Watsawan (Fai) Chanchai
Title
Ph.D. Candidate
Office Address
303 Deike Building
Faculty Adviser(s)
Kimberly Lau
Research Interests
Sedimentary geochemistry
Oceanic anoxic events
Biogeochemical cycles
Christelle Wauthier, associate professor of geosciences in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, received a Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation to develop numerical models to characterize volcanic flank instability processes.
In a field exercise, geosciences student Katie Reilly moved from point to point, analyzing surface geological formations, hoping to gain insight into the environmental conditions that formed portions of the Rocky Mountains.
For experienced undergraduate students in Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, this capstone field camp is a rite of passage. Each year, dozens of students usually spend six weeks exploring the topography and geologic features of the Western United States, analyzing firsthand the expression of forces that they’ve spent years learning.
Roman DiBiase won’t soon forget the name of an early mentor when he began his career at Penn State in 2014.
He was recently named the Rudy L. Slingerland Early Career Professor of Geosciences, a distinction that honors the now retired Penn State professor and will help fund DiBiase’s research studying how landscapes erode over geologic time, shaping mountains and in an instant leading to hazards from fires, floods and landslides.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Chemical reactions deep below ground affect water quality, but methods for “seeing” them are time-consuming, expensive and limited in scope. A Penn State-led research team found that seismic waves can help to identify these reactions under an entire watershed and protect groundwater resources.
The shape of volcanoes and their craters provide critical information on their formation and eruptive history. Techniques applied to photographs — photogrammetry — show promise and utility in correlating shape change to volcanic background and eruption activity.
Changes in volcano shape — morphology — that occur with major eruptions are quantifiable, but background volcanic activity, manifesting as small volume explosions and crater wall collapse, can also cause changes in morphology and are not well quantified.
The Greenland Ice Sheet holds enough water to raise sea levels nearly 24 feet, yet it remains difficult to predict the rate of melt and possible tipping points in the stability of the ice sheet.
John Ackerman ‘75
Ackerman was named the 2018 Engineer of the Year by the Lehigh Valley Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the 2018 Engineer of the Year by the Keystone Northeast Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Engineers. He also received U.S. Patent #10,071,918: “Water Harvester and Purification System.”
James H. Anspach, PG (r) ‘77
Anspach was elected as a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers “for his exemplary thirty-eight-year career as a practitioner, educator, and researcher.” He has worked for the benefit of the public and the engineering profession by fostering a dynamic evolution of the industry for the practice of subsurface utility engineering and the utility damage prevention profession.
Mildred Barylski ‘77
After graduation, Barylski went to graduate school at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and received her M.S. in geology in 1980, focusing on vertebrate paleontology. She worked for two years at the Pratt Museum of Natural History now named the Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College, in the fossil collection and then moved to Virginia in 1982 to work at the Smithsonian Institution.
Charles Boyer ‘76
Boyer was elected for a three-year term on the board of directors of the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers. He is currently a scientific adviser on unconventional reservoirs for Schlumberger, an international oilfield services company.
George Bureau ‘80
Bureau was recently promoted to vice president consulting services for Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership based in Madison, Wisconsin.
Greg Collins ‘13
Collins continued his education at the University of Pennsylvania and received his Ph.D. in education policy and is now employed at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education where he is investigating the relationship between teacher preparation pathways and
STEM teacher attrition.
Martin Farley ’80 ‘87
Farley received the 2019 Distinguished Service Award from AASP – The Palynological Society, which promotes all aspects of palynology in academia and industry.
Jim Gearhart ‘77
Gearhart has been retired from the water-resources discipline of the USGS for nine years and is enjoying mentoring seniors in the Earth & Environment Department at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; researching and writing articles and a blog on local history; and spending time with his family at a vacation house in Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland. He says “hi” to all his alumni friends.
Mark Hainsey ‘83
Hainsey was recently named the chief knowledge officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C. Daniel Hummer ‘10
Hummer finished his third year as a faculty member at Southern Illinois University. He continues to collaborate on both the experimental aspects of mineral formation and utilizing large datasets to track the evolution of minerals over geologic time. This year he is wrapping up a four-year project, the “Carbon Mineral Challenge,” which sought to unite academics and amateur collectors to predict and find new mineral species containing carbon. He was, recently asked to help design a new exhibit on mineral evolution for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, a project that is still ongoing and he says has been an honor to be part of. Happily, during this past year he also got married to his beautiful wife and gained two wonderful stepdaughters. The family is now in the process of buying their first house together and planning for a bright future.
Don Schroder ‘78
Schroder currently sells print, digital, and video advertising for Popular Woodworking magazine and co-leads African photographic safaris to South Africa, Botswana, and Kenya with Magnum Excursions, headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. To view photos from a May photo safari tour/workshop to the Zimanga Private Game Reserve in South Africa, visit Don Schroder Photography at https://www.donschroder.com.
