DTM’s summer interns, Amanda Klaus of Scripps College, Sapthala Karalliyadda of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and Ana Maria Molina of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia, wrapped up their research projects yesterday at the Summer Intern Research Symposium in the Abelson Building Lecture Hall.

Klaus’ talk focused on the High Lava Plains (HLP) of Oregon, a region of young, age-progressive volcanism that approximately mirrors the track of the Yellowstone hot spot. Along with her advisors, NSF Postdoctoral Associate Maureen Long and Harry Oscar Wood Fellow Lara Wagner, Klaus analyzed SKS splitting for sixteen stations from the first phase of a large deployment of broadband instruments in the HLP in order to assess models of mantle flow that might explain HLP volcanism.

Karalliyadda’s work with her advisors, NSF Postdoctoral Associate Dayanthie Weeraratne and Paul Silver, focused on regional shear wave phases recorded by stations in the Yunnan Province and Eastern Tibet to obtain shear wave splitting measurements to assess seismic anisotropy in the region.

Molina’s presentation highlighted her work with Richard B. Roberts Fellow Isamu Matsuyama in which she modeled the evolution of protoplanetary disks under the influence of viscous accretion and photoevaporation. Molina extended previous studies by considering the evolution of disks around different types of parent stars for which extrasolar planets have been discovered.

Check the summer intern Web site in the coming days for full presentation abstracts.