Jean Wardell Awarded DOE Fellowship

by George Zamora

SOCORRO, N.M., April 30, 1999 -- New Mexico Tech geochemistry doctoral candidate L. Jean Wardell recently was awarded a prestigious fellowship from one of the major research offices of the U.S. Department of Energy, which will help support her ongoing research on how volcanic emissions affect global climate change.

Wardell was chosen from a nationwide pool of applicants as a recipient of the DOE's Graduate Research Environmental Fellowship (GREF), which is administered by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research's Global Change Education Program.

As part of her fellowship research and doctoral dissertation project, Wardell will examine how concentrations of carbon dioxide and trace metals emitted from active volcanoes may potentially affect global climate change.

While at New Mexico Tech, Wardell has been actively involved in several field research projects involving measuring volcanic carbon dioxide emissions from White Island in New Zealand, Mt. Erebus in Antartica, Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii, Yasur Volcano in Vanuatu, and the Karymsky Volcano in Kamchatka, Russia. In addition, she also has conducted soil gas studies in Hungary's Pannonian Basin and at the nearby Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge.

Her extensive research has resulted in several recent publications in scientific journals and conference proceedings.

Wardell lists current memberships in the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Geological Society of America (GSA), and the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI). She recently was elected as an officer to the GSA's National Committee on Minorities and Women.

In addition, she is actively involved with the American Red Cross as a certified First Aid/CPR Instructor and also with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), having attained the PADI ranking of Divemaster.

"The research environment here at New Mexico Tech is exceptional," Wardell relates. "The faculty and staff are incredibly supportive of my research projects and aspirations. All my work here feels like a team effort."