Geology

In its Honors Program the Geology Department awards Honors or High Honors to student research projects. The projects listed below have been defended successfully, and a copy of the thesis deposited in Swem Library.

Key:

Student, "Thesis" (Honors level)
Committee Chair + Other Committee Members

2025-2026

Marina Christina Ashurkoff, "" (Honors)
Clem Hamelin + Christopher Bailey, Jennifer Kahn
Addison Avery Greenfeld, "" (Honors)
Joanmarie Del Vecchio + Melissa Chipman, Jennifer Swenson
Aayla Erika Kastning, "" (High Honors)
Joanmaire Del Vecchio + Dom Ciruzzi, Robert Rose
Nicholas Tompkins Lewis, "" (Honors)
Joanmaire Del Vecchio + Christopher Bailey, Melissa Chipman, Christopher Hein

2024-2025

Nathaniel George Ingle, (High Honors)
Clem Hamelin + Christopher Bailey, Louis Rossiter, Brent Owens
Emily Bernadette Kelley, (High Honors)
Clem Hamelin + Christopher Bailey, John Bedford, Brent Owens
Annika Vivian Wolle, (Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Clem Hamelin, Brent Owens, Leah Shaw

2023-2024

Jialu Tao, (Honors)
Nicholas Balascio + Dom Ciruzzi, Joanmarie Del Vecchio, Shannon White

2022-2023

Heather Nicole Christensen, "" (Honors) James Kaste + Rowan Lockwood, John Lombardini
Selwyn Swift Heminway, "" (High Honors)
Christopher Hein + Dom Ciruzzi, Randy Chambers, Nicholas Cohn
Vera Caitlin Soltes, "" (Honors)
Dom Ciruzzi + Brent Owens, Eric Schweickart
Hannah Seibel Tebbens, "" (Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Clementine Hamelin, Lisa Landino
Olivia Marie Wachob, "a" (Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens, Sara Bon-Harper

2021-2022

Cole Cochran, "" (Honors)
James Kaste + Nick Balascio, John Swaddle
Juliet Liscomb, "" (Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens, Dorothy Ibes
Kathleen Chellman, "" (Honors)
James Kaste + Chuck Bailey, Randy Chambers
Rachel Parthasarthy, "" (Honors)
James Kaste + Nick Balascio, Randy Chambers

2020-2021

Timothy Terlizzi, "" (Honors)
Nicholas Balascio + Abigail Buffington, James Kaste
Terri Zach, "" (Honors)
Christopher M. Bailey + Brent E. Owens, Annie Blazer

2019-2020

Peyton Evans, "" (Honors)
Rowan Lockwood + Nick Balascio, John Swaddle, Felisa Smith
Megan Gillen, "" (High Honors)
Matthew Kirwan + Chuck Bailey, Greg Hancock, Shannon White
Evan Laughlin, "" (Honors)
Chuck Bailey + Brent Owens, Rob Leventhal
Paul Volante, "" (Honors)
James Kaste + Nick Balascio, Nathan Kidwell
Ryan Walter, "" (High Honors)
James Kaste + Brent Owens, Matteo Cantarello

2018-19

Caroline Abbott, ""
Rowan Lockwood + Chuck Bailey, John Swaddle, Hans-Dieter Sues
Kayla Cahoon, ""
Nicholas Balascio + Rowan Lockwood, Danielle Moretti-Langholtz
Hope Duke, ""
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens, Drew Stelljes
Joanne Ensley, ""
Greg Hancock + James Kaste, Rob Rose
Emily Mushlitz, ""
Nicholas Balascio + Heather Macdonald, Chris Hein

2017-18

Joshua Himmelstein, "" (High Honors)
Matthew Kirwan + Gregory Hancock, Becky Jiron, Randolph Chambers
Katherine Lang, "" (Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Martin Gallivan, Rebecca Jiron
Genevieve Pugsley, "" (High Honors)
Nicholas Balascio + William D'Andrea, Christopher Hein, Rowan Lockwood
Catherine Valery, "" (Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens, Jordan Walk

