The Graduate Application Assistance Program is a free mentorship program for incoming graduate students, created and operated by current CSU Geoscience graduate students. Students participating in this program can learn how to:
- connect with professors before applying
- write a personal statement
- ask for letters of recommendations
- navigate the technicalities of the application process
Anyone who intends to apply to the CSU Department of Geosciences is welcome to sign up for mentorship, and we encourage applicants from under-represented and non-traditional academic backgrounds to use this resource.
Mentorship will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis from October 1, 2026 to December 15, 2026. We encourage you to indicate your interest in mentorship early, as we have limited mentors. We look forward to assisting you with the application process!
Statement of independence
- This program is independent of the CSU Department of Geosciences admissions process. Any participants will remain anonymous from faculty and staff. The views of the graduate student volunteers are their own and do not represent the views of the Department of Geosciences at Colorado State University. Participation in this program does not guarantee admission to the Department of Geosciences at Colorado State University.
Our mentors
Rachel Bernstein
Rachel is a first-year PhD student working with Jeremy Rugenstein in the GeoPast Group. Her MS research focused on reconstructing past temperature and precipitation in the U.S. Southwest by analyzing stable and clumped isotopes in carbonates. Rachel grew up outside of Chicago and likes to read, run, ski, watch football, and sail.
Ashley Ford
Ashley is a third-year PhD student with Dr. Rebecca VanderLeest in the Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, and Microplastics Research Group. She is studying the subsurface dynamics of microplastics in headwater soils. She enjoys spending her free time hiking, gardening, and reading.
Shayla Triantafillou (she/her)
Shayla is a third-year PhD candidate studying fluvial geomorphology with Dr. Ellen Wohl. Her research uses a combination of field and remote methods to study how rivers interact with the biosphere. Additionally, she is interested in understanding river response to disturbance. When not studying rivers, she likes to bike, run, climb, and ski.
Sam Burton
Sam is a second year Masters student studying volcano seismology with Dr. Rick Aster. Her research focuses on eruption detection and event time/amplitude statistics to evaluate the effectiveness a novel detection method and identify time-varying volcanic conditions. When she’s not working she likes to paint.
Itai Bojdak-Yates
Itai is a second-year master’s student working with Dr. Sara Rathburn in the fluvial geomorphology lab. His research seeks to quantify hydraulic properties such as residence time and permeability in beaver ponds/dams and their human-built analogs in order to better understand and inform river restoration efforts. Itai grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and enjoys running, hiking, reading, and enjoying good food.
Elisa McGhee
Elisa McGhee is a Ph.D. candidate studying the seismology and geophysics of coupled earth systems with Rick Aster. Her research uses seismic, infrasound, and fiber optic sensing data to study non-earthquake signals originating in the atmosphere, ice, and oceans for applications in earth science research and national defense. Her background includes a career as an Air Force pilot and faculty member in the Department of Physics at the U.S. Air Force Academy. She enjoys gardening, trail running, electronic dance music, and her border collie.
Inga Dovre
Inga is a first-year M.S. Student in fluvial geomorphology, advised by Dr. Ellen Wohl. She is researching the upstream extent of logjams in burned and unburned catchments throughout the Southern Rockies. She has worked in river restoration and is excited about the applications of her research for wildfire resilience and disturbance mitigation. She’s from Iowa, spent the last 5 years in Maine, and loves all activities water-related!
Olga Tumanova
Olga is a first-year master’s student in fluvial geomorphology with Dr. Ellen Wohl. Her research focuses on assessing beaver reintroduction suitability and potential soil organic carbon storage impacts in the shortgrass prairie environment in the Southern Plains of Colorado. She is broadly interested in geomorphology and human-environment interactions and is pivoting from a background in physical geography and geoarchaeology to geosciences.
Katie Larkin
Katie is a second-year PhD student in the Fluvial Geomorphology lab. Her research investigates the morphologies, functions, and disturbance responses of understudied domains in mountain streams, namely headwaters and river meadows. In her free time, Katie is an avid baker, gravel biker, and antiquer.