Rice Homecoming 2021

EEPS 2021 Homecoming Event: 29 October

EEPS gifted fine minerals from the estate of alumnus Ajay Badachhape, BA ’82

RUGS Field Trip to Galveston Island and the Upper Texas Gulf Coast

RUGS Field Trip to Galveston Island and the Upper Texas Gulf Coast

By Sarah Preston, Christina Stoner (& Juli Morgan)

Field trip participants on Galveston Island. Image courtesy of Julia Morgan.

On April 25, after almost a year with no field trips, RUGS had the opportunity to take a day-long local field trip to the Upper Texas Gulf Coast. The trip was was planned by the EEPS seniors, with EEPS Professors Julia Morgan and Melodie French serving as drivers and faculty sponsors, and guided by Rice Professor Emeritus John Anderson, an expert on coastal processes with particular knowledge of the Upper Texas Gulf Coast. Seven undergraduates participated. We traveled from Houston to Freeport to Galveston, stopping along the way to learn about coastal geology and geomorphology, as well as the history of sea level changes through time and the resulting depositional history along the coast. Over the course of the day, we gained a new appreciation for the scale on which geologic processes occur, the interactions between humans and the ocean, and the interconnected nature of the climate and ocean systems.

EEPS Emeritus professor John Anderson and Rugs students talk about West Bay from Jamaica Beach. Image by Julia Morgan

 

We met up in the geology/biology parking lot at 7:45 AM and left Rice soon after, driving south for about an hour before stopping at two different Buc’ee’s locations for snacks and gas, and finally meeting with Dr. Anderson near Freeport, a port and petrochemical town situated only about 5 feet above sea level. Our first stop was on Levee Road, which provides excellent views of Oyster Creek, which meanders through an abandoned channel of the Brazos River occupied in the Late Holocene, on its way to the coast. Here Dr. Anderson provided us with an overview of the geologic history of southeast Texas, pointing out the man-made Brazos River cut-off which redirected the modern-day river channel to protect Port Freeport.

Sarah Preston finds shells on the beach at Follet’s Island. Image by Christina Stoner

We then began our drive northeast along the coast. We stopped briefly at the Oyster Creek Delta, taking a closer look at the remains of the Holocene Brazos River channel, where we discussed the submerged depositional record of the migrating river. We then drove to Follet’s Island, a low-lying barrier island, stopping on the beach.

Although the sand at Follet’s Island was very compacted from years of people driving on the beach (a surprise to the non-Texans in the group), we were able to find shells and a small sandstone outcrop that preserved some depositional features.

 

House in the tidal zone at Follet’s Island. Image by Julia Morgan

We then stopped at a small neighborhood at eastern end of Follett’s Island to examine the effects of beach erosion, which has left several houses well below the tide line, directly exposed to coastal waves.

 

Sandstone outcrop on Follet’s Island. Image by Christina Stoner

 

Laughing gull flying over boardwalk extending over Tidal Delta. Image by Sarah Preston

We stopped for lunch at a county park, with an overview of the San Luis Pass Tidal Delta, a popular fishing site for both people and wildlife, before crossing the bridge over the San Luis Pass and proceeding northeast onto Galveston Island. Our last group stop was along the eastern edge of Jamaica Beach, where most houses are on stilts to accommodate storm surges. With an expansive view of West Bay and Galveston Island State Park, we discussed efforts to improve the health of local ecosystems. Our field trip concluded at Dr. Anderson’s Galveston Island home, with welcome shade, snacks, and restroom opportunities.  Dr. Anderson related their experiences during various tropical storms and hurricanes that passed through the area, noting that their Galveston house had stood up to Hurricane Harvey significantly better than their house in Houston.

 

After bidding him farewell, we drove along the Galveston Seawall to the Galveston – Port Bolivar Ferry, which we rode both ways to take in the enormous ships plying the waters on their way to the Houston Ship Channel.   Upon our return to Galveston, we made the hours’ drive back to Rice.

 

RUG’s students on the upper deck of the Galveston-Bolivar Ferry. Image by Julia Morgan

Throughout the trip, Dr. Anderson shared fun facts, anecdotes, and local history, showing us places where houses used to be before the ocean overtook them, cracking jokes about former study areas, and telling us about the interactions between scientists and the Texas state government.

 

The trip was a welcome–and very much appreciated–respite after almost a full semester of classes, with educational stops, beautiful sights, and even some interesting animal sightings. (My perfect record of seeing dolphins on RUGS field trips held!) At the end of the day, we returned to Rice with a broader appreciation for the environmental toll of unchecked human activity, the connections between people and the oceans, and the importance of coastal geology.

TODAY!!!!! Rice Science Cafe- Roving Mars with Kirsten Siebach

EEPS-OWL Together Virtual Homecoming

Martha Lou Broussard receives the AAPG Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award

Fall 2020 O-Week

Kirsten Siebach’s Reading The Martian Record: Stories of a previously Habitable World

EEPS Supports Rice’s 4th Annual Science Olympiad Invitational

Rice undergraduates Annelise Goldman and Muthu Chidambaram talking with a participant of the Rice Science Olympiad Invitational “Sounds of Music” science event on January 18, 2020.

Three Rice undergraduates including EEPS own Annelise Goldman with the Rice University Science Olympiad Alumni Association (Rice SOAA) hosted the 4th consecutive Science Olympiad Invitational on January 18, 2020.

Rice undergraduates Alan Jin (co-president), Muthu Chidambaram (co-president), Annelise Goldman (vice president) managed a challenging set of science events that attracted 525 high school students from 36 teams from 21 high schools across the U.S.

 

Approximately 45 volunteers, mostly Rice undergraduate members of Rice SOAA, some graduate students and Rice Alumni, wrote and graded tests, proctored exams and managed science events. Nearly all the volunteers put in a long day starting with the arrival of visitors before 8 a.m. and concluding with the awards ceremony in the RMC Grand Hall around 8 p.m.

“I think it was a great science outreach effort for Rice, connecting with the greater Houston (and far beyond in some cases) community,” says says Dr. Richard Gordon, Keck Professor of Geophysics in the department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences and faculty sponsor of Rice SOAA.

This is the second Rice University Science Olympiad for Sophomore Annelise Goldman, who volunteered in 2018 and then joined the organizing committee in 2019. She went from writing one exam her first year, to writing three exams and helping to manage all the 2020 event activities. But this isn’t her first brush with Science Olympiad.

Annelise has been participating since middle school. “I am a long-term fan. At my middle school it was really competitive. At the time I thought that science was really cool, but was like, ‘I’m not a person who’s cut out to do science’. But my mom suggested I try out anyway, to see if I might like it.” Like it she did, going on to participate throughout high school.

Science Olympiad is the reason why she is a science major at Rice.

Annelise Goldman evaluates one of the student-built instruments submitted for the “Sounds of Music” event at the 2020 Rice Science Olympiad Invitational.

Now she is giving back to the program that brought her where she is today. “I’m very grateful to this program for inspiring me and introducing me to different fields. I wanted to help other students have a similar experience,” says Goldman.

Science Olympiad invitationals are practical competitions that help Science Olympiad teams from across the country prepare for regional and national competitions. Invitational events are themselves competitive among host schools. Universities seek to not only provide high quality exams that lure nationally ranked teams, but to expose those “elite” students to what the host University has to offer.

Science Olympiad Invitationals also include key-note lectures by host institution faculty that connect and inform students about careers in science. This year’s key-note speaker was EEPS own assistant professor Dr. Sylvia Dee, who shared her pathway to science, the impact of her research, and the variety of careers available to scientists.

2019 EEPS Graduation and Awards