Researcher Awards

This article was originally published in The Midden – Great Basin National Park: Vol. 21, No. 2, Winter 2021.

Zoe Havlena

Congratulations to Zoe Havlena, a researcher from New Mexico Tech, who was recently awarded a prestigious NASA grant to fund her doctoral research in geomicrobiology. Zoe has been working for the last several years studying the geomicrobiology of Lehman Caves to help us better understand how the cave formed. This grant will help her continue her studies. She will be collecting and analyzing gypsum samples from four cave systems in an effort to shed light on how life could grow in harsh ecosystems, such as other planets or moons. Zoe Havlena research award press release

Louise Hose in the Gypsum Annex section of Lehman Caves.

NPS Photo by Gretchen Baker

Congratulations also to Louise Hose, retired NPS geologist (among other things), who was awarded the Meritorious Contribution Award from Geological Society of America for her lifetime of work in advancing karst science. In addition to a great variety of cave and karst work, Louise has chosen to spend some of her time studying the origins of Lehman Caves. She has rewritten much of the geologic history, which is featured in the new exhibits in the Lehman Caves Visitor Center as well as the Lehman Caves Virtual Tour.