The Museum of Geosciences held its first-ever Scientific Illustration Night Event last week, in collaboration with the Entomology Department and the Herbarium. Participants sketched insects and plants provided by Entomology student Lindsay Johnson and Jordan Metzgar of the Massey Herbarium as well as various mineral specimens from the Museum. The guest lecture from Anna Kryder (Hollins University) provided background on the history and importance of scientific illustration. Two Geos undergrad students, Sofia Kryder and Angelina Stephens, also helped the Museum with the event.

This month's WInGS (Widening Inclusivity in the Geosciences) event featured Dr. Lisa Kennedy of Virginia Tech, who gave a presentation entitled “Becoming—evolutionary journey of a scientista.” The event was hosted by Dr. Rachel Reid. Dr. Kennedy shared her trajectory as a scientist and some of the challenges she has overcome, including being only the second female faculty member to be hired into the Geography Department at Virginia Tech. Her research explores long-term vegetation-climate-fire dynamics and human-environment interactions through the analysis of proxy data preserved in lake sediments.

The Friday seminar was given by Dr. Benjamin Keisling of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, who spoke on "Using numerical models and subglacial archives to fingerprint past ice-sheet retreat." The visit was hosted by Dr. Julia Cisneros, with an additional introduction by Dr. Brian Romans.