Becca Bussard is a 4th year PhD candidate at the University of Oregon and a returning USIP intern. Her PhD work utilizes geodetic techniques, primarily interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), to investigate volcanoes in the Cascades.
Michela Savignano will graduate with her bachelor’s degree in geochemistry from Brown University this December. She began college studying neuroscience and on the track to attend medical school. After her freshman year, Michela studied abroad at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where she was unable to take the required pre-med courses.
Phillip Choi is a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studies physics with a minor in geology—and a returning RESESS intern. Phillip enjoyed physics, but wanted to combine his theoretical knowledge with laboratory work. At the University of Pennsylvania, Phillip works in a sediment dynamics and geomorphology laboratory to investigate Earth surface processes from a granular physics perspective.
Rebecca (Becca) Bussard is entering her third year as a PhD candidate at the University of Oregon. She uses satellite geodesy, specifically Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), to measure the surface deformation of Earth. Becca is able to utilize the deformation signals to understand surface and subsurface processes occurring at volcanoes and how these processes impact the signal InSAR retrieves. She also uses GPS data in her work to compare with the InSAR data she processes, as well as multispectral optical data.
Phillip Choi is a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Although he initially entered college interested in studying cultural anthropology, Phillip soon realized that he preferred physics. After having completed compulsory military service in Korea, Phillip recognized how much he enjoyed outdoor fieldwork. Once he got to know some of the faculty and students in the Earth Science department at his university and learned more about geology, Phillip decided that his true passion was geophysics, which incorporated both his interest in nature and his knack for physics.