Kluskiewicz to Represent Penn State's Eberly College of Science as Student Marshal at Spring Commencement 2010
Daniel Kluskiewicz, of Kintnersville, Pennsylvania, will be honored as the Eberly College of Science student marshal during Penn State's spring commencement ceremonies on May 15, 2010, at the University Park campus. Kluskiewicz has selected Andrew Nyblade, a Penn State professor of geosciences, to be his faculty escort for the commencement exercises.
Kluskiewicz, who will graduate with highest distinction as a Schreyer Scholar with concurrent bachelor's degrees in physics and in mathematics, has a 4.00 grade-point average. He won the President's Freshman Award in 2006, the President Sparks Award in 2007, and the Evan Pugh Scholar Award in 2008 and 2009. He also won a John and Elizabeth T. Holmes Scholarship and a Schreyer Scholarship.
Kluskiewicz has participated in a number of research projects at Penn State and other locations through the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates and the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology internship program. Through the Penn State Department of Geosciences, Kluskiewicz used seismic records to help locate earthquakes in Uganda and Northwest Tanzania. In another project, he collaborated with researchers from the United States Geological Survey and the University of Alaska in Fairbanks to deploy an array of seismometers and time-lapse cameras around the Yahtse Glacier in Southcentral Alaska. He then used the seismic data he collected, along with video footage and first-hand observations of the glacier's activity, to characterize the seismicity of different types of glacier events. Based on his findings, he was able to develop improved methods for automatically detecting and quantifying the seismic signals that are generated when chunks of ice fall off of a glacier.
Kluskiewicz said that his involvement with research at Penn State has shaped his future goals more than any other experience. He plans to pursue a graduate degree in geophysics upon graduation.
In addition to his academic and research activities, Kluskiewicz also has been a trip leader for the Penn State Adventure Recreation Club and a member of the Penn State Whitewater Club and Outing Club. He also was an assistant scoutmaster for a Boy Scout troop in Nockamixon, Pennsylvania. Before attending graduate school in the fall, he plans to spend the summer working as a guide for canoe expeditions in western Ontario.
Kluskiewicz is a graduate of Palisades High School in Kintnersville, Pennsylvania. He will be accompanied at commencement by his parents Stan and Gail Kluskiewicz, his sisters Michelle and Paula Kluskiewicz, his grandmother June Ginader, and his aunt and uncle Jill and Ken Ridge.