Geological Society of America Announces 2022–2023 Fellows for Science
Policy and Communication
Boulder, CO, USA: GSA is pleased to introduce three outstanding new Fellows
who will join our efforts during the next year to increase the efficacy in
serving society through science.
The 37th GSA–U.S. Geological Survey Congressional Science Fellow is Hannah Palmer. Palmer is a climate and
environmental scientist dedicated to conducting science in service of the
public and leveraging science to inform decision making. Her scientific
research focuses on investigating the biogeochemistry of a changing world,
impacts of environmental change on ecosystems, and human dimensions of
global change. She earned a BS from the University of California Los
Angeles in marine biology and a Ph.D. in earth and planetary sciences from
the University of California Davis. In her doctoral research, she utilized
the paleorecord to understand biogeochemical and ecosystem change across
systems and timescales. Specifically, she focused on investigating marine
sediment records to understand oceanographic change and ecosystem responses
to change through the last 12,000 years. As a graduate student, she served
as the University of California Center Sacramento Presidential Graduate
Opportunities for Leadership Development Fellow in which she worked with
the California Council on Science and Technology to communicate up-to-date
science on wildfire to state policymakers. Palmer also served as the
co-director of the Santa Rosa Junior College–Bodega Marine Laboratory
Internship Program in 2019–2020. Following her Ph.D., she was awarded the
University of California Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at the
University of California Merced. In this role, Palmer investigated how
wildfire severity impacts the biogeochemistry of landscapes following
wildfire to both understand effects of modern fire as well as to improve
how we understand wildfire in the past. She also recently served as an
American Geophysical Union Thriving Earth Exchange Community Science Fellow
in which she worked to connect scientists and community leaders to solve
local challenges. Palmer enjoys taking on new challenges as she has
continually worked to build new collaborations, investigate diverse study
systems, interact across organizations, and to link science and policy.
When she is not working, she enjoys trail running, baking and eating
delicious goods, jumping in the ocean, and spending time with friends, old
and new.
Christine Ray
will serve as GSA’s 2022–2023 Science Policy Fellow. Ray grew up in New
Jersey, where her high school science classes, along with a plethora of
hiking and camping trips to various New Jersey state parks, first inspired
her love for science and the natural world. She completed a double major in
animal sciences and astrophysics at the School of Environmental and
Biological Sciences at Rutgers University, where she first got a taste of
the interface between people and the environment and developed a fondness
for science teaching and communication. She moved on to pursue a Ph.D. in
the joint program between the University of Texas at San Antonio and the
Southwest Research Institute, where she combined her interests in space and
life sciences studying the habitability of moons in the outer solar system
for her doctoral dissertation. Ray completed her Ph.D. at the end of 2021
and then served as a postdoc at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). During
her time in San Antonio, Ray worked on multiple NASA planetary science
missions where she came to appreciate the role that policy plays in the
science world, including the Cassini mission to Saturn and the Europa
Clipper mission that will launch in 2024 to explore Jupiter’s moon, Europa.
She was also active in both science communication and science policy. She
helped run science outreach events at SwRI such as Astronomy on Tap, was
involved in several projects through the National Science Policy Network,
volunteered with local political groups, participated in several
congressional visit days, and served on the American Astronomical Society
Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS DPS) Federal Relations Subcommittee,
working to advocate for planetary sciences in the federal government. In
her free time, Ray enjoys hiking and backpacking through Texas’ two
national parks, rock climbing, scuba diving, and taking photos of all of
her adventures.
Laura Fattaruso
has been named GSA’s 2022–2023 Science Communication Fellow. In this role,
Fattaruso will help translate technical research from GSA journals and
meeting presentations into relatable stories for non-technical audiences.
Fattaruso lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts. They earned a bachelor’s degree
in environmental science and geology with a minor in physics at SUNY Albany
in New York State and their master’s degree in geoscience at UMass Amherst,
where they are now working on a Ph.D., to be completed in fall 2022. Their
Ph.D. research focuses on the energy budget of rock fracture processes to
improve our understanding of earthquakes, along with side projects in
paleomagnetism and geologic mapping of Venus. Their master’s work examined
how the shape of the San Andreas fault impacts crustal deformation and how
changes to the fault system over time influenced the tectonic evolution of
southern California. They have also worked as a teacher, housekeeper,
landscaper, sandwich maker, and dog walker. From 2017–2020, they produced
and hosted the podcast “Lab Talk with Laura,” which features conversations
about research between scientists and comedians. Fattaruso was a 2019 Mass
Media Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
doing science reporting for King 5 News in Seattle, and they currently
write about emerging earthquake research for Temblor Earthquake News.
The Geological Society of America (GSA) (https://www.geosociety.org)
unites a diverse community of geoscientists in a common purpose to study
the mysteries of our planet (and beyond) and share scientific findings.
Members and friends around the world, from academia, government, and
industry, participate in GSA meetings, publications, and programs at all
career levels, to foster professional excellence. GSA values and supports
inclusion through cooperative research, public dialogue on earth issues,
science education, and the application of geoscience in the service of
humankind.
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