UNM graduate student, Grant Block, was awarded a National Science Foundation/United States Geological Survey Internship. He will be working on building a new capability in the PyLith modeling software to build models of surface deformation at the Yellowstone Caldera. Block is the first UNM Physics student to win this award.
The National Science Foundation and USGS collaboration is designed to encourage, develop, and facilitate research opportunities at USGS for NSF-supported graduate students. Administered as supplements to current grants, a primary objective is to expose graduate students to the federal science workplace and provide career mentoring.
“Being selected for this internship will enable me to spend time extending my research in a new and exciting direction and develop something I think will be beneficial for the geophysics modeling community overall,” said Block.
During this internship, Block will be developing new models of the Yellowstone volcano using PyLith, an NSF-funded open-source software. PyLith software can model a wide range of crustal deformation problems, and this new rheology will allow for more physically realistic modeling of magma reservoirs under volcanoes.
“My current research involves modeling the reservoir under Yellowstone and we hope this rheology will help us develop more accurate models of the structure and dynamics of the Yellowstone volcanic system,” explained Block.
Last year, Block was first author on a research paper published in the Geophysical Research Letters along with Professor Mousumi Roy about the Socorro Magma Body. For additional information about that research click here.
Block and Roy will be working closely with Brad Aagard, a lead developer of the PyLith software, to bring cutting-edge volcano modeling capability, specifically porovisco-elasticity, to PyLith.
“This work is a great way to highlight UNM as a key player in this effort and will serve the wider geodynamic modeling community as a whole,” said Roy. “It is also a great opportunity for Grant to explore life in a research-intensive organization such as the USGS geophysics group at Golden, CO — something the USGS/NSF Intern program was designed for."
Block will begin his internship in January.
“UNM has provided me with an excellent community of educators and peers where I've been able to grow and develop skills that will enable me to make this internship very productive,” said Block. “All of the UNM geophysics faculty have worked really hard to ensure that I have a productive, impactful, and fun PhD that will open many doors for careers down the line. I specifically want to thank my advisor Professor Mousumi Roy who has taught me about geophysics and how to be a researcher.”
See the Roy Lab website for more information about Geophysics.