Greetings from the Chairs – Lori Dengler and Mark Hemphill-Haley Big changes in the Department in the past six months – so we want to bring you up to date. Many of you may have heard of the departure of Brandon Schwab, our chair for the last two years. Brandon has exchanged his field boots for a suit and tie as the Associate Provost of Western Carolina University in North Carolina. Brandon and wife Angie have wanted to return to their roots and families for some time and we wish them and boys Avery and Harper all the best. The good news is that we haven’t lost Brandon forever. He will continue his association with our department as an Adjunct faculty member. Brandon left a huge hole on both the administrative side and in teaching. We are sharing chair duties this semester and Mark will take over the reins in full this spring. By a fortuitous set of circumstances, we landed ourselves a new Brandon. Brandon Browne is a volcanologist who has been able to slip into the role of our hard rock person and take over the Earth Materials and Earth Resources classes. Brandon B. came to us as a one- year sabbatical replacement for Sue Cashman who is working on the mechanics of faulting at the University of Washington this year. He was hired to teach intro and General Education classes, but when Brandon S. departed, Brandon B’s background was the perfect fit to take on the core hard rock courses in the department. Brandon took his fall Earth Materials class to Crater Lake (see photos in the field trip section). It was a great trip, albeit a little smoky, and we are impressed with both his background and ability to communicate. Brandon also gave an excellent colloquium on combining field and laboratory observations to understand how Aniakchak Volcano in Alaska erupts. Brandon’s family includes his wife Carrie, also a geologist, and two boys Levi and Clark. We are fortunate to have them with us. We are so pleased that Melanie Michalak has returned for a second year as a full time lecturer. It turns out that Mel can teach far more than the intro and GE classes she was officially hired to take on. She taught half of the 2014 Field Camp, and this semester is teaching Geomorphology and Field Methods. This spring, she is taking on Structure. It seems there is nothing that Mel isn’t capable of teaching – and she still runs ultra marathons in her spare time. Mel comes to us via UC Santa Cruz were she worked on exhumation rates of the Peruvian Andes. She recently gave a great talk at colloquium on the spatial patterns of erosion of the Northwestern Himalaya. She has also been a proponent of developing new pedalogical methods in Geology education and an active participant in HSU’s efforts to engage diverse student populations in the sciences. It has been a pleasure having her in the department. We are also happy to introduce Dallas Rhodes, a new Research Associate in the Department. Dallas comes to us via Georgia Southern University, where he was the Chair of the Dept. of Geography and Geology for 12 years. Dallas’ tectonic geomorphology expertise is a great fit for our department. Accompanying Dallas to HSU, is our new University President, Lisa Rossbacher. Lisa is also a geologist with expertise in Martian geomorphology. She comes to HSU from Southern Polytechnical State University in Georgia where she was president for 16 years. If you read Earth magazine, check out the Geologic Column in the back, Lisa writes some insightful entries. We’ve included some of her comments on the importance of field experiences later in this newsletter. Two of our recent MS graduates have taken on part-time teaching positions in the department. Amanda Admire is now running the on-line Geology 106 Earthquake Country section, and Dylan Caldwell is teaching Field Methods I. Both will return in the spring – Amanda for another go at the online class and Dylan will be teaching the Field Methods II class. We also welcome two new Adjunct Faculty members. Most of you know Jay Patton who received both BA and MS degrees from HSU. Jay finished his PhD at Oregon State last year and is currently teaching at College of the Redwoods. He continues to be active in regional research through Cascadia Geosciences and is working with the California State Earthquake Clearing House in developing a post-event tsunami response capability. He has taken a leadership role in planning the grand 50th anniversary ’64 Flood commemoration at the Arcata Theater Lounge on December 21 and establishing the 1964 Flood Facebook page. Jim Goltz ran the California Office of Emergency Service’s Earthquake and Tsunami Program from 2006 to 2011 and has worked closely with Lori on tsunami and earthquake mitigation projects for many years. Jim is a social scientist who has spent his career studying how people and social systems respond to disasters. After many years of futile requests for new faculty position, we have not one, but two tenure track faculty searches in progress. This is the first time a tenure track position has been advertised since William Miller was hired (Brandon S. and Mark both came to HSU as full-time lecturers). One position is for a petrologist/mineralogist to fill the position left by Brandon Schwab’s departure. The other is for a person specializing in Geomorphology, Surficial Processes, Neotectonics, and/or Quaternary Geoscience. We’ll be interviewing candidates early next term and final selection by March or April. Please keep in touch with us. Let us know what you are doing and update your address by emailing [email protected]. Follow us on the HSU Geology Alumni Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/humboldt.geology/ and the Geology Department page at http://www.humboldt.edu/geology. Nothing makes as happier than visits from alums. If you are in the area, please drop by and say hello. Faculty/staff updates Amanda Admire I have had the pleasure to continue on as a Research Associate after completing my Master’s Degree in May 2013. I have continued to work with Lori on the tsunami research work we began during my thesis utilizing Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) to measure the velocity of tsunamis in Humboldt Bay and Crescent City Harbor. We have also teamed with the Humboldt Bay Harbor District, Chevron, and NOAA National Observing System (NOS) to install and maintain four additional ADCPs throughout Humboldt Bay as Servicing ADCP on Buoy 2 in Humboldt Bay part of the nation-wide Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) project. I am also involved with the Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group and Mendocino County Water Safety Coalition outreach and education efforts to inform the public and visitors to our area of the potential hazards associated with earthquakes and tsunamis as well as beach and water safety measures. These efforts include presenting at events including the Humboldt County and Mendocino County fairs, and smaller venues like the Salmon BBQ, the Abalone Festival, and the Fire Prevention & Safety Day held in Fort Bragg. This fall I am teaching the online version of the GEOL 106-Earthquake Country course. This is a GE level course for non-Geology majors where they gain an understanding of the mechanics of earthquakes and prediction methods, the hazards associated with earthquakes, and what can be done to prepare for the effects of earthquakes. I am excited to continue teaching this course in the spring of 2015. Brandon Browne Hello friends of HSU geology! I am a new lecturer in the Geology Department with teaching responsibilities that include General Geology, Earth Materials and Natural Resources in the fall as well as Optical Mineralogy and California Geology in the spring. Earth Materials had a great time exploring volcanic rocks and thinking about crystallization, magma mixing, and caldera formation processes on our field trip to Crater Lake National Park. I've also enjoyed being involved in some SEM student projects looking at a variety of interesting igneous textures. I remain impressed by HSU's commitment to engaging students in fieldwork and research as well as the terrific collection of rocks and minerals (and thin sections!) in the HSU Geology Department. I can't wait to utilize more specimens in my classes and get more familiar with the department labs as time goes by. My background is igneous petrology and volcanology, with research interests that broadly fall into two categories: understanding how - and over what timescales - volcanic eruptions are triggered through magma mixing, and experimentally constraining how minerals respond to changing pressures and melt compositions during magma ascent and eruption. Before HSU, I was an associate professor in the geology departments of Cal State Fullerton and Occidental College in southern California where I taught courses in mineralogy, igneous petrology, volcanology, and field camp and mentored undergraduate and graduate thesis students. I earned my MS and PhD in geology from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where I worked at volcanoes in Japan, Kamchatka, Alaska, and Mexico. My wife Carrie and I have two little boys (ages 7 and 5) who have enjoyed relocating from southern California to the forests, rivers, and mountains of the north coast. Living here among the trees and breweries has also been fun for me because of how much I enjoyed my time as an undergraduate geology major at Oregon State University. I'm very grateful for how kind, supportive, and patient the faculty, staff, and students have been since my arrival in August.