Undergraduate Student Research
Students exploring the Texas Spring area in Death Valley National Park. This was part of a mapping project for the Winter Field Geology in Death Valley course, January 2026. Photo credit: Gavin McCall, B.S. Geology student, Appalachian State University
Tommy Sorber is a B.S. Geology Major also studying classical guitar performance at Appalachian State University. He is interested in field-based geology, structural processes, and sedimentology.
Tommy Sorber
Tommy’s research is funded by a grant from the Office of Student Research. He is investigating the kinematics of strike-slip faulting in the Alexander Hills, California using original geologic mapping and 3D modeling.
He is building high-resolution 3D mesh surfaces of formations in the area and will create simulations to model the displacement on the faults.
Morgan Cope is a B.S. Geology Major at Appalachian State University. Her passion for geology began with curiosity about the rocks underlying the creek near home. She has experience working as an intern at a rock quarry, overseeing blasts and blast-wall mapping. She is interested in continuing this type of work in her early career.
Morgan Cope
Morgan’s research was funded by a Student and Faculty Excellence (SAFE) grant from the College of Arts and Sciences. She using argon thermochronology to investigate the thermal evolution of the Blue Ridge thrust sheet and Piedmont of the southern Appalachian Mountains.
Morgan’s thesis data shed light on the height of the Appalachians during the final stage of Pangea assembly.