Chuck and Cathy Williamson Science Communication Fellowship
The Williamson Fellowship is aimed at increasing geoscience communications and encouraging diversity in the geosciences. The Williamson Fellows will develop relationships with 7-12 public school programs, engage youth in geoscience, increase public science literacy, and provide opportunities for U of U geoscience students to gain outreach and science communication experience.
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Thomas and Ailani!
2025-2026 Williamson Fellows
THOMAS DELGADO
Thomas Delgado is a queer and Latiné scholar whose research highlights the multi-disciplinary nature of (forensic) anthropology both scientifically and culturally. They’re a graduate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (B.A. in Anthropology, 2018) and California State University, Chico (M.A. in Anthropology, 2023). Their thesis explored the utility of multiple machine learning and artificial intelligence methodologies to classify water (H and O) isotope ratios into geographically distinct regions of Mesoamerica to assist in the identification of deceased migrants.
They have served in a variety of research and field positions including as a research specialist for UTK’s Forensic Anthropology Center where they oversaw research on the effects of toxicological and pathological loading on the decay process, a technician at CSU, Chico’s Stable Isotope Preparation Lab where they prepared human tissue samples for isotopic analysis for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), and as a field director for a large archaeological excavation project in downtown Sacramento, CA.
Their work is affiliated with Project FIND-EM where they will explore how isotope variation can be used to estimate the lived histories of individuals and developing new interpretive toolkits for isotopic data, providing investigative information that can assist in human identification. Outside of isotopes, their research also includes ethics within forensic anthropology, necroviolence and human rights, advocacy and activism, and methods development for gender-inclusive forensic sex estimation.
AILANI BONILLA
Ailani Bonilla is a 1st year PhD student in the Department of Geology and Geophysics working with Dr. Juan Carlos de Obeso. Her research aims to understand the mobilization of nickel and cobalt in ultramafic rocks using petrological and stable isotope geochemical analyses. Her main interests are to understand how the planet has evolved through geologic time, but she hopes to use her skills in isotope geochemistry to study a broad range of scientific topics in her future career. Ailani completed a bachelor's degree in Geological Sciences with a minor in Marine Biology at the University of Southern California. As an undergraduate, she had the opportunity to work in marine invertebrate collections and the mineral sciences lab at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, and it was here that she discovered her passion to increase accessibility to science in underrepresented communities. In her free time, Ailani enjoys going to parks and spending time with her guinea pig. Being a Williamson Fellow, Ailani desires to learn from young students while also encouraging them to chase their dreams.
Ella and Margaret
2025-2026 Williamson Assistants
ELLA SORENSEN
Ella Sorensen is a junior majoring in geoscience. She is passionate about hydrology and is beginning her own research regarding snow-pack induced earthquakes across the Wasatch front. In her free time, Ella is a competitive snowboarder and travels across the U.S. for events. Additionally, she loves all things outdoors, like hiking and camping. Through the Williamson Assistantship, Ella hopes to ignite an excitement for geology which will lead to a broader respect for Utah’s beautiful nature.
MARGARET BENJAMIN
Margaret Benjamin is a senior majoring in geoscience who is graduating from the University of Utah in Spring 2026. She has researched Rare Earth Element (REE) traces in sedimentary coals, shales, and sandstones under Doctor Birgenheier. Margaret is passionate about science communication, holding the firm belief that “science is for the curious, not just the ‘smart.’” As an advocate for the accessibility of scientific discovery to the general public, she is grateful for the opportunity to reach out to the next generation of scientists. In her personal time, she and her husband explore the world together with their dog, Boona. Her small family anticipates the addition of a new little scientist, due August 12th.
The Great Salt Lake
By Thomas Delgado
I had the pleasure of assisting with the Salt Lake Center for Science Education, Bryant’s field trip to the Great Salt Lake State Park. This trip was a fantastic opportunity to engage with students outside the traditional classroom setting and enjoy a beautiful autumn day in the process. Out of the four stations designed to introduce the students to the unique features of the GSL’s biology, weather, water, and geology, I got to lead the geology station which highlighted the historic shorelines of Lake Bonneville that are still visible in the Oquirrh Mountains that are south of the Park and the formation process of the GSL’s oolitic sands. The students really surprised me with their prior knowledge of Lake Bonneville and the level of engagement they gave when discussing the expanse of the Lake and how Indigenous people cohabitated with the land at the same time the lake was present – it was great opportunity to bring in my anthropological background! Examining the oolitic sand required a bit of naturally lit light microscopy, which I felt was a great chance for students to engage with “lab” observations in a natural setting. With each group, time seemed to fly by with all of the activities, discussion, and questions, but I hope that they were able to learn something new during the time, I know I did!
