UAV Drone Based Thermal Infrared Imaging to Delineate Endmember Stream Discharge Behavior
At the American Geophysical Union I presented a poster featuring my research involving piloting a drone equipped with a thermal infrared camera in order to visualize stream discharge originating from various stream outlets. The idea is that with this data scientist will be able to know exactly how material moves within these stream ocean environments which will allow for more precise sampling if pollutants were to enter such systems.
This research was very well received by many professors that viewed my poster. Many offered incite into their experiences using drones to capture data for research. Others inquired about my methods to enhance their own projects. In addition, quite a few of the professors invited me perform research at their own facilities at a graduate level after seeing the work that I had produced from my project.
Some notable institutions that showed interest included: The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, The University of Arizona School of Hydrology, U.C Berkeley, Texas A&M, Syracuse University and the University of Arkansas.
In addition to all of this, I also spent a majority of the week attending talks by some of the best professors in the field of geology and witnessed a lot of the awesome cutting-edge work that they were performing that applied to all sorts of feilds. I also scheduled individual appointments to pick the brain of some NASA and NOAA employees to see how they achieved their goals.
Attending this conference was very beneficial, my major concentration is pretty unique at NU, so often the world of my science seems quite small among the few faculty that work here. Going to a conference of 23,000+ scientists working in geology not only opened me up to opportunities I hadn’t considered, but also revealed to me how immersive the world of my major truly is.
The Shout-It-Out Award (Conference Travel Award) Blog Post by Daniel Litchmore
Candidate for Bachelor of Science in Geology and Chemistry ’19