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Yale Earth & Planetary Sciences News YALE EARTH & PLANETARY SCIENCES NEWS Yale University I Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences FALL NEWSLETTER 2020 Since our last newsletter (in Chair’s Letter 2018) we have added two new faculty, Assistant Profes- sors Juan Lora and Lidya Dear Friends, Family and Tarhan. Juan studies plan- Alumni of Yale Earth etary atmospheres and & Planetary Sciences, climates, and is one of the principal investigators on the Surely one of the first upcoming NASA Dragonfly things you’ll notice, espe- Mission to the Saturnian moon cially you alumni, is that Juan Lora, Assistant Titan. Titan is one of the big- the department changed Professor gest moons in our solar sys- its name. On July 1, 2020 tem, is the only one with a thick atmosphere made the department went from of mostly nitrogen, and has a methane cycle similar Geology & Geophysics to Earth’s hydrological cycle, which carries water to Earth & Planetary Sci- and heat around our planet. Juan also examines Dave Bercovici ences. This change has how a warming climate on Earth affects water been brewing for decades, transport through atmospheric rivers. through many cycles of discussions, polls, and debates, and was finally Lidya Tarhan works on made official this year. This is not the first time ancient environments, and the department’s name has changed. Yale is one especially how the earliest of the first educational institutions in the country animal life, at and before the to teach the science of the Earth, starting in 1804 time of the Cambrian explo- with a single faculty member, Benjamin Silliman, as sion 540 million years ago, professor of Chemistry and Natural History. In truth, affected the marine environ- departments at Yale didn’t exist in the modern ment and climate. In particu- sense until 1920, when the Department of Geology lar, she is an expert on “bio- was created. The Department changed its name turbators”, early animals who to Geology & Geophysics in 1968 to include new lived in marine sediments faculty who studied the physics of the atmosphere, Lidya Tarhan, Assistant Professor and whose motion not only ocean and Earth’s interior . But our field constantly evolves. Our new name reflects a broader, modern scope, beyond classical geology and geophysics, to INSIDE THIS ISSUE include climate science, Earth system science, and FacultyResearch..................................... 4 planetary exploration (including new discoveries In Memoriam—Memories of Brian Skinner . 8 of other solar systems). The name strengthens our InMemoriam—MemoriesofGeorgeVeronis.............18 ties with other Yale departments and schools such AlumniinMemoriam................................. 23 as Astronomy, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and RecentAwardsandHonors:Faculty...................26 the newly named Yale School of the Environment RecentAwardsandHonors:Students.................. 28 (formerly Forestry & Environmental Studies, who StudentNews.......................................30 changed their name at the same time we did). PostdocNews....................................... 33 Retirement:RonaldB.Smith..........................34 Visitors............................................. 35 FieldTrips:Yukon2019...............................39 AlumniNews.........................................41 Brian Skinner Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund . 47 1 YALE EARTH & PLANETARY SCIENCES NEWS FALL 2020 CHAIR’S LETTER stirred and burrowed holes (and their fossil traces) part, been kept to a skeleton crew of necessary in sediments, but changed how nutrients cycled staff and researchers, and our highest priority is through them. Lidya brings a multi-disciplinary their health and safety. The Department and the toolset to bear on this problem, combining field University are fully committed to weathering this work, sedimentology, stratigraphy, isotope geo- crisis and supporting the well-being of all our chemistry, and petrology. citizens until the time, one day soon, when life returns to normal. Juan and Lidya have already made a major impact on the department and have received a number Yale, like campuses everywhere, has responded to of honors and awards; we’ll highlight their work the moment of national reckoning with the racial in future newsletters. This year we highlight the injustice that has plagued our country. EPS, along research of another relatively recent hire, Assis- with our fellow Yale departments, has looked hard tant Professor Alan Rooney, who is a geochemist at ways of improving inclusion, equity and diver- studying the timing and causes of major geologi- sity in our discipline and in our own departmental cal and climatological transitions, such the global community. Our departmental IDEA Committee, “Snowball Earth” event nearly a billion years ago, made up of faculty, students and researchers, has as well as deglaciation during more geologically already developed community activities to facili- recent warming cycles, with relevance to our cur- tate education, outreach and progressive action, rent climate. You can