Alumni News - items received in 2005

Alumni with news items are listed by decade of graduation. If you would like to submit a news item or update your directory listing, please send us your info to alumni at ees.nmt.edu. We love pictures, too. Email them directly to the Webmaster.
 

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

1950s

James R. Doty (BS Geophysics '50 - one of three first awarded) jrdoty2 at earthlink.net
December 24, 2005
   I will be 80 in March. I spend most of my time playing golf, making sure I don't go broke, and enjoying the company of my wife of 56 years (as of Jan. 13, 2006).

1960s

Miguel A. Marino (BS Petroleum Engineering '62, MS Groundwater Hydrology '65) mamarino at ucdavis.edu
January 2005
   Dr. Marino was elected President of the American Institute of Hydrology (AIH). He will serve a two-year term beginning in January 2005. See news on page 4 in AIH newsletter (1.1MB PDF).

David Christian Parris (BS Geology '66) sparris5 at comcast.net
November 25, 2005
   As one of the few vertebrate paleontologists to emerge from New Mexico Tech, I'm always pleased to reconnect with New Mexico when I can. I recently attended the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, which included a field trip to the Zuni Basin Paleontological Project in Catron County. I expect to join in future research there and to make some visits to Socorro as a side benefit.

1970s

James Gordon Jensen (BS Geology '72) jimjensen777 at comcast.net
November 13, 2005
   After leaving school (was a MS candidate in geology at NMT in 1974), I spent the first 17 years (1974-1990) in the oil and gas business in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and California and ran an independent petroleum exploration company in Sacramento. The independent business didn't generate enough profit (what a surprise), so I started over and spent the second part of my career (1991-2005) working for several environmental companies in Sacramento conducting soil and groundwater investigations and managing projects in California and Canada.
   The third phase began in 1999 when I started conducting independent research on the study of planetary resources with the primary goal being to organize the exploration and development of resources on the inner terrestrial planets to support the anticipated colonization of these planets. The research, which included development of a stratigraphic correlation chart of Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, and Mars, is being integrated into two texts. One will be a handbook for exploration and development of resources on the inner terrestrial planets. The other will be a text/interactive CD organized as a comparative atlas of topographic and terrain features on the inner planets that will complement the exploration handbook.
   In addition, I work with the Volcanological Society of Sacramento as the editor of the VSSAC newsletter and their field trip coordinator organizing and co-leading trips along the West Coast and to Iceland (2003) and the Central Mexico Neovolcanic Belt (2005). Iceland was particularly cool, as there are volcanic features that are comparative to similar features on Mars.
   Still having too much fun... On a personal note, my son Phil went back to college a couple of years ago at the age of 34 and graduated this year with a degree in radiology. Dad is too proud of this guy.

Terry C. Wallace (BS Geophysics, BS Mathematics, 1978) wallacet at lanl.gov
March 4, 2005
   With the interim approval of the University of California Regents, Los Alamos National Laboratory's Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) division leader Terry Wallace has been named Associate Director of Strategic Research (ADSR). News release. Terry was the NMT "Distinguished Alumnus" awardee at Commencement in 1995.

1990s

Patrick Mattie (MS Geochemistry '96) pdmatti at sandia.gov
February 10, 2005
   Patrick, who did his thesis with Kent Condie on lower crustal xenoliths in the Navajo Volcanic field, is currently a Scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sandia National Laboratories is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory providing science-based technologies that support national security. Patrick works in the Nuclear Risk & Technologies Division as a scientist specializing in the assessment of geologic disposal of high-level and low-level nuclear waste. He is a key member of a group evaluating the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and is providing technical guidance to proposed geologic disposal projects in Taiwan and Egypt.

2000s

Tony Astacio (MS Geology '98) vastacio at yahoo.com
June 27, 2005
   I am currently working for IBM out of Boulder, Colorado. Upon graduating from NMT, I worked in mining and oil for 3 years before going back to school for a business degree. I've been with IBM for 4 years now. I am married and a father of two - Ginelle (3) and Kendric (8mos).

Aaron L. Berger (BS Geology '02) alberger at vt.edu
June 6, 2005
   Married Elizabeth Snearly (Elizabeth Berger) who has a BS Environmental Geology 2000 from NMT.

Paul T. Brandes (BS Geology '01) eclogite at pasty.com
March 26, 2005
  I graduated from Michigan Technolgical University in May 2004 with a MS in Geology focusing on Precambrian ore deposits of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In September 2004 I began working for Broadbent and Associates in Henderson, Nevada as a geologist. My job with the company includes exploration for new industrial mineral deposits around the Las Vegas, Nevada area.
August 2005
   I moved to Houston, Texas and am currently working as a geologic consultant.

Nathalie Nicole (Derrick) Brandes (BS Geology '99, MS Geology Dec '02) eclogite at pasty.com
July 26, 2005
   This August I will begin my new job as a geology professor at Montgomery College, a small school north of Houston, Texas. I'm responsible for teaching the physical, historical, and environmental geology courses.

Emily K. Desmarais (BS Geology '02) emilyd at stanford.edu
June 14, 2005
  Hi All! I just graduated with my Masters from Stanford and am staying on for the PhD. I'm modelling volcanic deformation on Kilauea volcano from GPS, and other geodetic data (hopefully soon adding in seismic data). California is great, but I do miss the chiles!

Alana M. Fuierer (MS Hydrology '01) amf at hrfmlaw.com
August 9, 2005
  Press Release (284kB PDF)

Andrew Graves (BS Geology '01, BS Basic Science '01) darkjimson at hotmail.com
March 6, 2005
   Currently working offshore on a TransOcean Drilling rig, Working as a lead mud logger in deepwater. Off weeks drinking in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Drilling deepwater is crazy--the geology is simple but the details complex. Working exploratory wells currently.

H. Kirk Jones (BS Chemistry '96, MS Hydrology '99) goldbug at comcast.net
July 21, 2005
  I'm currently the Program and Laboratory Director for Pintail Nevada Gold Technology. We are working on new methods of enhanced precious metals recovery using biogeochemical mechanisms in spent ore heaps by maximizing leaching engineering with biological lixivients. Currently, we are in the process of taking this technology into the petroleum industry as well to enhance oil recovery as well as provide for renewable real-time production of natural gas.

Daniel J. Leiphart (MS Geology Dec '00) dan_leiphart at anadarko.com
August 9, 2005
  Married with 2 kids. Currently exploring for oil and gas in Anadarko's International Deepwater group

Michelle Ann Walvoord (MS Hydrology '99, PhD Hydrology '02) walvoord at usgs.gov
May 23, 2005
  Congratulations to Michelle for winning the GSA-Subaru Outstanding Woman in Science award for 2005. EES newsletter article.
October 28, 2005
  Michelle received the GSA-Subaru Outstanding Woman in Science award for 2005 at the annual Geological Society of America meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 16-19. EES newsletter article.