As a graduate student in 2005 I was lucky enough to attend a Thermochronology Short Course sponsored by the Mineralogical Society of America. It was a 2 day event at Snowbird, a ski resort outside of Salt Lake City, just before the National GSA meeting that year. This was a pretty amazing experience for me: the course itself was great, but it was also a tremendous networking experience. The costs were kept low for students, and the talks ranged from methods-focused to applications more broadly, of all of the major thermochronology methods. The talks were also written up in a Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry volume made available that same year, something I’ve used a reference ever since.
This positive experience is one of the reasons I am thrilled to be involved with a short course happening this October, just before the 2014 GSA in Vancouver. The course is sponsored by EarthScope, and will cover geochronology more broadly. Over the course of 2 days, specialists in all of the major geochronology methods will give introductory lectures on their techniques, designed for students and early career faculty who want to use geochronology in their work, but have little or no background. In addition, earth scientists who have integrated geochronology into their work will give methods seminars describing how they’ve used various methods to add temporal constraints to a variety of projects. The course will also kick off a graduate student geochronology award program, also sponsored by EarthScope, that will provide funds for graduate students to do their own geochronology.
Best of all, the short course is free for students, and those who complete the course can even apply for funds to help reimburse travel costs.
For more information, make sure you visit the EarthScope website:
See you in Vancouver!
Apparent Dip 