Winter Break!

I’ve written before about the opportunities available to Carleton students over winter break and about my own plans for past breaks. These opportunities include externships, on-campus work, and off-campus research. In my sophomore year, I traveled to Tasmania, Australia with the geology department to study the natural history and geology of the island, as well as conservation efforts around Australia. This year, I will take advantage of another Carleton opportunity, the Kolenkow-Reitz Fellowship.

The Kolenkow-Reitz Fellowship was established to provide support for Carleton students to do research with non-Carleton faculty in science and math. The fellowship encourages students to find research opportunities that may not be available at Carleton, and provides a weekly stipend over winter break or summer break.

I received the fellowship to return to Penn State for one week to continue the oceanography research I worked on this summer. I have been doing some work on my project while at Carleton, but going back to Penn State will allow me to produce significant results (hopefully)! I am still figuring out the exact details of what I will do at Penn State, but I will likely finalize my interpretations and make a new poster, which I will present at the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Fall Meeting.

That’s right — following my week at Penn State, I am going to Washington, D.C. to present my research at the AGU Fall Meeting. This is an amazing opportunity to communicate the research I conducted over the summer and fall and to gain valuable feedback on my work. I also look forward to meeting physical oceanographers and other scientists working in climate science! Some other Carleton students are attending, as well as the professors and graduate students with whom I worked this summer. It should be a wonderful week filled with learning and networking!

For the rest of winter break my plans are simple — I will be at home in Wisconsin relaxing with my family for most of the time. A large portion of my time at home will be spent working on grad school applications and job searches. Then, my sister who is completing a masters in neuroscience in Amsterdam will come home, as will my two brothers. It’s rare that we can all be in one place at the same time, so I’m really looking forward to the ~3 days we will all have together. I hope everyone has a fantastic and productive break, as well!

Jacob is a senior physics major interested in climate science and oceanography. Jacob enjoys eating, sleeping, and hanging out with friends — the simple things in life. At Carleton, Jacob works in the physics department and captains the Gods of Plastic, Carleton’s nationally competitive Division III men’s ultimate team. Meet the other bloggers!