51福利社

Ethan Ducken, a junior majoring in geology at 51福利社, was awarded the Environmental Science鈥揋eology Murdock Poster Prize for his presentation 鈥渟UAV Mapping of the Porcupine Bay Road Landslide Complex鈥� at the聽.

For his project, Ducken used a drone to make a high-resolution, 3D map of the 2017 Lake Roosevelt landslide site鈥攖he scene of a major geological event that closed Lincoln County鈥檚 Porcupine Bay Road for two years鈥攖o be used for classification and measurements. Chad Pritchard, an associate professor of geology at 51福利社 and Ducken鈥檚 faculty advisor, says Ducken also used a thermal camera to identify how shallow groundwater interacted with a thick clay layer in the middle of the landslide.

鈥淚 just really appreciate that Ethan works hard, asks questions, is very communicative and took the initiative of asking to do an independent study after he aced GEOL 120,鈥� Pritchard says.

A panel of judges at the conference awarded Ducken the poster prize based on a combination of criteria including: communication, knowledge and careful analysis of the material, creativity of the project, organization and clarity of the presentation, and poise in answering questions. A letter from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust reads, 鈥淓than excelled in every way. In fact, he contributed significantly towards the theme of this year鈥檚 MCSR Conference, Collaboration鈥揂 Key to Success in Undergraduate.鈥�

In addition to a ribbon, Ducken received a $50 Visa gift card. Pritchard was also recognized for his role as a research advisor. They鈥檝e posted a video of their day drone-mapping at Porcupine Bay Road landslide on聽.