find out much more about including town-halls, reading clubs, seminar series, the breadth of discovery by Alan and his group in and public lectures, in addition to participating in these pages. (see page #) the broader university effort. The department as a whole has been a leading Our loyal department staff have, as always, contin- unit in the development of the Planetary Solutions ued to make the department run like clock-work Project, one of the Yale’s major science priorities with a renowned (within Yale certainly) collegial guided by Provost Scott Strobel. This initiative environment, despite all the recent challenges. focusses on addressing our planet’s future, given a While I can’t mention everyone, I will highlight a changing climate, stressed resources, environmen- few. First, Melissa Wojciechowski is our newest tal degradation, and loss of biodiversity. The Plan- staff member (as of 2018) and is our lead Business etary Solutions Project involves multiple depart- Administrator. Melissa is a true gift to the depart- ments across Yale, and the EPS department has ment, keeping an iron grip on spend-thrift chairs been collaborating on its development since the (well, she’s worked with just the one so far, so beginning. EPS provides the scientific back-bone guess who?) while also being a hero and ally to us for understanding climate change, the water and all. Becky Pocock, the Chair’s Senior Administra- carbon cycles, and climate mitigation approaches tive Assistant, has been a gem in the department such as carbon capture and storage. We also since 2007, and has worked her magic and made have continued to explore new frontier areas of us Chairs look good, much more, I’m sure, than science with a series of exciting symposia, the first we deserved. Becky is also 99% responsible for of which, on “Planet Formation and Evolution” getting this very Newsletter completed, despite was held in the spring of 2019; two future ones will the distractions and procrastination of the cur- cover “Climate and the Polar Regions” (delayed rent Chair. Dave Rossman, our Computer Support from spring of 2020 because of Covid-19) and person has done a heroic job during the Covid-19 “Co-evolution of Earth and Life” (hopefully spring crisis of diligently keeping our computers run- of 2021 or 2022). ning. And lastly, Pam Buonocore, our Operations Manager, has been the department rock (no pun This last year has of course been challenging on intended, well maybe a little) for decades, hold- several fronts. The Covid-19 crisis brought the ing together the department by sheer force of entire university to a stand-still in March of 2020, will (and anyone who knows Pam realizes how apt and students and faculty have worked hard to that description is). Pam is retiring at the end of adjust to the new way of working, teaching and this year, and we’re not entirely sure what we’ll do learning. Kline Geology Lab has, for the most without her. To all the other staff members who 2 YALE EARTH & PLANETARY SCIENCES NEWS FALL 2020 CHAIR’S LETTER I’m not naming (and I’m sorry I can’t), and espe- memorial tribute to George (see page #), who cially those serving as essential support in our labs was a giant in the field of physical oceanography, during the Covid-19 lock-down: the department a founder of the renowned Geophysical Fluid could never work or thrive as it does without you! Dynamics Summer School in Woods Hole, and a member of both the National Academy of Sci- I’ll also note some other transitions in our depart- ences and American Academy of Arts & Sciences. ment. First, Ron Smith, the Damon Wells Profes- sor, retired this year, effective July 2020. Ron was Brian Skinner, Professor Emeritus and formerly the a pillar of our department, starting at Yale in 1976, Eugene Higgins Professor, passed away in August and serving as department chair from 1991 to 1997. of 2019. Brian was a pioneer in mineralogy and He was an immensely popular instructor at Yale, economic geology, and a highly influential educa- as well as renowned and award-winning meteo- tor and instructor, both with his incredibly popular rologist. Because of Covid-19 we couldn’t have introductory geology class (which inspired many a proper farewell celebration for Ron. So instead Yale undergrads to become geology majors) and we managed a surprise Zoom party for him, with his famous series of textbooks. You will find an all the department and a wonderful showing from homage to Brian in these pages (see page #). his former students, postdocs and colleagues; and Moreover, a group of friends, family, and alumni surprisingly (to us), the surprise worked! With have been working with the Department to start the number of faces and the lovely reminiscences a new fellowship in Brian’s memory, already with of Ron’s mentorship, friendship and adventures, amazing progress, and it’s also described within it was as good if not better than we could have this newsletter (see page #). hoped. Ron will continue to be present in EPS as a Lastly, I’ll bid my own farewell as Chair of the research professor, but for the time being he and Department.
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