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Newsletter
Spring 2008
by Susan Delap

Click here for previous news items.

TECHtonics Alumni Newsletter

Current Issue

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.

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.

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.

Last Updated: May 6, 2008. Email comments to Webmaster.
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