39-5 Developing Resiliency: Two Years of Linked Academic Year-Summer Undergraduate Research Experiences at Morehead State University

Session: Learning to be a Geoscientist: Professional Exposure, Agency, and Transferable Skills in Undergraduate Education. (Posters)

Poster Booth No.: 169

Presenting Author:

Jennifer O'Keefe

Authors:

O'Keefe, Jennifer M.K.¹, Collick, Amy S.², Kibria, Md Golam³

(1) Department of Engineering Sciences, Morehead State University, Morehead, KY, , (2) Department of Agricultural Sciences, Morehead State University, Morehead, KY, , (3) Department of Engineering Sciences, Morehead State University, Morehead, KY, ,

Abstract:

Strong academic year undergraduate research programs are a key educational component of the broadly defined earth sciences at Morehead State University. Participation in the Kentucky NSF EPSCoR Track 1 CLIMBS project permitted development of a linked academic year-12-week residential paid summer research program.  Agricultural Sciences, Environmental Science, and Geoscience students at Morehead State are engaged in support of Project 2: Paleoperspectives and members of the Learning Hub, an academic year co-mentoring and networking system linking student researchers project wide. Research at Morehead State by undergraduates in collaboration with their faculty mentors (soil science, palynology, and shallow freshwater hydrologic monitoring and modeling) is being used fill gaps in the Holocene paleoproxy records for hydroclimate change and improve correlation between proxies and known major flood events, the more recent of which have directly impacted many of our student participants.  Each had the opportunity to reflect upon their experiences, good and bad, and make recommendations for the next summer cohort. Here we share the outcomes and lessons learned from the first two years of this program at Morehead State University.

© Copyright 2026 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved.