Carsyn Ames is the Samples Coordinator for the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. She joined the Survey in June 2018 after completing her Masters in Geoscience at the University of Iowa. Before that, she earned a BS degree in geoscience at the University of South Carolina in 2016. Ames is a native South Carolinian.
When Carsyn was at the University of Iowa she was an intern at the Iowa Geological Survey where she learned the ropes of samples and sample-data management. “I am delighted to be able to put to work in Wisconsin the skills I gained at the Iowa Survey. There are so many similarities between the two programs,” said Ames.
Carsyn has her work cut out for her, in curating and in assisting Survey geologists in organizing the many samples they collect. What sorts of samples? In 2017, our geologists collected 1,600 feet of rock core and 3,476 feet of geoprobe core. These were added to the 660,000 feet of core in our repository in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. The core repository [UPDATE LINK] also houses 17,400 rock thin sections, 15,100 rock hand sample specimens, and 11,300 sets of water well cutting. It’s a large collection managed with a complex database. Carsyn Ames curates this collection, updating new information as it is received.
Carsyn says, “The goal of curating and data management is to make the samples and the data readily accessible to researchers inside and outside of the Survey.” Contact her at carsyn.ames@wisc.edu.