IRIS/PASSCAL summer intern Alan Shi has some interesting stories to tell about his last few months with the PASSCAL Instrument Center in Socorro, NM.  The season began calmly enough, and Alan enjoyed developing a testing enclosure to verify that field equipment boxes such as the MEVO (Mt. Erebus Volcanic Observatory) boxes were distributing power properly, as well as performing ruggedness-testing of memory sticks before their use to collect data in arctic regions. But, the most impressive part of Alan's summer by far was his deployment to the rapidly-changing ice sheets of Greenland.  Here are some recollections and photographs of intern Shi's experiences on the ice.

For the last few years, several students have gathered at the PASSCAL Instrument Center (PIC) for the IRIS Undergraduate Internship Orientation Week.  In the IRIS Undergraduate Intern program, fifteen students fan out to conduct seismological research at thirteen
host institutions.  The program is organized and run by Michael Hubenthal of IRIS.  This year, the staff for the week-long orientation program included Rick Aster (NMT), Greg Chavez (PIC), Kent Condie (NMT), Katie Foster (U. of Wyoming & Program Alumnus), Bruce Harrison (NMT), Michael Hubenthal (IRIS), Hunter Knox (Sandia National Lab), Jesse Lawrence (Stanford University), William McIntosh  (NM Bureau of Geology), Sandra Saldaña (Noble Energy), John Taber (IRIS), and Dave Thomas (PIC), along with Student Assistant Rob Anthony (NMT Grad Student & Program Alumnus).

On March 28th, 2012, a beautiful Spring day, staff from the IRIS/PASSCAL Instrument Center, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), US Geological Survey, Sandia National Labs, and students assembled for the surprise dedication of the IRIS/PASSCAL Instrument Center seismometer testing vault to Jim Fowler, founding Program Manager for IRIS/PASSCAL (see "IRIS/PASSCAL Celebrates Career of Jim Fowler", March 9th, 2012).

Before a large gathering of more than 75 people, Bob Woodward, IRIS Director for Instrumentation Services emceed a series of speakers that included Rick Aster of NMT/EES and David Simpson, President of IRIS.  David Simpson presented Jim's wife, Cynthia, with a bouquet of flowers in recognition for her contribution during Jim's 25 years of service.  Jim was then invited to the podium, where he thanked the staff of IRIS/PASSCAL and IRIS for "the easiest job he has ever had."

Jim Fowler started as IRIS Chief Engineer in 1984, and became the founding manager for the PASSCAL program.  In 1999, he relocated from Washington D.C. back to his home state of New Mexico, and set up an office in the PASSCAL Instrument Center.  As a news article from New Mexico Tech noted,

"My wife, Cynthia, and I are originally from New Mexico, so it really wasn't as difficult for us to move here as it might have been for someone who's a hardcore 'Easterner,'" Fowler says.

"Since most of my work involved the Instrument Center, it seemed best for all concerns if my office was actually located at the Instrument Center," Fowler points out. "Basically, instead of living in Washington and commuting to New Mexico, I now live in New Mexico and commute to Washington."