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UA Geosciences Newsletter, Volume 5, Number 1 (Fall 1999) Item Type Newsletter Authors University of Arizona Department of Geosciences Publisher Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) Rights Copyright © Arizona Board of Regents. The University of Arizona. Download date 27/09/2021 06:25:43 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/295175 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA® The Department of Geosciences Fall 1999 Volume 5, Number 1 with fieldwork being carried out throughoutevaluate water management and quality Letter from the Chair the Americas, the Himalayas, Africa, Antartica, issues. Geoscientists will work with the mining Greenland, and the Caribbean and Southindustry in exploiting the ore with as little Joaquin Ruiz Pacific Islands. disturbance to the fragile environment as As these stories attest, our Department possible. Globally, interactions between the issue of Geosciences is the last of the has had a long tradition of excellence and has hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and Thismillennium, whichgivesusthe steadily grown to become one of the largest tectonics will dominate our attention. The opportunity to reflect on the history of the and well- respected programs in the nation. challenge will be to understand climate Department -to look back over our journey We continue to evolve through our students changes, what causes them, and the overall of the last half century. We asked our alumni and our faculty. This year, two esteemed changes in the meteorological conditions of the 40s and 50s to tell us what the colleagues have retired -Vance Haynes and produced by warming of our planet. Many of Department was like during their tenure and Austin Long. Four new faculty join us -Julia the scientific issues that geoscientists will have to relay some of their experiences at The Cole, Mihai Ducea, Jonathan Overpeck and to address in the future will have profound University of Arizona. The response to our Jon Pelletier. Our first Geosciences of the new policy implications. The complexity of these request was extraordinary and I'm pleased to millennium will focus on these new colleagues issues will require a great breadth and depth pass their stories on to you. You'll smile as you and their research. of knowledge. The scientific challenges of the read through them -either from a sense of As we review our past, we also new millenium promise to be exciting and we familiarity or from amazement. contemplate our future. The Earth Sciences will continue to lead in the research of these Obviously, some aspectsof the have been central to our understanding of problems and in the education of future Department and the University have changed who we are through the studies of the geoscientists. since the 40s and 50s. We now have airevolution of our planet and its biota. We In these pages, however, we take the time conditioning (thankfully); we do not keep should be proud that members of our to salute and honor our past and rejoice with cases of dynamite in our dorms or shoot pistols Department have been involved in some of the memories of th. - 'y alked onto this in the football stadium (I think); and we need the key studies in the geosciences. In the campus half a cenry ago to e ' bark on their not go as far as Gallup, New Mexico to have future, the Earth Sciences will continue its own journeys. a good time (generally speaking). We do, quest to better understand the evolution of however, keep the same traditions of care for our planet, including issues sensitive to our the education of our students and for standard of living. Flood, seismic and volcanic engaging in high quality science. Our fieldhazard evaluation will become even more trips can be as outrageous as those described important as population centers become by our alumni but our stories now are global- larger and more widespread. Geoscientists will HERE'S A TOAST To all of the Geo- people at the UA, past and present, and especially to those who have passed on to the Great Field Trip in the Sky. One fondly hopes that the weather is always fine, there are no black flies, mosquitos, fleas, ticks, chiggers, plums, or borrachudos, and the cholla there all have rubber needles. It's been an eventful half century. -Dick Jones, BS '56, MS '57 to çourtesy Of William Price) UA Geosciences N EWS LETTER DONORS Fall 1999 Department of Geosciences -...... GEOSCIENCES ADVISORY BOARD The Department of Geosciences expresses its gratitude to alumni and friends Steven R. May, EXXON who continue their support through their generous contributions. Steven R. Bohlen, USGS BERT S. BUTLER SCHOLARSHIP JOHN AND NANCY SUMNER Regina M. Capuano, Univ. of Houston Robert H. Weber SCHOLARSHIP Kerry F. Inman, Consultant Lynn M. Strickland Charles F. Kluth, Chevron PETER J. CONEY GRADUATE UNRESTRICTED Robert W. Krantz, ARCO FELLOWSHIP Arlene Anderson H. Nelson Meeks David J. Lofquist, EXXON Boleyn E. Baylor Roger L. Nielsen J. David Lowell, Consultant Susan Beck and George Zandt John W. Peirce Stephen J. Naruk, Shell Ann Bykerk- Kauffman David K. Rea, Univ. of Michigan jean M. Crespi FIELD CAMP David Stephenson, SSPA, Inc. Lee