Avery is excited to be an incoming Ph.D. student in the Department of Earth Sciences where she will be researching the lahar (volcanic mudflow) hazard in the Cascade Mountains.

Growing up in the small town of Big Timber, MT, Avery’s interest in volcanic hazards started from a young age due to her proximity to Yellowstone. Finding ash from Mount St. Helens in her grandparents’ roof only solidified her interest in understanding natural hazards.

While getting her B.S. degree at the University of Utah in Geoscience with an emphasis in Geophysics, Avery experienced her first earthquake — the 2020 5.7 magnitude earthquake outside of Salt Lake City. During this time, Avery also worked as a student researcher with the University of Utah Seismograph Stations studying a sequence of over 180 earthquakes that occurred in east-central Utah.

Avery is incredibly grateful to receive the Raymund Fellowship and hopes to assist in mitigating the lahar hazard for people living at the base of volcanoes in the Cascade Range. In the future, Avery would like to work in one of the USGS volcano observatories to help decrease the impact volcanic activities have on people’s lives.