Billings2

The Billings Fund is now inviting applications for student field work grants. One or more grants (probably in the range of $500 to $1000) will be offered in time for the subsequent field season. The purpose of these grants is to foster continued field work in New England, much of which builds on the pioneering contributions of Marland and Kay Billings. These grants are limited to funding expenses related to field work (e.g. field equipment and supplies, transport, accommodations, and the preparation of maps) and would not fund a new hard disk for a computer or lab fees for sample analysis, etc.

One Grand Awarded for 2011

Project Title: Structural Analysis and Mapping of the Church Road Phyllonite; Berwick, Me

Student Investigator: Kendra Lynn of Winoa State
University, Minnesotra
Faculty Advisor: Steve Allard
Amount Awarded: $1060

One Grant Awarded for 2010

Project Title: Paleostress Analysis of Mesozoic Fractures and Basalt Dikes, Mt. Washington Region, New Hampshire

Student Investigator: Carter Kindley of Bates College
Faculty Advisor: J Dykstra Eusden
Amount Awarded: $1000

One Grant Awarded for 2009

Project Title: Deformation Style of the Leeds-Coxsackie Segment of the Hudson Valley Fold-Thrust Belt

Student Investigator: Petr Yakolev of Boston College
Faculty Adviser: Yvette Kuiper
Amount Awarded: $1000

Two Grants Awarded for 2008

1. Project Title: Testing the transpression model for Late Paleozoic orogenesis in the Bronson Hill Terrane - Central Maine Terrane boundary, north-central Massachusetts.

Student Investigator: Tim O'Brien of the University of Kentucky
Faculty Adviser: Dave Moecher
Amount Awarded: $1000

2. Project Title: Geologic mapping in the Leeds-Coxsackie area, New York.

Student Investigator: Petr Yakolev of Boston College
Faculty Adviser : Yvette Kuiper
Amount Awarded: $1000

One Grant Awarded for 2005

Project Title: Structural and Petrologic Investigation of the Gove and Gonic Members as a Possible New Location for Central Maine Terrane-Merrimack Group Terrane Boundary, Southeastern New Hampshire

Student Investigator: Jennifer N. Koester, Winona State University, Minnesota
Faculty Advisor: Steve Allard
Amount Awarded: $815

One Grant Awarded for 2004

Project Title: Discrimination of Acadian and Alleghanian Metamorphism and Fabric development across the Chicken Yard Line Fault Zone in New Hampshire/Vermont: a Structural and Isotopic Study

Student Investigator: Cory Kyle Mcwilliams, Indiana University, Indiana
Faculty Advisor: Robert Wintsch
Amount Awarded: $1025

One Grant Awarded for 2002

Project Title: Structural analysis of preferred orientations of kyanite in the "log-jam" schist, western Connecticut

Student Investigator: Jon P. Bestine, Buffalo State College, New York
Faculty Advisor: Gary S. Solar
Amount Awarded: $752.16

One Grant Awarded for 2001

Project Title: Comparative Detailed Mapping of Contrasting Types of Migmatite, Central Maine belt, Roxbury area, Western Maine

Student Investigator: Sara Chmura, Buffalo State College, New York
Faculty Advisor: Gary Solar
Amount Awarded: $835

One Grant Awarded for 2000

Project Title: A Field and Laboratory Study of the Deer Isle Granite, Deer Isle, Maine: Role of Mafic Intrusions during Granite Petrogenesis

Student Investigator: Ben Johnston, University of Maine
Faculty Advisor: Dan Lux
Amount Awarded: $960

Two Grants Awarded for 1999

Project Title: Structural Characterization of the Mount Waldo Pluton and its relation to deformation along the Norumbega Fault Zone, Maine.

Student Investigator: Caitlin Callahan, Mount Holyoke College
Faculty Advisor: Michelle Markley
Amount Awarded: $1050

Project Title: Insights into the Devonian to Pennsylvanian history of the New England Appalachians: a field investigation of the Spencer Hill Volcanics, Rhode Island

Student Investigator: Jennifer Callahan, Univeristy of Rhode Island
Faculty Advisor: Daniel P. Murray
Amount Awarded: $600

Guidelines for Application

Fulltime students may apply for grants directly, provided that a letter of support from the faculty advisor is included. Faculty members may also apply for grants on behalf of their fulltime students, although applications from students are preferred.
Students need not be enrolled in a college or university in the six New England states, but the proposed field work must take place in these states.

A description of the proposed project should include the purpose and goals of the field work, and should describe deliverable items resulting from the field work, e.g. a geologic map and report. If awarded a grant, the student must agree to provide to the Billings Fund Committee a copy of the project results, and the Billings Fund should be acknowledged in any publications resulting from the project.

Proposals have no specific format or length, but 3-5 pages might be appropriate; the proposal should also include an abstract or concise summary. Proposals should describe how the project will contribute to our knowledge of New England geology, and indicate hypotheses to be tested. A project time line and description of the previous experience of the student would be appropriate as well. Include a location map and any other figures or illustrations that help support the proposal. The Billings Fund Committee wants to make sure that projects are scientifically worthwhile, do-able in a finite amount of time, and will produce a result. The Fund committee looks most favorably upon proposals that emphasize the role of geologic mapping.

The deadline for applications is March 1 of each year, and awards will be announced by May 1 of that year.

Written applications may be submitted to
Mark Van Baalen, Harvard University
EPS Dept., 20 Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
mvb@harvard.edu

Other members of the Billings Fund Committee include Tim Allen (Keene State College) and Brian Fowler (Mount Washington Observatory).