Eastern Connecticut State University Student Mackenzie Fannon of Bristol Presents at American Geophysical Union's Fall Conference

2015 Jan 30

The American Geophysical Union's (AGU) fall meeting, held in San Francisco, is considered the largest conference in the world concerning geophysical research and had over 25,000 attendees this year.

Mackenzie Fannon, a senior Environmental Earth Science major from Bristol, CT, presented her research project, "Source Parameters of Large Magnitude Subduction Zone Earthquakes along Oaxaca, Mexico" at the conference in December.

Fannon spent 10 weeks over the summer downloading and processing seismic data in order to complete her research while she was finishing her internship with the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Fannon was praised her for her passion and dedication by her faculty advisor Professor Dickson Cunningham, who is confident that she will continue to be successful long after she wraps up her career at Eastern.

According to Cunningham, "Mackenzie demonstrated a significant amount of personal initiative in securing her 2014 NSF internship. She successfully carried out advanced geophysical research related to large magnitude earthquakes. In addition, during the summer of 2013, she worked as part of an Eastern geological field team in Idaho investigating the past record of North America's largest volcanic eruptions related to the Yellowstone 'Hotspot.' Whether investigating earthquakes or volcanoes, Mackenzie has made new contributions to science and has developed into a promising young researcher."

When asked about the opportunity to present at such a prestigious conference, Fannon replied, "I am really excited to have presented my research at AGU. This conference will give me the opportunity to show off my hard work to thousands of people from all over the world." The event spanned the course of five days and served as an effective platform for scientists interested in earth and space sciences to exchange scholarly discourse, interact with colleagues and learn about exciting new findings in the field.