The Lawrentian is pleased to present Stefany Sit as our featured “Scientist of the Week.” Sit is a senior interdisciplinary physics and geology major who is currently focusing on the study of earthquakes and plate tectonics.This summer, Sit had the opportunity to intern at Miami University of Ohio to study subduction zones in southern Mexico and Cascadia in the Pacific Northwest. She spent a lot of her time reading seismographs and also got the chance to set up seismograph stations in Washington and Oregon.
“I spent a lot of time navigating and mixing cement,” laughed Sit as she recounted her summer experience.
In December, Sit will have the opportunity to attend the American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco which is expected to host up to 15,000 scientists. There, she will be able to present the findings from the research that she conducted over the summer.
Sit is also continuing her summer research while she’s here at Lawrence with Professor Marcia Bjornerud. This research is focusing on a new seismic signal, which occurs episodically for periods of time ranging from two days to a number of weeks. The signal represents some kind of tectonic plate movement, but Sit is working hard to figure out just what kind of movement it is and what it means.
The field of geophysics is so intriguing for Sit because it allows her to work at detecting earthquakes before they occur, but also because the areas of seismology and tectonophysics are such integral parts of learning how the Earth functions.
Sit is planning to go on to graduate school and pursue a doctorate in geophysics after her graduation from Lawrence in the spring. In her graduate studies, she plans to continue her research in seismology and tectonophysics, looking specifically at earthquakes.