The Salt Lake City Crime Laboratory
By Thomas Delgado
The Medical Forensics class I’m working with at the Salt Lake Center for Science Education was able to tour Salt Lake City’s Forensics and Crime Laboratory. The tour was led by the Laboratory’s Director, Derek Mears who was a wealth of information and a skilled communicator that could articulate and demonstrate advanced technical knowledge to a high school audience. The lab maintains an ANSI ISO/IEC 17020 Accreditation for the Forensic Inspection of Firearms and Toolmarks (e.g., ballistics), Friction Ridge (fingerprinting), and Scene Investigation – a challenging and ever-important assurance of standards and investigative quality. This was a wonderful opportunity to put some of the concepts that the student’s have been learning in class into a real setting. As a forensic practitioner, I often feel that much of the work is abstract, hard to envision, and/or unrealistically colored by popular media and exposure to an actual lab space is a great chance to clarify and realize difference aspects of forensic casework. This is especially crucial early in education as forensics is not quite what it seems on TV and the broadness in application of forensic disciplines is easy (but fascinating) to get lost in. Our students were excited and largely engaged and I hope this trip helped them see that this science is interesting and real that can simultaneously be both fun and serious. It also provides a good set up to the movement beyond physical evidence and to my specialty, the body itself.
Blood Drops & Data Plots: Forensic Science in Action
By Thomas Delgado
I recently had the opportunity to design and implement a blood pattern analysis section for the medical forensics course I have been embedded in at SLCSE-Rose Park. The goal of this section was to introduce the core concept of blood pattern analysis (e.g., fluid dynamics, pattern classifications) as well as to stimulate critical thinking regarding its implementation in the legal process, a topic I’m particularly keen on discussing especially at the introductory level. This discussion stems from a 2009 National Academy of Sciences report that highlights the shortcomings of the science behind forensic “science” and the breadth of disparity between the forensic science communities (of which blood pattern analysis is specifically discussed). While not something that tends to be brought up at an introductory level, I believe it is an important point of transparency that hopefully motivates science-orientated students to see that there is a real need for more research that can motivate their future studies. Serendipitously, SLCSE also instructs a Current Issues variation that covers some of these topics and I had the pleasure to meet with that instructor following our class.
Following our discussion, we moved into the lab for some practical experimenting with fluid (blood) dynamics as they relate to the height and angle of deposition. The lab was meant to be fun and interactive but also stimulate interaction with data visualization and interpretation. Student groups were tasked with 1) dropping blood onto a flat surface at multiple heights and 2) dropping blood onto a surface of varying angles from the same height. They were then asked to measure the droplet size (diameter and then length and width), plot those sizes versus height or angle, and then provide a short write up their observations. Aside the writing and plotting portion, the dropping of simulated blood certainly seemed to be a good time! This was not without seeing some ways in which the lab could be improved (trying to drop blood into a small square from ~5 feet is harder than it sounds!) but that’s the fun part for me – every misstep is a learning experience.
A Nuclear Visit: SLCSE Rose Park Comes to the U
By Thomas Delgado
I had the opportunity to join Salt Lake Center for Science Education (SLCSE) – Rose Park’s physics and chemistry courses for a visit to the U’s TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) nuclear reactor. Designed for training aspiring nuclear engineers, the TRIGA reactor does not produce electricity and is essentially “student-proof,” such that mistakes made during operation that may be catastrophic in other settings do not have similar effects, providing a safe space to learn and develop experiments. One of only 18 TRIGA reactors in the US and the only nuclear reactor in Utah, to say this is a rare opportunity for students is an understatement. Submerged in a grain silo’s worth of deionized water, the reactor sits at the bottom of the tank and emits a pale blue glow – a sure sign that it is working.
As an isotope geochemist, I was mainly excited to be in a place where isotopes get made and to engage with staff and students the multidisciplinary nature of much of our research. The staff who hosted us were excited and happy to talk about their work, research, and provide college advice. One student starting at the U in the spring – who I was lucky to have in Medical Forensics last semester – even got an insider tip on how to go about getting research opportunities in the Engineering Department. I believe these types of engagement activities have a level of impact only teachers really appreciate. While students and the research and graduate staff were certainly having a fun time, it is the teachers who really inspire confidence in the students to ask questions, guide them to their interests, and really “force” the students to have a good time. As I do more of these activities, it is easy to see all the effort and care teachers put into students and how much I benefited from that during my own high school experience. There is no doubt in my mind that these students will look back on this in 20 years and think, “Wow, that was cool.”