Di Tullio Jon A. Baskin Wolfgang and Lorraine Elston William H. Wilkinson (Chair), Phelps -Dodge Vivian G. Dell'Acqua Anne F. Gardulski Frederick T. Graybeal John and Mary Guilbert UNRESTRICED SCHOLARSF- The UA Geosciences Newsletter is Katherine Gregory and Wojtek Wodzicki Jon A. Baskin published twice a year by the Department of Geosciences Laurel K. Kirkpatrick PO Box 210077 Robert W. Krantz CORPORATE DONORS The University of Arizona Peter L. Kresan Tucson, AZ 85721 -0077 BP AMOCO Foundation Richard L. Nielsen Exxon Corporation Steven J. Reynolds ARCO Matching Gift Program Joaquin and Bernadette Ruiz Boleyn E. Baylor, editor ASARCO Matching Gift Program 520- 621 -6004 CONOCO Matching Gift Program bbaylor @geo.arizona.edu H. WESLEY PEIRCE SCHOLARSHIP Mobil Matching Gift Program Robert S. Caughey http://www.geo.arizona.edu MAXWELL N. SHORT SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS Charles T. Snyder Tucson Gem and Mineral Society Kudos to... WILLIAM R. DICKINSON VICTOR R. BAKER Laurence L. Sloss Award Wreford Watson Lecturer, ANDREW S. COHEN Univerisy of Edinburgh, Scotland for Sedimentary Geology 1999 Alumni Achievement Award, Geological Society of America Middlebury College Caswell Silver Distinguished Lecturer, Fellow, American Association for the University of New Mexico Advancement of Science Fall 1999 page 2 The University of Arizona /Geosciences Newsletter environments and protecting endangered species. J. David Lowell News Originally I am from Ann Arbor, MI. I am of mixed heritage; my father is Colombian and Honored my mother is anglo. As an undergraduate Around the majored in Geology and Anthropology at Eastern Michigan Univ. Prior to graduate school I had some great field -related Department experiences. I participated in an archaeological dig in New Mexico, worked as an intern at a national park in Colorado, and traveled and studied in Colombia. Carlie Rodriguez My background and travel experiences in other countries have given me new insight Named First into conservation biology issues. It is important UA Sloan Scholar for scientists from neighboring countries to collaborate and work together toward ecological J. David Lowell (center) is awarded the Doctor restoration.I plan to use my background and Honoris Causa degree in ceremonies at the research experiences to work with scientists in Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. other countries to aid in restoration ecology in other areas around the world. j. David Lowell, a memberof our Geosciences Advisory Board, is the recipient of an impressive number of recent honors. For his Summer Geology leadership and participation in multiple world classmineraldiscoveries andtheir Course for Middle development, in particular Kalamazoo, Casa Grande West, La Escondida, and Pierina Mines, School Students Dave will be awarded the 1999 Robert Earll McConnell Award by the American Institute This past summer a group of 7th and 8th of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers' this grade minority and disadvantaged spring. He is also the recipient of the Robert students from schools in Tucson investigated M. Dreyer Award. This award is presented by a method to predict earthquakes, discovered the Society of Mining Engineers (SME) to Carlie Rodriguez has been chosen as the first ways to design buildings to withstand recognize an outstanding applied economic UA Sloan Scholar. This graduate fellowship is earthquakes, learned to correlate the size of a geologist in the field of commercial made available through a grant from the Alfred P dinosaur based on fossil tracks, and exploration for, and development of, mineral Sloan Foundation, an organization committed to determined the size of an asteroid based ondeposits anywhere in the world. Dave is the ensuring the retention and graduation of minority an impact crater. These are just a few of the first recipient of this prestigious award PhD students in math, engineering and science. challenges they faced in a two -week workshop(planned to become the premier mineral sponsored by the UA APEX (Academicexploration award of the world) which will came to the UA as a MS student in 1997, Preparation for EXcellence) program and the be presented at the 2000 SME Annual working with Dr. Karl Ressa. Last semester I Department of Geosciences. Meeting in Salt Lake City. At the same meeting completed my MS thesis, examining the The APEX program provides middle and his bound oral history biography will be recent decline in a clam population in the high school students with a hands -on learning presented by the Bancroft Library, Western Colorado River Delta using fossil faunal experience in the geosciences. Students inMining History Center of the Univ. of distribution and biogeochemical techniques. APEX participate in a APEX science club during California, Berkeley. Other honors include Results from this study suggest that the decline the school year and then attend summer camp being awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa in the population of this clam may be due to at the UA, where they get involved in different degree in a ceremony at the Universidad the cessation of Colorado River water to the experiments.