2016-17

McNeill Bauer, "Factors Regulating Enhanced Atmospheric Deposition Across High Elevation Thresholds" (Honors)
James Kaste + Greg Hancock, Randy Chambers
Yingchi Cheng, "Argillic Horizon Development and its Controls on Radium Redistribution in Coastal Plain, VA" (Honors)
James Kaste + Gregory Hancock, Robert Pike
Jacqueline Huettenmoser, "A Comparison of Bare-bedrock Erosion Rates and Rock Properties at Drainage Margins: Implications for Bedrock Weathering in the Blue Ridge, VA" (Honors)
Gregory Hancock + James Kaste, Randy Chambers, Missy Eppes
Jessica Raff, "" (High Honors)
Christopher Hein + Nicholas Balascio, Heather Macdonald, James Perry
Joshua Zimmt, "" (High Honors)
Rowan Lockwood + Christopher Bailey, Paul Heideman

2015-16

John Christoph, "Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Low Shield Volcanoes in Ceraunius Fossae, Mars" (Honors)
Brent Owens + Chuck Bailey, Brent Garry, Mark Hinders
Claire Goydan, "" (Honors)
Randy Chambers + Greg Hancock, Jim Kaste
Nahan Keithline, "" (High Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Nicholas Balascio, Mainak Patel
Karin Lehnigk, "" (High Honors)
Chuck Bailey + Brent Garry, Greg Hancock, Ross Iaci
Justin Shawler, "" (Honors)
Christopher Hein + James Kaste, Heather Macdonald, Elizabeth Canuel

2014-15

Megan Flansburg, (High Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens and Doug DeBerry
Michelle Hoon-Starr, (Honors)
Greg Hancock + Jakes Kaste and Marco Millones
Ciara Mills, (Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens and Marylou Zapf

2013-14

Hanna Bartram, (Honors)
Christopher M. Bailey + Brent E. Owens, Frederick H. Smith
William Brightly, (Honors)
Rowan Lockwood + John Swaddle, Christopher Bailey, Jon Allen
Ariel Deutsch, (High Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Joel Levine, Heather Macdonald, Eugene Tracy
Jeffrey Knox, (Honors)
Hannes C. Schniepp + Christopher M. Bailey, Brent E. Owens
Charles Shobe, (High Honors)
Greg Hancock + Jim Kaste, Randy Chambers
Monica Stone, (Honors)
Gregory Hancock + Stuart Hamilton, James Kaste

2012-13

Maxwell Cunningham, (Honors)
Greg Hancock + James Kaste, Mark Hinders

2011-12

Emma Caverly, "" (Honors)
James Kaste + Randolph Chambers, Gregory Hancock
Lyndsey Funkhouser, "" (Honors)
Randolph Chambers + Stuart Hamilton, Gregory Hancock, James Kaste
Kevin Quinlan, "" (Honors)
Christopher Bailey + R. Heather Macdonald, Jes Therkelsen
Matthew Sparacino, "Variability of Erodibility in Bedrock-floored Channels Produced by Differential Weathering" (Honors)
Gregory Hancock + Mark Hinders, James Kaste

2010-11

Chelsea Jenkins, (Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens, Deborah Bebout
Sean Moren, "The Taphonomy, Palcoccology, and Depositional Environment of Vertebrete Microfossil Bonebeds from the Late Cretaccous Hell Creek Formation in Garfield County, Montana" (Honors)
Rowan Lockwood + Matthew Carrano, Christopher Bailey, John Swaddle
Bradley Peters, (Honors)
Brent Owens + R. Heather Macdonald, Robert Pike
Judith Sclafani, (Honors)
Rowan Lockwood + Heather Macdonald, John Swaddle

2009-10

Guy Evans, (High Honors)
James kaste + Gregory Hancock, Carey Bagdassarian
Jonathon Garber, (High Honors)
Gregory Hancock + James Kaste, Stuart Hamilton
Andrew Laskowski, (High Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Ryan Thigpen, Mike Kordosky
Brendan Murphy, (High Honors)
Gregory Hancock + James Kaste, Clay Clemens
Alexandra Snell, "Constraining the Deformational Geometry of the Yavapai-Mazatzal Orogeny Using Three Dimentional Strain Analysis In Proterozoic Vallecito Conglomerate, Needle Mountains, Southwestern Colorado" (Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Ryan Thigpen, Stuart Hamilton

