Evelyn Larson is one of our most recent PSF interns and we couldn't be more proud of what she's accomplished! We first met Evelyn when she attended PSF children's programming. She quickly took an interest in meteorites and planetary geology, and her curiosity TOOK OFF, to say the least!
Planetary Studies Foundation (PSF): You shared an impressive update with the PSF Board on Sep. 14 detailing the work you did to inventory and categorize more than 2,500 meteorites. Can you share with the membership what you accomplished for the Yale Peabody Museum in partnership with the PSF?
Evelyn Larson (EL): From January to July this year, I worked part time on setting up an intake process for PSF meteorites at the Yale Peabody Museum. This involved getting both the PSF collection and the DuPont collection fully cataloged, weighed, and photographed. I took over 3000 high-resolution photographs of each piece in both collections in the Peabody Imaging Studio. I worked with the Imaging Studio manager, Andy Todd, to devise protocols for different kinds of meteorites. For example, iron meteorites have to be photographed with special lenses to minimize reflections on their shiny surfaces. I also set up an intake spreadsheet with all of the relevant information about each of the meteorites, including information from the Meteoritical Bulletin and extra catalog numbers found on the meteorite packaging. All of this information and the photographs are currently being uploaded to the Peabody’s museum catalog system, called EMu. Once everything has been uploaded, the information will be available for the public and researchers alike, and researchers will be able to make requests to Yale for sub-samples of meteorites for their work.
PSF: Wow! That sounds like a daunting, but important task you completed. You mentioned the information will be available to the public and researchers, can you explain?
EL: Once all of the meteorites have been uploaded into the Peabody system, they will be searchable by the public on their online platform: peabody.yale.edu/explore/collections/mineralogy-meteoritics. Some of the PSF/DuPont meteorites are already on display in the Peabody Museum’s Hall of Minerals, including Allende, Dar al Gani 400, and Seymchan. I imagine the collection will be used in the future for students of all ages. Some of them have been used as examples in classes that I took as an undergrad at Yale.
PSF: Will you be involved with anything else with the PSF or DuPont meteorite collections or is your work done?
EL: As work is finished on importing the collection information to the database, I will be available to answer any questions they might have at the Peabody. In the future, more meteorites might come to the Peabody from Paul, at which point volunteers would be able to follow the protocols I outlined in the last year to get them imported.
PSF: Congratulations on starting the first year of your doctoral program at MIT! How did you make that decision and what will your area of study be?
EL: Thanks! I received the Presidential Graduate Fellowship Award that will help fund my tuition for my first year at MIT. I did not apply for the fellowship, rather I was recommended for the award by my advisor and department. Nominations for Presidential Fellows are selected by the President and Provost from the pool of candidates. The program supports approximately 120 graduate students annually. I will attend a reception for the award in October.
I will be studying meteorite paleomagnetism in Ben Weiss’s lab, starting with a study on Calcium-Aluminum-rich inclusions in carbonaceous chondrites. I aim to answer questions about the strength of the magnetic field in the very early solar system and its role in the formation of planets. Ben’s lab felt like the right fit– I get to work on fundamental questions in planetary science using a range of techniques on meteorites, including paleomagnetism, petrology, and cosmochemistry.
PSF: What have the first few weeks been like at MIT? What is it like on campus and in the classroom?
EL: MIT is great! The department is quite large, and it’s fun to see what people are working on across a range of disciplines. My office includes people who work on Earth geology and astronomy, so I am exposed to many different ideas every day. I am only taking one class (Essentials of Planetary Science)– mostly I focus on research.
PSF: Our understanding is that your hope is to advance the field of planetary geology as a way to impact the future… at this point, do you know what they may translate to after you receive your doctorate?
EL: I hope to become a professor… but I’ll get back to you on that in a few years. We have a very exciting future ahead of us with sample return missions by NASA and others. ♦
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