Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

Congratulations to the seven Kutztown University students presenting their geological research success at the annual international Geological Society of America meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa. this week. - Dr. Adrienne Oakley, Gabriella DeMarco (Marine Sciences) and Hannah Cutshaw (Biology) studied sands and mud deposited in the Chesapeake Bay to characterize changes in the environment during the past 20,000 years (after the last ice age). - Dr. Ed Simpson and Alayna Rea (Environmental Sciences-Geology) described a preserved termite mound from the Jurassic dinosaur period. - Dr. Ed Simpson, Jaylin Calistro (Geography and Geology), Jamie Cook (Geology), Joshua Scherer (Geology), Garrett Rogers (Geology) and Dakota Pittinger (Geology) studied microscopic features that help future paleontologists interpret the fate of dinosaur eggs - distinguishing between the different characteristics of eggshells fossilized after immediate burial, delayed burial and transport in a stream before fossilization. These studies were conducted using the Fred and Martha Hafer Scanning Electron Microscope Lab. Dr. Kurt Friehauf helped when he could.

Two Kutztown University students earned the KU Undergraduate Research Series microcredentialing badge during Spring 2025. The badge is awarded to students who dedicate their time to learning about the transformational impact of undergraduate research to academic success and career readiness.

Four Kutztown University students participated this year in Dr. Phill Reed's Planet-hunting Around the World with Students (PAWS) project. Fatima Kamara, Genevieve Macfarlane, and Philip Jahn spent 10 weeks working as research assistants at University of Southern Queensland and the MINERVA-Australis observatory in Australia, and Lauren Murphy worked on related outreach and broader impacts of the project here at KU's Observatory and Planetarium. The project focuses on discovering and characterizing new exoplanets in collaboration with NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, and they explored additional topics including novel polarimetric observations, pulsating white dwarf stars, and the evolution of the Sun's magnetic activity. The PAWS project is three-year program funded by Reed's current $244,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF award #1952545).

Kutztown University professor Laura Sherrod, along with two geology students and one alumna recently had a publication in the Journal of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics. Their paper aimed to illustrate how different burials of the U.S. Revolutionary War period can be detected and characterized with geophysics, providing important knowledge of a better historical understanding of that time period, as well as optimizing equipment instrumentation and processing procedures for such targeted investigations. Students Kim Shollenberger of Pine Grove, Pa., Corey Potter of Fleetwood, Pa., and alumna Heather Willever '19 of Allentown, Pa. co-authored the publication with Sherrod. The abstract from their paper can be found below and read in full online. "The United States Revolutionary War (1775-1783) resulted in numerous mass burials in the eastern United States, with deaths occurring not just directly related to the battles fought, but also from disease, starvation and exposure. Current information relating to these mass burials is often gathered from myths and rumors, leaving the truth of the historical aspects of that time period ambiguous. Geophysical techniques are increasingly utilized in archaeologic and forensic studies to locate unmarked burials. GPR, magnetics and electrical resistivity have been used to successfully identify burial locations around the world in a non-invasive manner. This paper aims to illustrate how different burials of the US Revolutionary War period can be detected and characterized with geophysics, providing important knowledge of a better historical understanding of that time period, as well as optimizing equipment instrumentation and processing procedures for such targeted investigations. Three case studies of Revolutionary War Era mass burial sites in Pennsylvania, USA are described here: the Paoli Battlefield Memorial, the Old Charlestown Cemetery and Saint Peter's Church in the Great Valley. These sites are within 9 km of each other and have historic records that suggest mass burials during this period. Results show GPR to provide the most useful data overall, with supporting information gathered from the supplemental geophysical techniques of magnetometry and resistivity. 2D profiles tend to provide a more valuable image of the subsurface than 3D slices. Larger burials leave a greater footprint and have a higher chance of causing a geophysical disturbance that can be measured more than 200 years after the burial. Soil moisture content and vegetation type can impact quality of results. Study implications demonstrate the challenges and potential usefulness of geophysical techniques to successfully locate and characterize mass burials of this time period."

Kutztown University astronomy senior Tyler Fenske of Wayne, N.J., co-authored his first peer-reviewed paper in The Astronomical Journal, titled "TESS Delivers Five New Hot Giant Planets Orbiting Bright Stars from the full-frame Images." He worked with professor Phillip Reed. Fenske contributed telescope observations using the C. R. Chambliss Astronomical Observatory on KU's campus. His analyses confirmed the sizes of two new exoplanets, TOI-1601 b and TOI-1333 b, both of which orbit sub-giant stars that are each about two times the size of our sun. The work was done while participating in the laboratory component of KU's course on Exoplanets (AST 242) in Fall 2020. Fenske will graduate this May. Read the paper here.

Two Kutztown University physics majors, Anna Faretty and Gerald Curran, presented original research at the 50th annual meeting of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Dr. Kunal K. Das as well as a URC grant for Faretty. Based on this work, they are currently writing a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.

Three Kutztown University students took their research to the Pa. state capital on April 25. Danielle Cannon, Carly Plesic and Austin Stoudt participated in the annual Undergraduate Research at the Capital event.

Six Kutztown University geology students presented research at the Geological Society of America meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, Sept. 22-25. Three research projects were a part of Dr. Sarah Tindall's Roadmaps in GeoScience (RiGS) program, which she funds through a National Science Foundation grant. Dr. Edward Simpson supervised three additional research projects that focused on different aspects of paleontological discoveries made during field expeditions with his students to a major dinosaur quarry in Utah. Students: Claire Santa, Lara Ilsemann, Robert Edris, Mark Domin, David Muller and Eric Dinter, also toured geological sites in Arizona, including Red Rocks of Sedona, Grand Canyon, S P volcanic crater, Meteor Crater (group photo at rim of 50,000-year-old, milewide asteroid impact crater), and Petrified Forest National Park.