Madeline Flowers (left) and Savannah Orr (right) pose with the "Doggy Go Walkies" poster.
In September, students and alumni from The Master’s University presented seven research abstracts to the Geological Society of America (GSA) in Anaheim, Calif. GSA is an international academic conference representing the earth sciences. Four current TMU students and six TMU grads participated in the research.
“The presentations went really well,” said Dr. Matthew McLain, dean of the School of Science, Math, Technology & Health and associate professor of biology and geology. “The students presented posters full of information and pictures of their projects. They got to talk to a lot of people and received input about improving their research and advice on what to do next.”
McLain says that TMU students have had abstracts accepted into the GSA before, but “nothing like this.”
One particular presentation stood out amongst the rest.
“Doggy Go Walkies” was a research project on a fossil footprint found at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area, a park in Santa Clarita where many TMU students go to hike and explore.
McLain said, “I took students out to Vasquez Rocks for an Essentials of Geology lab. A couple of students were pointing at mud cracks and we looked down and there was a tiny footprint. We didn’t know it at the time, but this was the first fossil footprint ever found in the park.”
Madeline Flowers, a senior studying geoscience, participated in the research for “Doggy Go Walkies.”
“We got a lot of traffic by of our poster. Everybody loved the title and the fact that our project was simple and easy to understand,” said Flowers. “There was a lot of support from other schools and professors there for us. We even had other people come up to us saying, ‘You guys are from Master’s, right? It’s so good to see other Christians in the field.’ It was encouraging to meet these people and be able to represent our school.”
McLain was grateful for the opportunity that GSA presented — not just for networking, but for representing Christ.
“We have a much higher calling we have to live up to,” he said. “I tell the students they are not just representing themselves, or the department, or the school, but they are also representing Christ. It’s a great opportunity to demonstrate being a person of faith, and being a person of science.”
This latest research success illustrates why McLain is so hopeful about the geoscience and paleontology majors at TMU.
“If you want to study geoscience or paleontology at a school that takes the Bible seriously, this is it,” he says. “Part of our hope is that prospective students can hear about this research and know that they can come here and actually do science for their undergrad. We hope the program continues to grow, and that we get more and more students coming through here that are learning how to do science and have a positive impact on these fields and this world for Christ.”
If you are interested, learn more about TMU’s geoscience and paleontology majors.
