Watching the Water Roll By

ALBION, Mich. – A summer spent wading in a nearby creek has earned geology major Paul Roberts, ’07, national recognition for his research. At the Geological Society of America annual meeting in Salt Lake City this past fall, Roberts won the Austin A. Sartin Best Poster Award. Roberts was one of only 33 students participating in the poster session, hosted by Sigma Gamma Epsilon, the earth sciences national honor society.

Roberts’s research on stream height and water clarity cycles in Rice Creek and their impact on water quality assessment, was done during the summer of 2004, and was funded by the College’s Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity, and the Geology department’s Taylor Undergraduate Research Fund. Using instruments that measured water quality several times a day, Roberts discovered that the stream is far from stable. “There was a two- to three-fold decrease in water clarity in the early morning hours,” he recalls. “It is important for those monitoring water quality to consider the impact of a persistent “on-off” water clarity condition on the organisms that live in Rice Creek.

“National meetings are intimidating. There are a lot of people doing a lot of really amazing work, and it makes yours feel so insignificant. I was excited to see so many people interested in my work,” says Roberts, of the NGA conference. His real excitement, though, is still based in Albion. “I am really grateful to the Geology department for providing me with the opportunity to do the research and go to the conference,” he says, adding, “There is still a lot of work to be done to understand what exactly is going on in Rice Creek. Hopefully I can figure it out before I graduate.”