The U's Anatomy Department Visists SLCSE, Rose Park
By Thomas Delgado
Universities provide a unique opportunity for furthering science communication and student learning; however, logistics, points of contact, and the availability of outreach activities can be challenging to navigate from outside the University. My ability to be public school-facing and simultaneously engrained in a leading academic institution allowed for our Medical Anatomy classroom to better navigate these challenges and bring a wonderful learning opportunity to SLCSE, Rose Park. Our collaboration with the U’s Anatomy Department led to pedagogical engagement across levels, including high school upperclassmen, Anatomy undergraduates, science-oriented graduate students, and SLCSE instructors across classrooms, including AP Psychology students.
Facilitated by Dr. Jon Groot, five undergraduate Anatomy Teaching Assistants brought several examples of prepared human dissections to highlight key anatomical systems that we had introduced in class throughout the semester. Topics demonstrated by these specimens included neuroanatomy, musculoskeletal anatomy, and introductions to the respiratory, digestive, and renal systems. To say that the UGTAs who volunteered their time for this outreach did a fantastic job is an understatement, and I was consistently impressed by their ability to engage with high school students, most for the first time, and present complex anatomical topics in clear, fun, and digestible ways. Our students were able to make real a course that is full of abstractions and learn something about their interests and comfort levels well before the need to formalize their future path or worry about a grade. This access to unabated exploration is where I believe the most development in engagement and curiosity stems: where students are able to envision themselves in a place or a career.
Human studies, such as anatomy or forensics, are particularly suited for this early engagement, as the courses are challenging and any foundation will help students succeed long term. Equally important in those fields is the ability to learn what aspects are not well suited to you, even in the face of deep interest, and to find spaces of both comfort and curiosity. Myriad paths open to students far beyond their initial interests – a broad desire to engage in forensic cases can easily lead to specialization in forensic (geo)chemistry or another applied field. Hopefully I have done a good job over the semester to highlight these paths. In this experience, we saw students find their comfort zone and settle in to really learn about Anatomy in a way they had not been able to before. We offer our sincere thanks to the U, our UGTAs, and the Anatomy Department for the opportunity, and highlight that many departments are happy to provide opportunities to students at all levels – you just have to know where to look!
Newton's First and Second Laws of Motion
By Ailani Bonilla
On this day, the students were engaging with Newton’s first and second laws of motion. The first law being an object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest. The second law being force equals mass times acceleration. The students are tasked with moving a golf ball using a toilet paper spring. The springs are marked with 5 lines, each line representing a different amount of force. The students calculated the acceleration of the golf ball after recording its speed and distance at different forces. Many of the students found this activity challenging because the gold ball kept moving past their mats, making it difficult to get accurate measurements. But despite the challenges, they had a lot of fun trying to make their balls move the fastest out of all the groups. The students were very engaged, and this hands-on activity made it easy for the kids to grasp onto the concepts of Newton’s laws of motion.
Rocks and the Rock Cycle
By Ailani Bonilla
I had the opportunity of helping teach the students about the different types of rocks and the rock cycle. On this day, there were many stations that kids interacted with to teach them something about the three kinds of rocks and the processes they might experience such as erosion and weathering. For this specific station, I brought them special hand-held petrographic viewers that allow students to see the rock in cross-polarized light without a petrographic microscope. Here, they are looking at thin sections of different metamorphic rocks and determining if they were of sedimentary or igneous origin. The students really liked this station because of how colorful the thin sections were in cross-polarized light; they described it as almost looking at stained glass in a church or like a mosaic. Most of the students were surprised that rocks can look so beautiful! A few of them told me that it changed their perspective on geologists because rocks can tell a story.
Meet Tommy Good
Tommy Good, a science teacher at SLCSE Bryant Middle School, will oversee this year’s cohort of the Williamson Science Communication Fellows. Tommy received his Bachelor’s degrees in Music and Geoscience from DePauw University (2010), his Master’s of Science in Geology from the University of Utah (2013), and his Master’s of Education from DePaul University (2015). He taught in Chicago Public Schools before moving back to Utah to help further the mission and expansion of the Salt Lake Center for Science Education within the Salt Lake City School District.
Goal: Our main goal this year is to develop and organize a variety of field trips around the Salt Lake City area. Research shows clearly that experiential, in-situ experiences help students make connections to academic learning, increases student awareness of our community, and helps to shrink the opportunity gap. These field trip plans will be widely shared to be accessed by educators in Salt Lake and beyond.
Department of Geology & Geophysics Outreach:
Dr. Holly Godsey | holly.godsey@utah.edu
Previous Activities and Lesson Plans