Alfred University undergraduate Piper Moore teams with geology professor in study of Great Salt Lake

Alfred University Assistant Professor of Geology Kristian Olson met undergraduate Piper Moore in his Structural Geology class in 2024. Piper was an art student in her third year at Alfred. She had an interesting connection with the university's School of Art & Design, as both her parents had studied art here and she was born - literally - in Harder Hall, while her mother waited for an ambulance to take her to the hospital.

Perhaps she was destined to study art at Alfred, but according to Olson, she is also the best geology student he has ever worked with. As a fourth-year student at Alfred, she is on the cusp of completing her undergraduate work both in the School of Art & Design, New York State College of Ceramics, and in Alfred's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as a geology major.

"She's a fantastic geology student," Olson says.

Earlier this year, when he and several geology professors at SUNY Binghamton and Broome County Community College secured funding to study salt formations at Great Salt Lake, in Utah, he asked Piper to accompany them.

"There wasn't a second thought about inviting her to join us," he says.

Their research at Great Salt Lake involved the study of salt deposits in modern environments and extrapolating ancient geologic temperatures from modern salt formations. Olson plans to return to Great Salt Lake for additional research next summer. For now, he and Piper are collaborating in analyzing salt crystals they brought back to Alfred. The work is part of Piper's senior thesis, which she is in the process of completing along with her senior art project as a BFA student.

Olson expects to continue working with Piper through the first half of 2026. At the same time, she will be working on applications to graduate school, where she will continue her research and training in geology.

"I want to do more field work," Piper says, "and this past experience at Great Salt Lake just solidified that desire."

Reflecting on her time along the shore of Great Salt Lake, she says the landscape is striking and unique due the high level of salinity. "It looks like another planet, but it has its own beauty."