The negative impacts of climate change are growing in intensity, and continued reliance and dependance on fossil fuels and other nonrenewable energy sources accelerates this problem. One way to reduce continued dependance of nonrenewable energy is the implementation of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy sites. One common pushback against solar energy is concern from residents and communities, who raise potential objections because of noise generation from PV infrastructure. Common components of solar energy that creates noise are solar inverters, a device that converts the harvested direct current (DC) electricity into alternating current (AC) power. Essentially, these inverters turn collected electric energy from the sun into usable power, allowing for it to get used in homes, businesses or go to the grid. Noise is a commonly used reason for solar PV opposition, but despite these common concerns, there is little data describing the sound characteristics of these facilities. This project aims to fill this gap and measure the acoustic sound properties of solar farms using recording equipment. Acquiring the Wood award would allow us to add a time component to this data and would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the solar footprint. Placing acoustic recorders near solar inverters would allow me to collect detailed data including loudness and frequencies at different distances. These measurements will help determine whether inverter noise impacts nearby homes. The results will provide novel and evidence-based information used to generate an open-file report used when discussing new solar installations.

 

This project is important because it helps us better understand the penguins that live in the Falkland Islands and the environments they depend on. Even though penguins are familiar animals, many people are unaware that most penguin species do not live in Arctic environments. Their bones are also not well documented, especially at the species level. When researchers find bones in the field, it can be difficult to tell which species they belong to or what those remains can reveal about past conditions. By carefully describing and measuring more than seventy bones found along a coastal hillside, this project creates a clear reference that will help scientists identify penguin bones more accurately and better understand how different species interact with their environments. This work matters for practical reasons. Knowing what each bone looks like, its size, shape, and unique features helps answer important questions: Which penguin species lived in this area? How long have they been there? Are their populations changing over time? These questions help researchers track wildlife health, understand how ecosystems shift, and monitor how climate change affects coastal species. The broader significance extends into geoscience. Bones found in natural settings act like small records of environmental history. They can show how shorelines have changed, how erosion affects coastal habitats, and how animal communities respond to long‑term environmental shifts. By building a detailed dataset of penguin bone measurements, this project provides a tool for future researchers to study both biological and geological change. Support for this project makes these outcomes possible by providing the tools, time, and resources needed to document each specimen carefully and share the results with the scientific community.

 

 

Within the East African rift system pulses of extension led to melting of the lithosphere during the stratoid phase 4.0-.05 million years ago. In northern parts of the rift this melting of the lithosphere produce basaltic lava flows while in the Southern Kenya Rift traychtic flows of a different chemical composition were produced. This project focuses on geochemical analyses to characterize the differences in the magma plumbing system in the Southern Kenyan Rift relative to the Northern East African system.