Senior

Senior’s field experiences while studying volcanoes inspire her to ‘give back to Rice’

BY DAWN DORSEY
Special to the Rice News

Ulyana Horodyskyj, a Brown College senior, is a perfect example of what can happen at Rice when an undergraduate is curious and hungry for educational experiences outside the classroom.

Recently, Horodyskyj presented a poster about Kilauea, the world’s most active volcano, at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. This past summer, she made an oral presentation at an international conference in Australia on her research comparing the ancient Earth with that of today.

JEFF FITLOW

Brown senior Ulyana Horodyskyj is grateful that Rice has allowed her to have such rich and varied field and research experiences while still an undergraduate.

A product of three weeks in Hawaii on a Rice-funded field camp experience, Horodyskyj’s poster presentation involved using volcanology to educate the geoscience community about a field camp experience for undergraduate and graduate students.

“I believe it is the responsibility of scientists to do something with their knowledge, to give back to the community,” Horodyskyj said. “What better way to give back to Rice than to go to a conference and show how the knowledge I’ve gained can help others?”

The poster got even more use as Horodyskyj educated girls about science and volcanology at the Sally Ride Science Festival and the Earth science department’s Girl Scout Day.

All of this came about because of a geology field trip she took during a class with Cin-Ty Lee, assistant professor of Earth science.

“I enjoyed it so much that I asked Dr. Lee if I could work more with him,” she said. “I never expected it would go this far; I just wanted some experience.”

Her research on the ancient Earth is a result of a 15-month project comparing the chemical signatures of billion-year-old metamorphic rocks from Africa and Siberia to younger rocks from the Sierra Nevada in California.

“You can see similarities in the two chemistries,” Horodyskyj said. “This potentially shows us that the modern-day style of continental formation may have been operating at least in some part in ancient times.”

Ulyana sees her presentations as a way to return to Rice the favor of allowing her to have such rich and varied field and research experiences while still an undergraduate. In addition to New Mexico, Hawaii and Australia, she has traveled to Colorado, California, Alberta, British Columbia and Belize.
Horodyskyj, whose grandparents emigrated from Ukraine before her birth, is applying for Ph.D. programs in planetary sciences.

“I want to use my background and understanding of geological terrains and volcanoes to do comparative planetology, particularly of Mars,” she said. “After graduate school, I plan to try for the astronaut corps.”

In the meantime, Horodyskyj is making plans for another field trip next summer — maybe to Alaska this time.