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Fifth-Year Assessment of Baylor University Major Strategic Proposal

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Fifth-Year Assessment of Baylor University Major Strategic Proposal (MSP) “Research Initiative in Terrestrial Paleoclimatology”: Faculty and Student Research Accomplishments, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 (partial) Executive Summary: The Terrestrial Paleoclimatology Research Initiative, an MSP initially funded by Baylor University beginning in 2007, that currently (October 29, 2012) consists of 6 Geology Faculty and one post-doc, has seen important growth and advancements of the initiative over the past 5 years, which are reported in detail in what follows. Especially noteworthy for this summary are the following: 1) Seven Ph.D. students (Drs. Ahr, Cleveland, Kahmann-Robinson, Mintz, Shunk, Stinchcomb, and Trendell) and two M.S. students (Bongino, Dhillon) have graduated, along with 12 B.S. Senior Thesis students. Three Ph.D. students (Jennings, Meier, and Michel) and two M.S. students (Culbertson and Felda) are anticipated to graduate in 2012-2013. There are currently 11 graduate students (3 M.S., 8 Ph.D.) and 4 B.S. students engaged in thesis research in the program. Three new graduate students (all Ph.D.) were recruited starting fall semester, 2012. 2) Faculty have published 97 total peer-reviewed journal articles (27 so far in 2012, 19 in 2011, 20 in 2010, 11 in 2009, 10 in 2008, and 10 in 2007), indicating a strong positive increase in research output. Of the peer-reviewed journal articles, 18 were first-authored by 7 Ph.D. students. Faculty and students gave 168 total presentations at professional meetings (24 in 2012 so far, 44 in 2011, 39 in 2010, 27 in 2009, 17 in 2008, and 17 in 2007), indicating a strong presence at professional presentations. Of the professional presentations, 58 were first-authored and presented by students. 3) Faculty submitted 45 grant proposals to competitive external funding agencies, of which 17 were funded, totaling $1,160K. The total number of federally funded grants currently (November, 2012) held by Geology MSP faculty is eight and the number of Geology MSP faculty funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) is four (Driese, Hockaday, Nordt, and Peppe), with Hockaday also funded by the US Department of Agriculture, and Peppe also funded by the Petroleum Research Fund (American Chemical Society). A first-ever NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (for Ph.D. student Steve Ahr, Dr. Lee C. Nordt, director) was awarded in 2009. A first-ever NSF Doctoral Fellowship (for TIEEES Ph.D. student Zach Valdez, Dr. William C. Hockaday, director) was also awarded in 2013. 4) Two visiting sabbatical research professors (Dr. Julia Sankey from Cal State-Stanislaus, Dr. Yon Wang from Southwest University, Chongqing, Peoples Republic of China) were hosted by the program. 5) Two new tenure-track Assistant Professors were hired as approved in the MSP plan: (1) Dr. Daniel (Dan) Peppe from Yale University was hired in 2009. Dr. Peppe supports the MSP through addition of his new expertise areas of Paleobotany and Paleomagnetism. (2) Dr. William C. (Bill) Hockaday from the Ohio State University was hired in 2010. Dr. Hockaday supports the MSP through addition of his new expertise area of Organic Geochemistry using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. A search for a third Senior-level hire emphasizing paleoclimatology is currently ongoing in fall-spring of 2012-2013. This will be the last hire for the Department approved in the original MSP. 6) A $250K gift was received in 2009 from Baylor Geology alumnus Dr. Ken Carlile and wife Celia to support construction of the Thomas T. Goforth Paleomagnetic Laboratory for new hire Dr. Dan Peppe; the magnetometer was installed in the lab in May of 2011 and dedicated in October of 2011. A $100K gift 1 was received in 2010 from Ken and Celia Carlile to support construction of the Paul Marchand Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy laboratory for new hire Dr. Bill Hockaday. This lab was dedicated in November of 2012. 7) A new Thermo isotope-ratio mass spectrometer and laboratory was set up in BSB room B408 in 2009- 2010. As specified in the MSP plan, the GEO Department hired Dr. Ren Zhang from the University of Manitoba in May of 2010 as a new a Instrumentation Specialist to manage the new laboratory. The position has a partial research scientist appointment so that he is also PI-eligible for writing and submitting grants. Dr. Zhang supports the MSP through his expertise interpreting paleoclimate records from speleothems (cave deposits) and co-authored a FRIP grant ($17.3K from Baylor) for construction of a fluid inclusion extraction device, which is ongoing. 