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We often mention GSA student programs like the children. I had a very positive experience studying geol-
On To the Future (OTF) diversity initiative and ogy in the CUNY system (City University of New York)
Graduate Student Research Grants, but there is at the Queens College Campus. I love the science com-
a lesser-known opportunity that makes Section ponent along with the outdoor experience that geology
Meetings available to a broader student population: The North- afforded. I was fortunate to be able to attend many local
east Urban Metro Travel Grant. and national GSA meetings. Later on, my husband’s job
allowed us to be able to give back. I support geology
Since its launch in 2013, the travel grant program has supported programs in general because I believe we should under-
37 non-traditional students from urban metropolitan universities stand the earth and do our part to take care of it. I sup-
to attend their first GSA Section Meeting. GSA defines non- port the NE Urban Travel program so that university
traditional as a student who has delayed enrollment in an under- students can have the same experience that I had in
graduate degree program, is financially independent, and/or may attending geology meetings and seeing the broad pos-
care for dependents. The universities that these students attend sibilities in the field. The OTF students mirror the varied
typically do not have funding to help them attend a meeting. population in a city university system and represent the
future caretakers of our country and our earth. I am very
In 2014, Martha Miller was a 34-year-old single mother of two happy that we are able to support these programs.
returning to college for an undergraduate degree in geochemistry. If you are interested in helping non-traditional students pursue
Understanding that professional meetings would help reach her careers in the geosciences, please contact Bill Tortorici at +1-303-
expanding goals of pursuing an advanced degree, but without 357-1007 or btortorici@geosociety.org.
means to attend the GSA Northeastern Section Meeting, she
applied for a Northeast Urban Metro Travel Grant. Martha Martha in 2014 at SUNY Oswego; photo by James Russell.
received funds to travel to Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA:
“The meeting was inspiring! It was my first experience making Martha and her children at her May 2016 graduation.
connections in a large geological community. Being able to attend
increased my resolve to present my research at a professional
meeting before I graduated.”

Martha did, indeed, go on to present her research—at GSA’s
2015 Annual Meeting in Baltimore, made possible with a GSA On
To the Future travel grant.

While doing all I could to push forward in my under-
graduate career, I was struggling to support my family.
Receiving funds to offset some of my travel costs was an
enormous relief. A valuable piece for me was having a
mentor at the meeting. I was impressed that GSA
matched me with one who had similar research interests,
but was thrilled to read Dr. Carol de Wet’s writing on
women in geosciences and to have such a thoughtful,
broad-minded scientist who also understood what it
meant to raise a family. The day I nervously presented
my work, I looked into the audience and saw faces of
scientists who had inspired me, those I seek to emulate.
It was a moment I would not have been afforded without
the support of programs like OTF and the Urban Travel
Grant (LLNL-MI-727944).

Martha graduated in 2016 with a B.S. in geochemistry from
SUNY Oswego, followed by a twelve month post-college appoin-
tee position for the Nuclear and Chemical Sciences division at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Next, she will
enter the Ph.D. program at the University of Rochester, joining
Dr. Dustin Trail’s experimental geochemistry group.

A generous supporter of the Urban Travel Grants and OTF,
Paula Gural, explains,

I was an unconventional student, completing most of my
education while a stay-at-home mom with three

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