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!

DJ and Audrey Are Movie Stars!

With Travis Gannon's group from Crop Science at NC State, we have been working on a publication for the Journal of Visualized Experiments, describing field methods for analysis of chemicals applied to soils. The exciting thing about JoVE is that along with a written publication, the journal professionally produces a movie about your work! We recently completed the video footage, and Audrey and DJ got to show off their exceptional on-camera skills. Some pictures of the shoot are below...and be sure to check back soon to see the final video!

We did the shoot at the Sandhills Research Station and had to start pretty early to get the field area prepared.

Audrey prepares to give her introductory remarks...which, of course, she delivered with precision.

DJ demonstrates lysimeter installation.

Audrey and DJ get ready to install some porewater samplers. The videographer liked to do most everything with his jacket on his head.

Preparing for vacuum filtration...

DJ makes a pas over the field area to create some footage for general field 'maintenance'.

The final shot: DJ cuts open and sections the lysimeters.

From now on, DJ and Audrey can be contacted through their talent agents.

Christine and Allison present at the NC State Undergraduate Research Symposium!

Christine and Allison presented their research at NC State's Undergraduate Research Symposium!

Christine's poster was entitled "Quantifying the Arsenic Adsorption Capacity of Alcan AAFS50 for Its Use in Household Treatment of Well Water".

Allison's poster was entitled "Characterizing the Aqueous Chemistry of Aquifers with Low and High Manganese in the North Carolina Piedmont".

Both did a fantastic job describing their research and answering questions. Way to go ladies!!!

Fall is for football......or greenhouse work

DJ has been working in the greenhouse since last August to wrap up his final research project!

With the help of Terri Williams, columns were prepped for experimentation.

Soil was packed; bermudagrass plugs were pulled and planted.

 
 

After all was said it done, it turned out quit nice!

 

 

 



 

He made a great decision for this project……………he saved his lab work for the winter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now on to the thesis!

Liz finishes her well sampling (...or does she?)

It was a cold January morning near the NC Zoo as Liz finished the last of her winter well sampling!

We were lucky to have the help of Shuying Wang, Winston-Salem Region Hydrogeologist and well-sampler extraordinaire from the NC Division of Water Resources:

Liz takes some good notes:

Hey...focus!

Getting the gear working:

Hooray for being done (...well, except for that thesis...)!

Rockin' it in Tampa

This post is a bit overdue, but in November, Liz, Audrey and I (Matt) delivered several presentations at the Soil Science Society of America annual meeting in Tampa.

Here's Liz at her poster:

And Audrey at her poster:

Liz, I, and a few others from the department ran in the 5k (with one derelict participant forgetting to register and not getting a race bib):

Owen Duckworth, biogeochemist extraordinaire, was the speed demon of the group.

The run brought out some SSSA magic, and Owen and I shared a touching scenic sunrise:

Fun all around!