STEM Star: The Rock Star
Ana Meyerson, geology secretary, is chiseling away at her B.S. in geology one credit at a time.
By Stella Katsipoutis-Varkanis
When she’s not working full time as the secretary of Lafayette’s Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Rohana “Ana” Meyerson is chiseling away at a B.S. in geology degree one course at a time … and totally rocking it.
After moving to Easton from her native Singapore in 1999, the hardworking mom decided to pursue her dream of digging up and studying the Earth’s natural history—a dream that was inspired by her high school geography teacher.
“I aspired to be like her,” Meyerson says. “She would talk to us about the mountains in the Himalayas, the rivers in Colorado, and the fjords in Norway, and that inspired me to find out more about what’s under my feet.”
As a student today, Meyerson immerses herself in not only the study of topics like climate change, igneous and metamorphic petrology, geographic information systems, and environmental geology, but also fieldwork in which she performs hands-on research with Lafayette faculty. In 2019, she joined associate professors of geology David Sunderlin and Lawrence Malinconico, as well as laboratory coordinator John Wilson, on a trip to Sheep Mountain in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming as part of the Structure and Tectonics of the Earth course. There, Meyerson analyzed landforms and collected data on the response of rocks to stress.
“It was an eye-opener to look down at the mountains and think, ‘This is my classroom,’” Meyerson says.
Meyerson hopes to someday work for the Geological Society of America and join the fight against climate change by using her expertise in geology to help countries that have been critically impacted by environmental issues like deforestation.
“Ana is an inspiration to everyone who knows her, and is an ‘above and beyond’ person if there ever was one,” says Sunderlin. “She is fearless as a science student, and she challenges everyone in the room to think about the broader reach an idea has in geology and beyond. With humility, energy, and her discovery of this new-tapped talent in geology, Ana has made the natural world a more beautiful place for herself—and the Lafayette learning experience more valuable for everyone.”