Alyssa Hynes

Ahoy! I am a first year Geography Master's student studying paleoecology under the advisement of Dr. Andrea Brunelle. My research is centered around a sediment core collected from Dugway, UT - the aim of my work is to use preserved pollen and charcoal to reconstruct the depositional climate and environment. I will also be subjecting the core to XRF, loss on ignition, and magnetic susceptibility analyses.

As you can tell if you've ever heard me say the words 'coffee', 'orange', or 'horrible', I was born and bred in New York. My family lives on Long Island - I miss them, and my two pups, but I have wanted to come out West ever since I learned about the Oregon Trail in elementary school. I graduated from S.U.N.Y. Geneseo in December 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Geological Science and a concentration in Secondary Education. During my undergraduate years I conducted biostratigraphy research with Upper Devonian conodonts that culminated in an Honors Thesis.

I am super excited to live near mountains! I love hiking, biking, skiing, camping, and practicing Tae Kwon Do. I cook things that mostly turn out edible, and I have a big appetite for reading.