Meet a Real-Life Lara Croft: Kayla Iacovino, Volcanologist

RCL adventure correspondent Kinga Philipps is hot on the trail of this scientist and Trekkie.

September 6, 2017 5:00 am
Kayla Iacovino
(Courtesy Kayla Iacovino)

Some people have really cool jobs. I’m going to get arrested for this pun, but volcanologist and experimental petrologist Kayla Iacovino’s job is lava hot. Hot as in awesome for sure, but also hot as in sometimes magma actually flies at her head. An occupational hazard few can claim. First of all, in layman’s terms, what her job entails…

Petrology is a branch of geology that examines the origins of rocks. Petra means rock. You know, like the place in Jordan where Indiana Jones went on his last crusade.

Kayla Iacovino
(Courtesy Kayla Iacovino)

Kayla specifically studies where volcanic rocks come from and how they were formed. She visits volcanic sites, collects samples and brings them back to her lab for the kind of testing that would make any twelve year old boy jealous. To recreate volcanic conditions and gain an understanding of the forces that shape our earth form within she builds mini-magma chambers in the lab. Mini magma chambers people! This isn’t your grade school science project with red food coloring, vinegar and baking soda.

Putting rocks under high pressure and temperature recreates what happens in the bowels of a volcano during eruption. Her research is to understand what makes volcanos tick…literally…since most volcanos are pressurized time bombs it’s important that we have humans like Kayla digging deep into the soul of our planet for a complete grasp of the forces that create and destroy.

Volcanology, her other job description, is not a screenwriter’s wet dream come to life on the set of Star Trek. It’s the scientific study of volcanos. More on Trekkies later as they factor into this as well. For Kayla, it means she gets to venture to the summits of volcanos in some of the most hostile corners of the world.

Kayla Iacovino
Kayla rock sampling around Ross Island in Antarctica in 2010. (Kayla Iacovino/Facebook)

One of the highlights for any scientist is the elusive seventh continent, Antarctica. Kayla and team got to peer into the crater of Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano. A bit of a juxtaposition I’m sure, seeing a volcano spitting magma in an ice encrusted frozen wasteland.

If you read the news you’re aware that North Korea is also on the verge of an eruption. A political tantrum that’s playing with fire in the form of nuclear arms. But how many people knew North Korea had a volcano? Don’t feel bad if you didn’t. Many scientists didn’t either. North Korea isn’t exactly an open book.  But Mount Paektu is a big deal.  About a millennium ago it had one of the largest eruptions in Earth’s history. Kayla became the first female American scientist to visit the poorly studied volcano, which straddles the border between China and North Korea. She was the only woman on the team and what they discovered was the location of the magma chamber, the origin of any future eruptions.

My father is a geologist, but I truly can’t help but think of Dr. Evil as I write phrases like magma chamber.

Kayla Iacovino
(Courtesy Kayla Iacovino)

Good thing Kayla most likely appreciates my nerdy film references. Before she went into science she gave film school a whirl. Why? Because she was so inspired by Star Trek and how it portrays science and exploration. The volcanologist is a Vulcan-ologist too. Now that is destiny.

In addition to her lab work of melting rocks and blowing things up, Kayla is the editor-in-chief of TrekMovie.com, visits Star Trek conventions and sometimes dresses up in Trekkie gear. She believes that science fiction is a useful tool for getting people interested in actual science. In addition to preventing the next Pompeii scale disaster, Kayla’s goals are to encourage young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

All adolescent boys bow down because you have found your new goddess, and she’s smokin hot…I just can’t stop with the puns.

Kayla Iacovino
(Courtesy Kayla Iacovino)

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