The Freedman Prize is a competitive award established by Drs. Allen and Judy Freedman in 2002 to recognize superior student-faculty collaborative research in applied geological, planetary and environmental sciences. Funds support the research costs incurred by students and faculty (travel, field work, sample preparation, and analytical costs).
2020 Freedman Prize Winners in Geology
Winner: Gerald Meyer ’23
Project: An Investigation to Classify a Northwestern African Meteorite.
Project Advisor: Dr. Eric L. Johnson.
Winner: Tarrah Skye Smith ’21
Project: Effect of Buffer Zones on Local Creek Water Quality.
Project Advisor: Dr. Zsuzsanna Balogh-Brunstad.
2019 Freedman Prize Winners in Geology
Winner: Tylisha Gourdine ’20
Project: Investigating metabolisms of microbial dark matter organisms in the crustal subsurface environment of Juan de Fuca Ridge. Project Advisor: Dr. Stephanie Carr.
Winner: Brynn Marion ’20
Project: Origins of marble corestone weathering in Northern New York.
Project Advisor: Dr. David Griffing.
Winner: Maxwell Pizarro ’20
Project: Mineralogy and chemical change over a deformation gradient using a metagabbro from Dana Hill in the Adirondack Lowlands. Advisor: Dr. Eric L. Johnson.
2018 Freedman Prize Winners in Geology
Winner: Rebecca Nathan ’19
Project: Quantifying soil development of hemlock groves in the upper Susquehanna watershed.
Project Advisor: Dr. Zsuzsanna Balogh-Brunstad.
2017 Freedman Prize Winners in Geology
Winner: Samantha Berberich ’18
Project: Granular disintegration of coarse-grained marbles in humid climates.
Project Advisor: Dr. David Griffing.
Winner: Victoria Hubbard ’18
Project: Microscale alterations of feldspar across a semiarid environmental gradient.
Project Advisor: Dr. Zsuzsanna Balogh-Brunstad.
Winner: Ian Forbes ’18 Finalist-Honorable Mention Award
Project: Determining the ratio of fungal and whole soil profile weathering rates across a climate gradient.
Project Advisor: Dr. Zsuzsanna Balogh-Brunstad.
Winner: Kevin LeDone ’18 Finalist-Honorable Mention Award
Project: Investigating fungal aquaporins in drought conditions.
Project Advisor: Dr. Zsuzsanna Balogh-Brunstad.
2016 Freedman Prize Winners in Geology
Winner: Ali Jaber ‘17 (Geology major)
Project: Analogue modeling of rock hydrofracturing.
Project Advisor: Dr. Eric Johnson
Winner: Samuel Nowak ‘17 (Geology major)
Project: Gold-mineralization in the greenstone belts of northern Minnesota.
Project Advisor: Dr. Eric Johnson
Winner: Nicole Mehr ‘17 (Geology major)
Project: The soil water chemistry of select hemlock wooly adelgid affected forests in New York.
Project Advisor: Dr. Zsuzsanna Balogh-Brunstad
Winner: Kyle Smart ‘17 (Geology major)
Project: Silicate mineral weathering by folic acids.
Project Advisor: Dr. Zsuzsanna Balogh-Brunstad
2015 Freedman Prize Winner in Geology
Winner: Skylar Kortright ‘17 (Geology major)
Project: Unusual occurrences of stromatolites in Pleistocene reefs, San Salvador Island, Bahamas.
Project Advisor: Dr. David Griffing
2014 Freedman Prize Winners in Geology
Winner: Jessica Domino ‘15 (Geology major)
Project: Modeling magma mixing at Andrews Point, Massachusetts.
Project Advisor: Dr. Eric Johnson
Winner: Brian Redder ’15 (Environmental Chemistry major/Geology minor )
Project: The effect of woolly adelgid-caused hemlock mortality on nitrate and phosphate mobility.
Project Advisor: Dr. Zsuzsanna Balogh-Brunstad