- Hugo K. Dooner and Paul G. Falkowski were elected into the National Academy of Sciences.
- Kudos to all for a once-again exemplary teaching record for the Fall 06. In the 100- and 200-level courses, we averaged 4.3 on teaching effectiveness and 4.2 on course quality. In the 300- and 400-level courses, we averaged 4.6 on both. Overall we averaged 4.4 on teaching effectiveness and 4.3 on course quality (out of 5 possible). Top rankings were earned by graduate student Andrew Kulpecz (5.0/4.92) in Stratigraphy lab, part- time lecturer Don Monteverde (4.73/4.62) in Planet Earth, Carl Swisher (4.71/4.52) in Physical Geology, and Ying Fan Reinfelder (4.83/5.0) in Hydrogeology. Bill Gallagher won the field with a 4.93/5.0 for Paleontology. Great job to all!
- Graduate student Lauren Neitzke was awarded a K-12 Fellowship for 07-08, the Gretchen L. Blechschimidt Award for 2007 for $1500, a GSNB award for special study of $1200, and a Northeast Section of the Geological Society of America travel grant to present research titled Variations in Deep-Water Circulation on Eirik Drift from the Last Glacial Maximum to early Holocene. The Gretchen L. Blechschimidt Award is given to women in Geological Sciences who are interested in achieving a Ph.D. in the fields of Biostratigraphy and Paleoceanography.
- Undergraduate student Naya Sou was the winner of the undergraduate research symposium. She was supervised in this effort by Post-doc Bridget Wade.
- Graduate student Lauren Neitzke was awarded a K-12 Fellowship for 07-08, the Gretchen L. Blechschimidt Award for 2007 for $1500, a GSNB award for special study of $1200, and a Northeast Section of the Geological Society of America travel grant to present research titled Variations in Deep-Water Circulation on Eirik Drift from
- Alissa Henza, Ian Saginor and Aurora Elmore were awarded GSNB Conference Travel Awards.
- Ph.D. Candidate Aurora Elmore was awarded a GSNB special study award to conduct research at Cambridge University in England.
- Five members of EPS participated in the Big Chill, a 5 km run/walk to raise toys for underprivileged children on Sat. Dec. 8, 2007. The number of toys raised by RU for the kids was staggering. Dean Michael Carr made the top ten in his age category. His son Steven Carr had the best time on our team. Graduate students Pablo Ruiz, Svetlana Misintseva, and Chair Ken Miller also ran. A great time was had by all.
- Graduate student Alissa Henza was invited to participate in an ExxonMobil short course and field trip in the La Popa Basin, Monterey, Mexico, March 4-8 and has accepted an internship with BHP Billiton next summer.
- Graduate student Esteban Gazel Dondi was awarded a Graduate School Excellence in Research Award, an Excellence Fellowship, and $1500 from the Geological Society of America for his research on Mantle sources of the Central American Volcanic Arc: The Influence of the Galapagos Plume and the Relation to the Caribbean Large Igneous Province.
- Graduate student Joe Boesenberg, along with our ex-student Harold Connolly chaired a session on Chondrules and their Formation at the 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Convention in Houston. They both gave talks, along with our post-doc Scott Whattam.
- Post-doc Bridget Wade accepted a position as an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics of Texas A&M University in College Station, TX.
- The Board of Governors announced the promotion of Roy Schlische to Professor I.
- Ken Able and Peter Rona, Co-PIs, received a $150,000 grant to study Essential Fish Habitat in Hudson Submarine Canyon Head, from the NOAA Undersea Research Program, plus 16 days on NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown and Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Eagle Ray, March 2007 with a cruise in August 2007 (Rona 90%). Peter served as chief scientist on the cruise and lead author on a paper reporting the cruise results at the AGU Fall Meeting. The results reveal a dynamic interface between continental shelf and slope water masses in the water column and apparent gas hydrate structures and methane venting on the seafloor.
- Research Professor Miriam E. Katz accepted a position in the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
- President McCormick awarded Peter Sugarman a Part-Time Lecturer Activities Fund award for $250 for his presentation: Hydrostratigraphy of the NJ Coastal Plain; Sequence and Facies predict continuity of aquifers at the 2006 GSA annual meeting.
- The U.S. Advisory Committee (USAC) for scientific ocean drilling has officially approved the appointment of Professor Yair Rosenthal to the IODP Science Steering and Evaluation Panel (SSEP), effective 1 October 2007 through 30 September 2010. This is the lead evaluation panel for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.
- Distinguished Visiting Professor William A. Berggren was elected one of the 25 most influential Dickinsonians (i.e., graduates of Dickinson College) in America, along with Judge John Jones who wrote the decision a few years ago keeping intelligent design out of the classroom.
- Professor George McGhee had one of the top cited papers in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology: G.R. McGhee Jr., P.M. Sheehan, D.J. Bottjer, M.L. Droser, Ecological ranking of Phanerozoic biodiversity crises: Ecological and taxonomic severities are decoupled (2004) 211 (3-4), pp. 289-297.
- Professor Gail M. Ashley was named co-chair of the NSF GeoVision Working Group. This is a committee comprised of representatives from the three Divisions of the Geosciences Directorate and charged with writing a plan that will provide a comprehensive view of the geosciences and vision for the future. The plan is expected to serve the Directorate for the next 5-10 years as it interacts with NSF management, other government agencies, and the research and education communities.
- The Exobiology program NASA awarded Paul Falkowski $450,000 for his three-year proposal on Biosignatures in evolving planetary atmospheres.
- Professor Ying Fan Reinfelder and Paul Falkowski, who each received Academic Excellence Grants from Rutgers. Ying's project, Global Wetland Distribution and Climate Change: A Seed Project, has been selected to receive an award of $51,000 from the 2006-07 Academic Excellence Fund (AEF). Paul received funding toward the Rutgers University Energy Institute.
- Professors Ken Miller and Dennis Kent were awarded a three-year grant from NSF/OCE for $150,000 for Archiving and Advancing Core Curation and Database Management of ODP Legs 150X and 174AX cores: The Rutgers U.S. Atlantic Margin Core Repository.
- NASA awarded Professor Roger Hewins and Research Associate Jerry Delaney $550,000 toward the cost of a new microprobe analytical facility. Roger and Jerry were PI's (along with co-PI's Harold Connolly and Michael Weisberg of Kingsborough) on the NASA effort.
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