UMSS23 Student Profile: Hanna Brooks
Though she had always been good at science and interested in the natural world, it was a long while before Hanna Brooks thought of herself as a scientist. It wasn鈥檛 until a casual conversation during her sophomore year at Virginia Tech that led to her studying rock samples in Greece, that she first owned the title for herself.聽
Nowadays, Brooks is working toward her PhD at 91福利, studying pollution found in ice cores of the North Pacific region. 鈥淭he position of the North Pacific region (Alaska, USA and Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia) uniquely links the Asian and North American continents when examining historical trends in pollutants.鈥 For her dissertation, Brooks is 鈥渆xamining changes in lead (Pb) values over the past two millennia (340 to 2022 CE) using ice cores from Begguya (Mr. Hunter), Alaska.鈥 According to Brooks winds carry 鈥渄ust and pollution from Asia across the North Pacific,鈥 depositing them at Begguya. 鈥淐ritical changes in culture (industrialization, globalization of world markets, Covid-19 pandemic), technology (advancement of industrial recycling), and policy and legislation (phase out of leaded gasoline) have direct impacts on Pb transported to and deposited at Begguya.鈥
The Begguya ice core project is 鈥減art of a global collaborative effort including researchers from the University of Maine, Dartmouth College, Colby College, University of New Hampshire, Oregon STate University, Colorado State University and Paul Scherrer Institute to understand the impacts of natural and anthropogenic climate change in the North Pacific in the time since the last ice age.鈥 Brooks has had the opportunity to work with several faculty mentors and advisors, which she says has furthered her professional network and opened up future collaborative opportunities.
鈥淚 always recommend that you have lots of conversations with your professors and teaching assistants. Ask them what they research and why they are passionate about it. You never know where these conversations may lead, and what curiosity their passions may spark in you.鈥