Hello! I am a second-year PhD student at Virginia Tech. I come from Washington State, so being around the forest is second nature to me. I study the Martian partial melt, and shergottites using the piston cylinder apparatus. I study Mars, partial melts, and igneous rocks under Dr. Megan Duncan. I started my undergrad at Howard University in 2017 and finished in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Physics with a minor in math and a concentration in astrophysics. I eventually made my way to North Carolina Central University in 2020 to pursue a master's in earth environment and geospatial sciences. I joined Virginia Tech as an AGU Bridge scholar, a program I am currently in. 

This summer I will be participating in my first summer as a GEM fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory!

I am interested in high-pressure and high-temperature experiments, laboratory experiments, Mars, Martian basaltic meteorites, igneous petrology, synthetic mineral fabrication, and the interiors of planets.

contact: tarisar_@_vt.edu