Below is a transcript of our conversation with CMU Senior Joy Youngblood
David Nicholas:
I'm David Nicholas and this is Central Focus, a weekly look at research activity and innovative work from the Central Michigan University students and faculty. An earlier segment focused on the search for lithium and efforts to make the process more humane and environmentally friendly. My discussion was with Geology Professor Mona Sirbescu from CMU's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Her research has led to the development of a model for non-invasive exploration for potential lithium deposits. One of her students is Joy Youngblood, CMU senior from Stockbridge, who sat down with me to update the findings…
Joy Youngblood:
We do have a working model, but it definitely does need more refining and verification. The precision of our data looked pretty well, but how accurate is it? That is our biggest question, but the trends are definitely there and our methods we use and we didn't have to disturb anything except take a few samples and take them back to the lab. Crush clean. And analyze these samples. So, it's definitely a start of a working model to try to apply to larger or different environments at the same time.
DN:
Have you taken it to the stage where there is any excavation going on to test that accuracy? What you think you're finding? Are you doing at least limited digging to determine if it's correct?
JY:
So, to test our accuracy, we don't need to do any of this large scale excavation more just like what we're digging out with our hands, like cleaning these outcrops off slightly, cleaning all the dead vegetation and leaves that have built up and to really test your accuracy there is a number of different ways we could. It would just be more costly, and we very much do want to test these and possibly next year where another student can take on this project with more funding to take these to higher levels and send off samples that we already have. Since most of our methods we only need a teeny tiny little 10-gram powder samples, so we take small hand sized rocks home and then just use a tiny little fragment that represents the whole sample. So, we have everything we need. Actually, we just need to keep working on this for the next couple of years.
DN:
So, by the end of your senior year, what's the objective? By the time your time at CMU is done and you, as you're saying, would be handing it off to the students coming behind you.
JY:
I'm not sure how far I can get. Personally, I'm going to keep working. I have been working even coming back from presenting in my conference. There's always so much more to do and that I want to find out with Dr. Sirbescu. So, I think setting this up enough for another student to keep continuing this project in this model to see how far we can get and trying to publish sometime in the next couple years as well is my main focus right now.
DN:
The conference, then, your presence there, being allowed to present. And the development of results and findings that would be published, what is the goal for you moving forward? What doors have been opened so far by the opportunities that you've had?
JY:
Yeah, so being able to conduct this research and have a lead authored project has really helped me find these Graduate School offers and knowing what schools are interested in my type of research, because that's what they have funding for and where I could try to continue researching this. So not even just from a resume standpoint, this is more of I see as like a future of most of I want to keep doing this because this is really cool to me and I'm really passionate about these subjects and possibly like another past student, maybe go to grad school somewhere else and come back to work with Dr. Sirbescu for a PhD, even since we had a student who did that and just graduated last year and just seeing all these students that Dr. Sirbescu has lifted up and propelled in these directions who have successful careers and jobs and are making a difference in the world of exploration and geology that we need for the sustainable future is really what this has helped me get into.
DN:
All very rare air things for undergrad student. Congratulations on all of that and thanks for giving us the update on (on )how this project continues as you move forward then and (and) best of luck in those opportunities still to come. We appreciate the time.
JY:
Yes, thank you so much. I appreciate the honor too.
