This is a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site for field, analytical experimental, and theoretical study of geological fluids. Research in this program range from surface and near-surface fluid systems to the mantle to the core. Fourteen undergraduate students will be recruited nationally each year.
The students will investigate topics with the common theme of fluids in the Earth. They will be involved in various research activities, including the impacts of human activities on groundwater quality primarily in karst and fractured rock aquifers, limnogeolgogy research on lakes to understand regional environmental dynamics, evaulation of the chemical and mechanical effects of fluids in metamorphic and igneous systems, the effect of melt on rheology of mantle rocks, and numerical hands-on experience with mantle convection and core dynamics using scientific visualization.
The program features many attributes that foster a cohort experience. In particular, interns participate in two symposia in which they explain their projects and results to each other and to members of the department. In addition, they are exposed to disciplines outside their summer research by participating in field trips to Midwestern sites (caves, glacial lake/river features, mid-continent rift lavas), by touring a wide range of laboratory facilities (rock magnetism, isotope geochemistry, rock mechanics, electron microscopy) at the University of Minnesota and vicinity. An important goal of the internship program is to foster a sense of community among the summer students as they interact with future Earth science colleagues and friends, and so the program includes weekend activities such as picnics, boating on Lake Superior, bike rides around the lakes in the Twin Cities, and visits to museums. Program activities emphasize the connections and commonality of research carried out in diverse research fields, in order to help develop communication between the students and an appreciation for the broad range of problems that can be addressed with the same experimental, analytical and computational tools.
