A Visit from Discovery Space
Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania, located in State College visited the Rock Mechanics Lab in July 2022 as part of their 'Make Waves' summer science camp for middle school students, ages 11 through 14. The group led by Science Educator, Anna Schurter, was doing a waves-themed camp and came to Penn State to learn about earthquake physics, laboratory measurements of stress and strain, and rock friction. The campers were met by Chris Marone, professor of geophysics; doctoral students Clay Wood, Raphael Affinito, and Nolan Roth; and postdoctoral scholar Aagje Eijsink. They saw a demonstration of ultra-high-resolution deformation measurements involving strain gauges and a Wheatstone bridge where every camper was able to squeeze and bend a piece of granite, a cube about 2 inches in size and watch its size change by a few microns. They also saw stick-slip frictional sliding and learned about the role of loading stiffness for the stability of frictional slip; how a laser can be used to image flow along an optical fiber; listened to laboratory earthquakes under the stress conditions of Earth's upper crust.
Discovery Channel Filming
Chris Marone, professor of geophysics, and his team's exciting work on the use of machine technology in the pursuit of potential earthquake prediction was filmed this year as a part of a new ninety-minute documentary for the Discovery Channel on the earthquake hazards along the West Coast in the United States. The team were both gracious and patient with having to explain and re-do things multiple times and the crew really enjoyed learning about the work being done, and spending time with Chris and the team.