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Newsletter
Spring 2008
by Susan Delap
Click here for previous news items.
TECHtonics Alumni Newsletter
Commencement 2008
Left to Right: Candy Elliott, Ariel Dickens, and Frederick Partey
May 17, 2008 -- Congratulations to the EES students who graduated in December 2007 or
May 2008! We had 8 undergraduate and 18 graduate students receive degrees. More pictures and information from the commencement are here. NMT article.
End-of-Semester Student Awards Party
May 8, 2008 -- The annual Student Awards party and barbecue was held at the Capitol Bar in the courtyard this afternoon. Over 80 people attended, and although we ran out of food, we didn't run out of fun. View video of pre-dinner schmoozing.
One person who was not there but was greatly missed was Dave Norman, who had died unexpectedly just 3 days earlier. His wife, Mary, and daughters, Anna and Kirsten, were there, and Andy Campbell and Frederick Partey reminisced about the good times they had had with Dave. View the videos:
Many student awards were given out by the department. See the list below and the videos:
Undergraduate Awards - video
- NMGS Pipkin Book Scholarship - Jestina Hansen Gonzales
- NMGS Pipkin Book Scholarship - Shaun Finn
- NMGS Pipkin Book Scholarship - Antoniette Abeyta
- NMGS Pipkin Senior Scholarship - Paul Slezak
- Jerry and Cynthia Durtsche Scholarship - Whitney Defoor
- Road Runner Gem & Mineral Scholarship - Shari Houston
- Road Runner Gem & Mineral Scholarship - Matt Earthman
- Estwing Rock Pick - Matt Earthman
- NMGS Grant-in-Aid - Hugo Gutierrez
- NMGS Grant-in-Aid - Jaron Andrews
- GSA Research Grant - Jaron Andrews
- Robert Wellnitz Memorial Scholarship- Colin Cikoski
- Outstanding TA - Josh Feldman
- Outstanding TA - Christina Forbes
- Outstanding TA - Colin Cikoski
- Outstanding TA - Katrina Koski
Other Awards - video
- Elucidator - Hunter Yarbrough
- Elucidator - Jonathan MacCarthy
- Best Cat Show on Earth - Peter Mozley
- Outgoing Chairman Appreciation - Rob Bowman
The infamous faculty roast by the students was supplemented by several targeted faculty roasts by other faculty. View them all below:
- Faculty Roast (by Shasta Marrero)
- Fred Phillips Roast (by Penny Boston)
- Penny Boston's Roast (by Fred Phillips)
- Another Roast (by Fred Phillips)
Dave Norman 1940 - 2008
May 5, 2008 -- Dave Norman, Professor of Geochemistry, passed away today from natural causes while on a field trip in Ghana. He was accompanied by five EES graduate students. Dave had been with the department for over 30 years. He leaves a wife, Mary, and his adult children Anna, Kirstin, and Paul. NMT article. Memorial page.
Houston Honored with Student Appreciation Award
May 1 , 2008 -- Shari M. Houston, a recent May 2008 BS graduate with high honors and incoming graduate student, was honored with a Student Appreciation Award for her several years of contributions to student life on campus and for active participation in the EES Department. See NMT article.
Aster's Ocean Waves and Microseisms Research Making News
April 18, 2008 -- Professor of Geophysics Rick Aster and Peter Bromirski, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, presented their research on microseisms and ocean storms at the Seismological Society of America meeting in Santa Fe on April 17th. The news service has already picked this up due to the interesting links between weather and microseisms. Read articles in NewScientistTech. and Discovery News.
Andy Campbell's Birthday
April 2008 -- Professor of Geology Andy Campbell celebrated yet another birthday this month, and his students and other well-wishers have resumed their traditional hijinx.
Boston Featured in Santa Fe New Mexican
March 27, 2008 -- Penny Boston, Associate Professor of Caves & Karst, is featured in an article in the Santa Fe New Mexican about her exploration of a cave in Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico. Boston collected microbe samples from the cave's extreme, 140 F degree environment, for DNA analysis. In the past, microbes from similar environments have been identified as extremophiles that may also be found on other planets such as Mars. Full article.
Happy St. Patrick's Day
March 17, 2008 -- With an office staff of predominantly Irish descent, St. Patrick's Day has assumed more than a cursory observance by the EES department. Many green goodies were served up for the occasion today by Colleen (Gilroy) Villanova and Barbara (Halloran) Fazio. The "green" rock sample was fluorite, which students had to correctly guess before consuming green cookies.
Fossil discovered at Bosque del Apache
March 10, 2008 -- A Miocene oreodont fossil was discovered at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge during the course of hydrology grad student Colin Cikoski's mapping project. Cikoski was accompanied by EES adjunct faculty Dave Love and Richard Chamberlin. Love initially thought the fossil was a camel, but further excavation proved it to be an oreodont. See NMT article.
EES Ski Trip 2008
February 25, 2008 -- Professor of Geochemistry Kent Condie hosted a ski trip to Red River, New Mexico. Geophysics grad student Jana Stankova-Pursley and two of Condie's former grad students, Bonnie Frey (NM Bureau of Geology) and Dennis Lee (Haliburton, Houston, TX), accompanied Condie to the Enchanted Forest Nordic Center at Red River. Bonnie and Dennis got really stuck in the deep snow, but it was a great outing, it snowed some of the time, and everyone had a good time.
