GSA grant awarded for dating Antarctic metamorphism

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

April 15, 2016 News

Steven Spreitzer, a SECS master’s student and teaching assistant has been awarded funding for his research from the Geological Society of America through the Graduate Student Research Grant. For his master’s thesis, Steven is using a radiometric dating technique, called in-situ monazite dating, in order to find the ages of metamorphic rocks from the Larsemann Hills in East Antarctica. This technique will allow the dates of grains of the mineral monazite to be linked to the formation of individual metamorphic minerals, thus relating the variables of time, temperature and pressure. Steven will use this funding to travel to the University of Massachusetts Amherst in order to work with faculty at the Ultrachron Geochronology Lab. This lab has an electron microprobe specifically built for the types of high precision analysis needed for in-situ monazite dating. His thesis advisor is Dr. Ed Grew.