MAGNET Holds Grand Finale Workshop in Hawaii

The Multidisciplinary Applied Geochemistry Network (MAGNET) is an NSERC-funded industrial stream Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) initiative devoted to geochemistry. Directed by EOAS Professor, Dominique Weis, the program has connected trainees with leading scientists and state-of-the-art analytical laboratories across Canada, addressing challenges in analytical, environmental, and exploration geochemistry.

Since its creation in 2012, MAGNET has organized annual, week-long workshops aimed at equipping trainees with technical and professional skills and facilitating interactive learning and collaboration within the network. For its final year, MAGNET set out to end on a “HI” note, holding its grand finale workshop on the Big Island of Hawaii, under the leadership of Professor James Scoates with help from postdoctoral fellows Laura Bilenker, Elizabeth King, and Miling Li, and Program Coordinator Kimberly Low.

Activities included visits to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Mauna Kea, Pu’u wa’awa’a Cinder Cone State Park, Pololu Valley, Honokohau Harbor, and the active lava flows at Kalapana. Trainees investigated a variety of topics, including aquatic geochemistry, volcanic gases and soils, geothermal energy, Hawaii as a Mars analogue site, and geochemistry of lavas to trace travel, migration, and trade among ancient Polynesians.

For the full workshop report and photos, please see the MAGNET website: http://www.magnet.eos.ubc.ca/hawaiiws/