Shamar Chin, a Ph.D. student in geology, received a 2018-19 Presidential Graduate Fellowship from the University of Nebraska.
The goal of Chin's dissertation research is to improve methods for interpreting past climates and oceanographic conditions to inform the ongoing discussion about climate change. Chin is working to determine past sea surface temperatures from calcareous nanofossils, which hold a wealth of information about major shifts in climate throughout geologic time but have not been deeply studied.
The prestigious fellowships are awarded to a select group of NU graduate students each year on the basis of high scholastic performance and personal accomplishment. Fellows receive a stipend provided through the University of Nebraska Foundation that allows them to pursue their studies full-time.
"Our Presidential Graduate Fellow are some of the best and brightest students at the University of Nebraska – exactly the type of talented, driven, creative scholars we want to represent our university and state," University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds said. "We are fortunate to enjoy a level of private support that allows these students to devote themselves fully to their studies and research. I'm confident we will see great things from them in the future."
Her work thus far has drawn attention from both academia and industry; she's been invited, for example, to sail as a Shipboard Scientist on the International Ocean Discovery Program's research vessel Joides Resolution. Chin has also served as a graduate teaching assistant at UNL and was chosen to instruct a full section of GEOL 101, a large lecture course for majors and general education students.
