Hello everyone!
October was an interesting and crazy month for research and writing. I was introduced to the world of post doctorate application write and had to submit two proposals by the end of October. I decided to start applying for postdoc positions now because I do not want to be worrying about finding a postdoc position close to the defense date of my PhD. A lot of people strongly recommended I start searching for postdoc positions over the summer and apply for positions as early as Fall 2020. I have followed their advice and applied to the NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) and the European Space Agency (ESA) Research Postdoc Fellowship.
Postdoc Research Proposals
The research proposal I wrote for the NPP described the design of a new protocol to analyze, distinguish and sample unshocked and shocked anorthosite on the lunar surface. I argue that when it comes to dating the formation of the early lunar crust (linked to the lunar magma ocean hypothesis) prior to episodes of high impact flux and magmatic differentiation. We need anorthosite samples that have experienced minimal to no alteration. If a sample is heavily altered or shocked then we cannot ensure the isotopic chemistry represents the original formation date. In my proposal, I state I will use a portable Terra XRD instrument with a handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and portable analytical spectral device (ASD) to design my protocol by testing different calibrations and comparing field data to detailed laboratory analysis. I propose two field sites: the San Gabriel Mountains in California and the Mistastin Lake impact structure in Labrador, Canada. Both field sites contain anorthosite rocks (unshocked or shocked), making them the perfect locations to test the instrument suite and design the protocol.
Image source: Lunar and Planetary Institute/Jennifer Rapp
The ESA research fellowship proposal I wrote was completely different to the NPP. For the ESA proposal, I proposed a research project to investigate the spectral properties of Mercurian pyroclastic deposits by studied the spectra of lunar pyroclastic deposits. The Moon is the most ideal planetary analogue for studying Mercury because it is also an airless body and is exposed to the same space weathering processes as Mercury. The unfavourable viewing geometry of the MESSENGER spacecraft that orbited Mercury from 2011-2015 made it challenging to interpret spectral data collected from onboard instruments. The new BepiColombo spacecraft the Mercury Planetary Orbiter will have nadir viewing geometries, and will provide better resolution data for analysis. Leading up to the mission, we can use the Moon to prepare for the data we might expect to receive from BepiColombo. I also wrote in my proposal that my work can applied to studying the space weathering effects of lunar volatiles on the surface. The lunar remote sensing data sets I will (hopefully!) use include the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter DIVINER and Lyman Alpha Mapping Project. I discussed this research proposal with Dr Elliot Sefton-Nash at the European Space and Technology Center in the Netherlands and he pointed out its applicability to the ESA payload PROSPECT that will be onboard the Luna 27 lander.
Research Schedule for November
If can be honest with you all, November is looking like a very busy month. Reason is because I have a few major research milestones I need to complete before December and the new year, as well as complete non-academic projects and commitments. The research milestones I need to complete preferably before the start of December are as follows:
Write a draft of my Iceland lava flow paper.
Start converting an Interactive Data Language script to Python.
Prepare for my final PhD committee meeting.
See if I can analyze more zircon grains from the Mistastin Lake impact structure.
The paper draft I am actually writing into separate blog posts that will later be combined to a single document. If you read my blog post titled "Lava Flows at the Holuhraun Lava Field in Iceland - My Third PhD Research Paper" you will learn what my plans are for the paper. Although I do not need to complete this milestone before December, I have it mentioned here because it is going to be a difficult task. The script I am referring to calculates root-mean-square slope and Hurst exponent from a LiDAR elevation text file. I need to convert it to a python-based script so it can be run on any computer program. As of now, it can only be run using the Harris Geospatial Solutions IDL software, which is expensive to own. I have my PhD committee meeting date set for November 19th. I will be summarizing my research results to my committee and updating them on research accomplishments and plans to finish on time. If I get the chance to analyze more zircon grains from the Mistastin Lake impact structure I can perhaps start a follow-up paper to my paper currently under review by the journal Geology. I have a side project plan to compare my data to zircon grains being studied by another PhD student supervised by Dr Gordon Osinski. She is studying zircon grains from the West Clearwater Lake impact structure in Quebec, Canada. Similar to Mistastin, it also has black impact glass.
These research milestones are not the only items I need to complete or work on this month. For the past two months, I have had no TA duties to worry about, which has been nice most of the time. I am the TA for the Earth Science Graduate Seminar course and only have the task of marking the research proposals the students submit for part of their final grade. We received the proposals a few days ago and I need to have them all marked before November 16th. It is a lot of time to get through them all (there are only 16 total). The challenging part will be deciding what days to focus on marking them and put research work aside. I also have a couple of podcast interviews coming up, as well as hosting and producing podcast episodes for GradCast. I am also committing more free time to learning French. During lockdown I kept on telling myself this is a golden opportunity to learn French. However, a combination of work anxiety and laziness prevented me from sticking to learning a bit each day. Recently, I have been using Duolingo a lot more (currently on a 53 day streak!), watching French 101 videos, and listening to some podcasts teaching French phrases and conversations. I have also gotten in contact with my second cousin in Rome who is fluent in Italian and speaks French as a second language. I offered to help her with some English since she is helping me with French.
Pretty busy month. Hopefully I don't go too crazy! Plan on tackling each task by chunking them into smaller more achievable daily and weekly tasks.
I will update you guys with a mid-month research update! I will be posted right after I complete my TA marking :)
See you all next time!
À la prochaine!
Just adding a cheeky picture of a lattice blueberry pie I made last week after I submitted my two postdoc applications! Quite proud of it because it is the first time I baked a lattice pie :D
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