2008-09

Nathan Burgess, "Combining Field Data and Computer Modeling to Improve Designs for Two Wet Detention Ponds in James City County, VA" (High Honors)
Greg Hancock + James Kaste, Randy Chambers, Richard Phillips
Adam Gattuso, "Tectonic Significance of the Late Neoproterozoic Swift Run Formation and Basement-Cover Unconformity in the Virginia Blue Ridge" (High Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens, Stuart Hamilton, Scott Southworth
Graham Lederer, (High Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens, David Thompson, Scott Southworth
Ethan Theuerkauf, (High Honors)
Jesse McNinch+ Brent Owens, Christopher Bailey, Stuart Hamilton
Jennifer Whitten, (High Honors)
Greg Hancock + Christopher Bailey, James Kaste, Carey Bagdassarian

2007-08

Ari Hartmann, "Newly Discovered Mesozoic Rift Basins in the Virginia Blue Ridge: Sedimentology, Provenance, Structure, and Tectonics" (High Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Heather Macdonald, Greg Capelli, Scott Southworth
Karl Lang, "Lithologic and Structural Control on the Evolution of a Knickzone on the James River, Central Virginia Piedmont" (High Honors)
Gregory Hancock + Christopher Bailey, Brent Owens, Sarah Stafford
Lauren Parker, "Evidence for Knickzone Generation and Landscape Disequilibrium Through Surficial Studies of the James River, Central Virginia Piedmont" (Honors)
Gregory Hancock + Christopher Bailey, Heather Macdonald, Evan Feldman
Charles Plummer, "Searching for Tectonic Moments: Geochemical Tracers in Young Anatolian Basalts, Sivas, Turkey" (High Honors)
Brent Owens + Christopher Bailey, Robert Pike, Tanya Furman (Penn State Geoscience)
Austin Pryor, "Examination of the abundance and geographic range of rare taxa: survivorship patterns of Miocene-Pliocene marine invertebrate fauna of the Virginia Coastal Plain" (High Honors)
Rowan Lockwood and Karen Layou + Christopher Bailey, Chris Funk

2006-07

Jessica Ball, "Geology and Geochemistry of the Osiris Trachyte, Fish Lake Plateau, Utal" (Highest Honors)
Chuck Bailey + Brent Owens, Carey Bagdassarian
Christopher Bowles, "Structural Geometry and Deformation History of the Eastern Fish Lake Plateau, Utah" (Highest Honors)
Chuck Bailey + Greg Hancock, John Swaddle
Erin Fenlon, "Quantifying the Morphology and Reconstructing the Phylogeny of Venericard Bivalves along the Gulf Coastal Plain during the Paleocene and Eocene" (High Honors)
Rowan Lockwood + Heather Macdonald, Rochelle Seitz, Linda Ivany (Syracuse)
Eric Haug, "Surficial Geology of the UM Creek Drainage Basin, Fish Lake Plateau, Utah: Glaciation, Tectonics, and Mass Wasting" (High Honors)
Chuck Bailey + Greg Hancock, James Allegro
Matthew Oreska, "Paleoecology of the Cloverly Formation (Lower Cretaceous) Vertebrate Fauna from Microvertebrate Sites in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming" (High Honors)
Rowan Lockwood + Heather Macdonald, John Swaddle, Matt Carrano (Smithsonian)

2005-06

Laura Buchanan, "Kinematic and strain analysis of mylonites from the Suizo Mountains, Santa Catalina metamorphic core complex, Arizona USA" (High Honors)
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens, Brian Holloway
Sarah Kolbe, "Morphological Variability, Body Size, and Survivorship in Veneroid Bivalves During the Plio-Pleistocene Extinction in Florida" (Highest Honors)
Rowan Lockwood + Heather Macdonald, George Gilchrist, Gene Hunt

2004-05

Adam Forte
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens, Todd Averett
Andrea Philippoff
Christopher Bailey + Greg Hancock, Ann Reed
Elizabeth Tennant
Steven Kuehl + Katherine Farnsworth, Brent Owens, Michael Tierney
Kathleen Wooton
Christopher Bailey + Brent Owens, J.C. Poutsma

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