Soil Science Society of North Carolina Meeting

Hi everyone, this is Audrey. I know, long time no post. Everyone has been busy traveling or working in the lab with no time to blog. We have some exciting posts to share, so I hope you enjoy them! On January 20-21, the Soil Science Society of North Carolina held their yearly meeting which is one of the largest state meetings in the country. Believe it or not, North Carolina is one of the leading states in soil research. I had a poster looking at arsenic and lead levels in porewater and sediments of golf course and sod farm ponds across the Sandhills region of North Carolina.

Allison also had a poster on her current work looking at the effects on soil and crops from the coal ash spill from Duke Energy into the Dan River. This is, of course, a topic of extreme interest, so Allison had her work cut out for her answering all the questions. Overall, Allison won 3rd place for her poster, so congratulations to her!

And finally, Matt gave a talk on the cause and effects of arsenic loading into groundwater in Southeast Asia's and how soils play a role. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture, but he gave a great talk! Liz was the moderator for the Soil and Groundwater Contamination session as well. As you can see, we were an active group in this years meeting!

Animal pictures for Audrey!

Audrey didn't get to make it on this trip to Cambodia, but she was insistent we take some good animal pictures.  Audrey, these are for you!

Our man Nuon, and other friends

The best part about any trip to Cambodia is getting to spend quality time with friends and colleagues.  We got some good time in the field with our friend Nuon, who works at Resource Development International.  You've seen him in some other posts, but here are a few other pictures:

After a while, someone was copying someone else.  Not sure which way it went:

Plus we got to see our buddy Dina:

And a whole bunch of old friends from (many) years past:

Hooray!

Filtering can take forever

Sigh...

Alas, there's always some fun to be had while we wait.  Like jumping contests:

Or stickball:

Or just randomly throwing things at other things:

Yes, folks, we're pushing the frontiers!

That time Liz fell in the water while trying to cross a stream

Here come Nuon and Liz...

In preparation for the water crossing, Liz puts the YSI on her head:

Uh oh:

A safer method of travel:

Need to clean off everything now:

Sorry I didn't help, but documentation is important!

To Cambodia!

Liz and I (Matt) made a quick dash to Cambodia in January to collect targeted sediment samples, sample surface water and groundwater, and connect with colleagues and friends.

We only traveled for 10 days, but still brought our typical boatload of stuff:

Once we arrived, there was a lot of work to be done:

I mostly stood around and took pictures, but every once in a while I was allowed to do something important, like model gloves outside a gas shop in Phnom Penh or carry a dewar of liquid nitrogen in a crowded tuk tuk:

Overall, it was a successful trip, with a lot of great well drilling and sediment collection:

Stay tuned for more to come!

Photoshoot!

NC State's CALS Perspectives magazine is doing a story about some of our research with the Duckworth lab...and they recently staged a photoshoot of me and Owen.  (The absurdity of the situation was not missed by the rest of our group members, who don't see the two of us in the lab very frequently!)

The story is not out yet, but we have some pictures to share!

Here, Owen claims I have dandruff on my shoulder, though I insist it's just lint from my well-worn sweater:

After the glamor shots, there was science to be done!  It is unclear what Owen is putting into the glovebox:

Stop laughing Polizzotto!

Obviously, we were very focused on making what seem to be vital measurements:

Ahh yes, all in a day's work.  Go team!