IN OUR COMMUNITY: ALUMNI
Making New Discoveries
Courtland Lyle’ 13 examines an ancient shark tooth fossil.
Within the next few months, Robert“ Courtland” Lyle’ 13 may be able to say he’ s discovered an entirely new fossil species. A senior at the University of Mary Washington double majoring in geology and biology, Mr. Lyle recently interned at the Virginia Museum of Natural History’ s vertebrate paleontology department, which led to the groundbreaking discovery.
His first internship project involved cleaning and cataloguing some fossil shark teeth from the museum’ s collection( pictured). His second project centered on cleaning and identifying the bones of a 14 million-year-old whale skeleton discovered in Carmel Church, Va. After finishing his identifications, Mr. Lyle said he believes it to be a new species of whale.
He has continued to work on the whale project with his museum mentor Dr. Alex Hastings, and he visited the Smithsonian Institution to further study where the whale may fall on the evolutionary tree.
He presented his preliminary findings at the Virginia Academy of Science’ s fall undergraduate research meeting this past October, and he plans to complete the project in time for the Geologic Society of America’ s southeastern section meeting this March.
“ It has been my dream since I was little to become a paleontologist,” he said.“ This internship gave me invaluable experience working in a field that I wish to pursue as a career.”
Mr. Lyle is currently in the process of applying to graduate schools with the plan of conducting his own paleontology research and ultimately obtaining his Ph. D.
International Inspirations
Bashir Ahmadi may have only spent a year at Steward, but it left a lasting impact.
Mr. Ahmadi came to Steward in 2005 as an exchange student from Afghanistan. Former board member Ariel Skelley served as his host mother during his stay. He said he excelled particularly well in mathematics classes, which prompted his desire to pursue engineering as a career. But Mr. Ahmadi adds that it was more than just classes that made his experience great.
“ It was the healthy social environment that allowed me to learn and grow,” he said.“ I felt encouraged by the teachers and my host family, and it really opened my mind up to bigger opportunities.”
After his year at Steward, he returned to Afghanistan and completed high school there, and then took time off from school to work for a German engineering company. But when he received a scholarship from the U. S. State Department in 2010, he left to pursue his undergraduate studies at Colorado State University( CSU), from which he graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 2014.
After graduating, Mr. Ahmadi immediately pursued a master’ s degree in civil engineering at CSU. He graduated this past December with a focus in structural engineering. Since his thesis focused on the properties of steel bridges, he said he hopes to work at a consulting company doing bridge design. Eventually, he hopes to own his own engineering consulting company. In the meantime, he is interested in mentoring Steward students with an interest in his field.
“ Steward really paved the way to my dreams, and I would love to give back,” he said.“ I now have two degrees, and I’ m so blessed that the school helped me get to where I am.”
26 | The Colonnade