Gutierrez Selected to Attend MYRES
February 22, 2008 -- Hugo Gutierrez, PhD Candidate in Hydrology, was selected to attend MYRES 2008: "Dynamic Interactions of Life and its Landscape" in May at Tulane University in New Orleans. MYRES is an acronym for Meeting of Young Researchers in Earth Sciences. Hugo was one of 47 delegates chosen from 130 competitive applicants, and his award includes airfare reimbursement.
MYRES is a community building effort dedicated to young scientists in Earth Sciences. This effort is centered on a biannual meeting during which they present various interdisciplinary approaches to a common geological or geophysical problem.
Vivoni Selected as Fulbright Scholar
February 14, 2008 -- Enrique Vivoni, Assistant Professor of Hydrology, was recently selected as a Fulbright Scholar. This award provides funding for living in and doing research in an international setting. Vivoni has chosen to work at University of Sonora in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico and the CICESE center in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. More information on the program is here.
Bowman Featured on NMT Website
February 11, 2008 -- Rob Bowman, Professor of Hydrology, was featured on the NMT website with an article by Valerie Kimble about his recent Earth Science 2008 Award. She also wrote an interesting biography on how Rob eventually made his way to New Mexico Tech.
Condie Wins Most Cited Awards
January 31, 2007 -- Kent Condie, Professor of Geochemistry, received an award from Elsevier for the Most Cited Paper 2004-2007 for his paper entitled "Supercontinents and superplume events: Distiinguishing signals in the geologic record." It was published in Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, Volume 146, Issue 1-2 (2004), pages 319-332.
Kent received another Most Cited Paper 2003-2007 award for his paper "TTGS and adakites" Are they both slab melts?" which was published in Lithos, Volume 80, Issue 1-4 SPEC.ISS (2005), pages 33-44.
Earth Science Day at the Legislature
Click picture for blowups of different items.
January 25, 2008 -- Rob Bowman and John Wilson traveled to the Roundhouse (New Mexico State Capitol) in Santa Fe on Friday to promote the EES department. Rob reports the following:
"John Wilson and I thought it was a great success. We had a lot of traffic at our display throughout the day, mainly school kids, elementary and mid school teachers, and interested legislative staffers. Lonnie Marquez and Richard Cervantes of our administration stopped by several times, during breaks in their lobbying activities."
"We owe a big thanks to Susan Delap and Andrew Phillips for putting together a new, effective display and for bringing together a boatload of materials to support our presence."
"John and I tried out several new techniques for recruiting future E&ES students. The (above) photo shows John hypnotizing an unsuspecting grandmother, planting the thought that her grand kids must attend New Mexico Tech. It will take a few years before the effectiveness of this technique becomes apparent."
Rob also accepted his NM Earth Science Award in a ceremony at noon in the Roundhouse Rotunda. He's pictured above accepting the award from Paul Bauer. See article below for details.
Gutierrez Featured in Local Newspaper
January 19, 2008 -- PhD Candidate in Hydrology Hugo Gutierrez was featured in El Defensor Chieftain in an article about his research in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge.
Johnson Joins EES Faculty
January 16, 2008 -- Jeffrey Johnson, Assistant Research Professor of Geophysics, is our newest addition to the EES faculty ranks. Johnson joins EES volcano experts Phil Kyle, Rick Aster, Bill McIntosh, and Nelia Dunbar to "complement them from a geophysics angle." He's pictured above in front of Santiaguito Volcano in Guatemala. Read more about Jeff in a great article by Valerie Kimble.
Bowman Wins NM Earth Science Award for 2008
January 7, 2008 -- Professor of Hydrology Rob Bowman was announced a winner of the 2008 New Mexico Earth Science Award for outstanding contributions advancing the role of Earth science in areas of applied science and education in New Mexico.
The annual award is co-sponsored by the NM Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources at NMT and the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department in Santa Fe. Selections were made following a statewide nomination process.
Bowman is currently chair of the Department of Earth & Environmental Science at New Mexico Tech, where for the past 20 years he has taught hydrology and mentored over 40 graduate students who are now working in industry, consulting, government, and academia. His primary research interests relate to the origin of dissolved materials in surface and ground water. This important work includes studies on the transport of solvents and fuels from spill sites, and the movement of nutrients and pesticides below irrigated fields in shallow aquifers. His research has also focused on the development of practical and affordable methods for the removal of pollutants from ground water.
Bowman was pivotal in a statewide effort to improve estimates of evapotranspiration in the Rio Grande riparian corridor, the results of which has helped the state to better balance the varied water demands on the Rio Grande. Bowman has served on the board of the Socorro Soil & Water Conservation District, and overseen the development of the Socorro-Sierra Regional Water Plan. He was the 2006 recipient of New Mexico Tech’s Distinguished Research Award.
The award will be presented at noon in the rotunda of the state capitol building on Friday, January 25, in conjunction with Earth Science Day. (Excerpt from article by L. Greer Price)
Aster Elected to Board of SSA
January 7, 2008 -- Professor of Geophysics Rick Aster was elected to the Board of Directors of the Seismological Society of America (SSA) for a three-year term. SSA is a scientific society devoted to the advancement of earthquake science. Founded in 1906 in San Francisco, the Society now has members throughout the world representing a variety of technical interests: seismologists and other geophysicists, geologists, engineers, insurers, and policy-makers in preparedness and safety.
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