Graduate Opportunity in Ice Physics at the University of Pennsylvania
A graduate-level PhD research opportunity is available in Ice Physics in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania beginning in Fall 2014. We seek a graduate student to conduct experimental studies of rheology and other physical properties of ice relevant to understanding flow and fracture of glaciers, ice sheets, and icy planetary bodies. Potential research topics include, but are not limited to: deformation-induced development of fabrics and its implications for plastic anisotropy of ice; the influence of impurities on ice flow; shear heating-induced enhancement of melting and ice flow relevant to ice-stream motion; the frictional behavior of ice at quasistatic and rapid slip rates; grain-size evolution of glaciers and ice sheets; and the rheological behaviors of various non-water-ice planetary cryomaterials. Experiments will be conducted in a high-pressure gas apparatus and other equipment designed for cryogenic use at the University of Pennsylvania. Fabrics and deformation microstructures will be analyzed using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and other analytical methods adapted for cryogenic use.
Interested students should contact Prof. David Goldsby (email: David_Goldsby@brown.edu; arriving at Penn in Spring 2014) for details. Applications to the graduate school at Penn can be made online at https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=upenn-g.
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"Nor can we really work out the properties of rocks at high pressure. We cannot tell how fast the rocks should "give"; that must all be worked out by experiment". - Richard Feynman