8) The Baylor Terrestrial Paleoclimatology Group hosted an SEPM-NSF Research Conference and Workshop on Paleosols at Petrified Forest National Park in Holbrook, AZ from September 21-25, 2010, attended by 27 Ph.D. professionals, 15 graduate students, and 2 National Park Service scientists. It was supported by the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), the National Science Foundation (NSF), ExxonMobil Corporation and Baylor University’s Vice-Provost for Research. 9) A paper was published in 2011 in Science that includes 2 Baylor Geology MSP faculty: Waters, M.R., Forman, S.L., Jennings, T.A., Nordt, L.C., Driese, S.G., Feinberg, J.M., Keene, J.L., Halligan, J., Lindquist, A., Pierson, J., Hallmark, C.T., Collins, M.B., and Wiederhold, J.E., 2011, The Debra L. Friedkin Site, Texas and the origins of Clovis: Science, v. 331, p. 1599-1603. _____________________________________________________________________________________ DETAILED REPORT Participating Baylor Faculty: Six current Baylor Geology faculty members and one post-doc conduct research in Terrestrial Paleoclimatology as part of the Baylor University Major Strategic Proposal (MSP): Dr. Stacy C. Atchley (2007-present) Professor (Ph.D., University of Nebraska – Lincoln). Research Interests: Petroleum Geology, Applied Sequence Stratigraphy, Paleopedologic Applications to Sequence Stratigraphy. Dr. Steven G. Driese (2007-present) Professor and Chair of the Geology Department (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin – Madison). Research Interests: Paleopedology, Clastic Sedimentology, Environmental Sedimentology. Dr. Stephen I. Dworkin (2007-present) Professor and Graduate Program Director (Ph.D., University of Texas – Austin). Research Interests: Sedimentary Petrology, Low Temperature Geochemistry, Geochemical Applications to Paleopedology. Dr. Zhaodong (Jordan) Feng (2007-2011) Associate Professor (Ph.D., University of Kansas). Research Interests: Geomorphology, Quaternary Paleoclimatology, GIS/RS Applications in Physical Geography. (Dr. Feng left BU in May, 2011). 2 Dr. William C. Hockaday (2010 -present) Assistant Professor (Ph.D., The Ohio State University) Research Interests: Organic geochemistry, NMR- based fingerprinting of terrestrial organic matter, reconstructing fire temperatures from charcoal, carbon sequestration. Dr. Lee C. Nordt (2007-present) Professor and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) Research Interests: Paleoclimatology and paleoecology, soils and paleosols, and Quaternary Geology. Dr. Daniel J. Peppe (2009-present) Assistant Professor (Ph.D., Yale University) Research Interests: Paleoclimatology, paleobotany, paleoecology, ecology, biostratigraphy, paleomagnetism, geochronology, human evolution. Dr. Gary E. Stinchcomb (2012-present) Post-doctoral researcher (Ph.D., Baylor University) Research Interests: Fluvial geomorphology, Quaternary geology, geoarchaeology, paleoclimate proxy development. Full curriculum vitae for the above-listed faculty are available upon request; additional information can be obtained from the Geology Department website at: http://www.baylor.edu/Geology/ under each Faculty member’s name. Research Staff: Dr. Ren Zhang (2010-present) Instrumentation Specialist and Manager of Stable Isotope Laboratory (Ph.D., McMaster University) Research Interests: Speleothem paleoclimatology; stable isotope geochemistry; fluid inclusions. Faculty Awards: Dr. Steven G. Driese was elected President of the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), a 3,500 member international society based in Tulsa, OK. His term of office began in April, 2008 and ended in April, 2010. Dr. Steven G. Driese was invited as one of 16 panelists to attend an NSF-Sponsored Workshop July 26- 27, 2010 in Lake Tahoe, NV, representing soil and paleosol research disciplines encompassed by NSF’s Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology (SGP) program to identify the grand challenges for the future of our broad disciplines. Specifically, their goal is to articulate the research frontiers, opportunities and priorities for SGP over the next decade. The reason for convening such a group at this time is to provide input to the just -initiated NRC study on New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences at the National Science Foundation. We prepared a “Grand Challenges in SGP” white paper for distribution to the NRC committee as well as for circulation at NSF. My participation was a critical component of this effort. 3 Dr. Steven G. Driese was invited as one of 6 NSF review panelists to evaluate the progress of the current 6 NSF-supported Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs) in the Earth Sciences (EAR) Earth Surface Processes program, which met from March 28-30, 2011 in Washington, DC. Recommendations to issue a new call for proposals and for establishing additional CZOs will hopefully be followed with a major proposal for a Texas-based CZO with Baylor University as the lead institution (such efforts are currently ongoing).
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