

Research and Creative Inquiry award to support

his research!

Carmen Amos,

Ian Andree, &

Chance Reece

Received scholarships for graduate research

from the Kansas Geological Foundation.