Student Profile

Allison Mione
Houston, Texas
Major: Geology
Class: 2005

It was one of those moments of discovery that scientists live for. Examining the remains of a Triassic-era reef in Israel’s Negev Desert last summer, Allison Mione found a layer of bivalves –clams – unlike any described in the scientific literature.

"I had never seen anything like it," said Mark Wilson, professor of geology, and Allison’s I.S. adviser. The clams appeared to have developed some 240 million years ago during the re-colonization of what was then the sea floor, following the greatest mass extinction in history.

"We’re not really sure what they are," Allison says. "They haven’t been described adequately, so we don’t know where they fit into the picture." Her I.S. will try to fill in the picture by examining the stratigraphy and sedimentology of the slice of Triassic rocks and fossils in which the clams were discovered.

The excitement of discovery was part of what drew Allison to geology as a major.

"Freshman year I took a bunch of different classes: art and history and geology. I took oceanography spring semester of my freshman year, and it was the one class that at the end of the semester, I didn’t want to stop going."

Studying geology at Wooster has taken Allison to Iceland and Israel with other students and faculty members for fieldwork, as well as Colorado for the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, a nice bonus for a young woman who loves to travel.

Thanks to last summer’s work in Israel, her I.S. got off to a fast start. "I’ve been writing since September," she says.

With all her other major requirements completed, Allison is looking forward to filling her final semester at Wooster with classes that interest her. She also is looking forward to her final lacrosse season, playing midfield and attack for the three-time NCAC conference champions.

Next fall she will begin post-graduate study, but not in geology, although clams may still be involved. Allison is heading to culinary school.

"I kind of had this plan to go into petroleum geology and work for an oil company, but this is something I’ve always wanted to do," she says. "I’ve always loved cooking. I love throwing dinner parties. Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday of the year [in my family], bigger than Christmas or Easter. We just spend three days cooking."

She was a bit apprehensive about telling Dr. Wilson. "I thought he would just go crazy, but he was very supportive…He told me ‘don’t even think about going to grad school if that’s not what you really want to do.’ That was really what I needed to hear."

Allison has never worked in a restaurant, but making that leap doesn’t scare her.

"That was the first thing my mother said: ‘I don’t think you really understand what it’s like to work in a restaurant,’" she admitted. "I said, that’s true, but I don’t really know what it’s like to go to grad school either…I don’t expect to come out [of culinary school] and be hired as a head chef. I’m just looking for a restaurant where I can flex my muscles and challenge myself."

Professor Wilson hopes there will still be room for a geology-related challenge in Allison’s schedule after graduation, too. He has co-authored papers with scores of his I.S. advisees over the years, and hopes to collaborate with her on one about the Triassic-era clam they discovered in the Negev.