Mike Weber ‘82
Weber worked at the United State Geological Survey and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for thirtysix years, before retiring in 2018 as the director of Nuclear Regulatory Research. From 2010 to 2015, he served as deputy executive director for Materials, Waste, Research, State, Tribal, and Compliance Programs, the second highest career staff position at the NRC. A 1982 Penn State geosciences graduate, he continued to apply his geosciences skills throughout his career, especially on high-level waste repository projects and on groundwater protection and environmental remediation. In 2015, Weber represented the NRC at the sixtieth anniversary celebration of Penn State’s Breazeale Nuclear Reactor. He has returned to Pennsylvania and resumed his exploration of the geology of the Commonwealth, including serving as a tour guide at the Cornwall Iron Furnace and the adjacent ore banks.
Thomas F. Bates Undergraduate Research Enhancement Fund: Corey Byerton
Joseph Berg Award for Undergraduate Research in Geosciences: Fairuz Hidayah Hasnan, Jacob Kaminski, Karhleen Shank
Barton P. Cahir Award: Albina Alzhanova
Frank Dachille Memorial Award in Geochemistry: Qianyi Lu
David M. Demshur Undergraduate Research Endowment: Nouff Alsaad, Lukman Asri, Alyssa Barr, Jason Beck, Corey Bryerton,
Nicholas Crescenzo, Porraket Dechdacho, Michael Mulic-Gilbert, Derek Hendricks, Emily Hoyt, Matthew Leddy, Emily Loucks, Allison
Richards, Morgan Richards, James Tierney
Edwin L. Drake Memorial Scholarship: Alexandra Sbattier, Amir Aiman, Dion Furfaro, Donial Abdul Shukor, Elizabeth Block,
Fairuz Hasnan, Faris Zaini, Fatin Baharudin, Heechan Ju, Iman Nasuhu Binti Rosland, Joey Grant, Junyin Xiao, Kaleb Griffiths, Martina
Dundovic, Morgan Sawyer, Muhammad Nazan Yusri, Nuriffa Najib
David P. “Duff ” Gold Undergraduate Scholarship Fund: Fatin Farihah Baharudin, Lindsey Jacks, Muhammad Faris Zafir Mohamed Zaini
John C. and Nancy Griffiths Scholarship: Daniel Keyes, Molly McHale, Emma Osenbach
James and Nancy Hedberg Scholarship: Nicholas Crescenzo, Eric Jordan, Yaolin Miao, Nuriffa Syahira Mohd Najib, Leah Motimaya,
Junyin Xiao, Muhamad Nazmi Yusri
Arthur P. Honess Memorial Fund: Ashley Herceg, Danial Fitri Md Sukor, Christine Tamburri, Lukman Nurhakim Mohd Asri, Iman
Nasuha Rosland, Amir Aiman Zaidy
Benjamin F. Howell, Jr., Award: Abra Gold, Matthew Leddy, Pan Zhuolai
Kappmeyer-Isaacs Field Camp Award: Eileen Reiley, Zachary Scobola
Ronald A. Landon Endowment in Hydrogeology: Alyssa Barr, Jason Beck
Earle S. Lenker Fund for Field Studies in Geology: Alison Richards, Alyssa Barr, Michael Mulic-Gilbert, Porraket Dechdacho
Maureen and Dennis Maiorino Undergraduate Scholarship: Christina Boutselis, Paul Pietrinferni, Katherine Suchanec
Timothy and Cindy Mullen Scholarship in Geosciences: Catherine Gagnon
Reif Undergraduate Summer Field Camp Award: James Tierney, Morgan Richards, Nicholas Crescenzo, Saraa Hawks
Robert F. Schmalz Award: Albina Alzhanova, Porraket Dechdacho, Cissy Ming, Sapol Raadnui, Xiaoyu Zou
Julie and Trem Smith Family Undergraduate Scholarship: Daniel Sanchez-Delgado, Catherine Gagnon, Abra Gold, Jared Llewellyn,
James Pippin
Daniel and Deborah Stephens First-Time Endowed Scholarship: Matthew Bromley, Abra Gold, Raheel Hadi
John and Elizabeth Holmes Teas Scholarship Fund: Taylor Rosen, Nancy Weinheimer
Dr. David E. Vaughan and Mrs. Julianne Vaughan Field Camp Fund: Jason Beck, Derek Hendricks, Emily Hoyt, Emily Loucks
Tim and Courtney Watson Undergraduate Scolarship: Emily Loucks, Thomas Tran
Oral Presentation by a Ph.D. Student
(Post-Comprehensive Exam)
First: Allison Fox (Deines Lecturer)
Second: Allison Karp
Third: Heather Jones and Al Neely
Oral Presentations by a Ph.D. Student
(Pre-Comprehensive Exam)
First: Benjamin Barnes
Second: Rebecca Payne
Third: Joanmarie Del Vecchio
Energy Related (Oral)
First: Troy Ferland
Second: Timothy Witham
Oral Presentation by an M.S. Student
First: Gabriella Rossetto Harris
Second: Jacob Cipar and Demaris Wyatt
Third: Matthew Reinhold
Poster Presentation (M.S./Ph.D.)
First: Greg Wong
Second: Xiaoni Hu
Third: Claire Webster and Kalle Jahn
Energy Related (Poster)
First: Abby Kenigsberg
Second: Clay Wood
These candidates were selected from an impressive group of participants. We would like to offer a special thank you to
the Shell Corporation and the Cannon Family Fellowship for their continued support of the Graduate Colloquium.