PUTERA ROCKS HER SENIOR YEAR

Halle Putera (’16) finished an eventful senior year at Franklin & Marshall College, graduating cum laude with a major in geoscience, winning two awards from F&M’s Department of Earth and Environment, and participating in a flurry of internships and field experiences.

In the spring between her junior and senior years, Halle spent five weeks in Montana attending the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Black Hills Field Camp. Then, last summer, she and another geoscience major were selected to assist F&M professor Stanley Mertzman in conducting geological fieldwork at Mt. Shasta, a 14,000-ft. active volcano in California. Halle mapped igneous flows and studied the cilica content of molten rock around and under the volcano, which last erupted 300 years ago. Her work could help scientists determine when the next eruption is likely to occur.

Halle’s work at Field Camp paid off when her camp director nominated her to participate in the 2020 Cooperative Summer Geosciences Internship Program sponsored by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). After a rigorous interview process, Halle was selected to work with Dr. Walter D. Mooney, a research seismologist and geophysicist with the USGS and a world leader in geophysical studies of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle. Dr. Mooney currently is a visiting professor at Stanford University. Read more about Halle’s experiences online at dock.org/LamplighterExtra

Halle Putera and fellow geoscience major Sam Patzkowsky prepare to descend below the earth at the Golden Dome lava tube near Mount Shasta.

Photo by Stanley Mertzman