Heels on Earth

Fall 2013

Heels on EarthAlumni Newsletter

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Department of Geological Sciences

Heels on Earth

Cover photo: Tungurahua Volcano, Ecuador during one of its eruptive episodes. Tungurahua is one of the most active volcanoes in the northern Andes, with continuous explosions and lava fl ows since the commencement of recent activity in 1999. Photo by Jonathan Lees.Th is page: GEOL 221 Spring 2013 class fi eld trip to Big Bend National Park, Texas led by Kevin Stewart.

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Hey, Tar Heel Earthlings! A new semester

begins and the eager faces of the curious and inquisitive enter our midst. With great pleasure I introduce myself to you all as the new Chair here in Mitchell Hall. Th e long wet summer has

left Chapel Hill green and lush, but now we are poised for a wonderful fall, full of change and color. We hope you all have fond memories of the cool breeze and gentle spirit that comes with the Carolina autumn.

A lot is changing at Mitchell Hall - staff , faculty, and renovations are all in fl ux. In spite of the surfi cial changes, the deep structure remains constant: Stu-dents fl ock to Geological Sciences to learn about our evolving planet. GS faculty span the globe, engaged in exciting fi eld work. Th e labs are humming, growing, upgrading, and improving. Th ere is an energy in the community, a buzz, and we sense a new page turning, full of anticipation and enthusiasm.

Teaching and education, as always, are the major focus of the Department. Check out the excellent PR we received in the Daily Tar Heel and the Universi-ty Gazette, highlighting the Department’s exciting fi eld instruction (http://www.dailytarheel.com/arti-cle/2013/09/geol-0920). Many of you will recall, with pleasure, the experiences you had as students here in Carolina.

We are fortunate to have such an engaged group of scholars in our midst, on both sides of the lectern, and we will continue to thrive by keeping this high level of enthusiasm and dedication.

Please enjoy the newsletter — connect with old friends and read about the clubs, research, and adven-tures of our community. Exploration of the Earth is forever exciting and challenging, and we look forward to hearing from all GS Tar Heels.

FacultyLouis R. Bartek IIIsedimentology, stratigraphy, marine geologyLarry K. Benningerlow-temperature geochemistryJoseph G. Cartermolluscan paleobiologyDrew S. Colemanisotope geochemistry, geochronologyAllen F. Glaznerigneous petrology, tectonics, geoinformaticsJonathan M. Leesseismology, geophysical inverse theory, volcanologyBenjamin Mirushydrogeology, surface processesLaura J. Moorecoastal processes, geomorphologyTamlin M. Pavelskyglobal hydrologyJosé A. Rialgeophysics, climatologyKevin G. Stewartstructural geologyDonna Surgepaleoclimatology, paleoecologyLara S. Wagnerseismology

LecturersJoel HudleypaleoclimatologyMelissa Hudleygeoscience education

Faculty EmeritiJohn M. DennisonPaul D. FullagarA. Conrad NeumannJohn J. W. RogersJoseph St. JeanDaniel A. Textoris

From the ChairTh e D

epartment of G

eological Sciences

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Honors & AwardsGraduate Student Awards

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

Daniel BowmanQuasi-periodic volcanic tremor as a window into the

source and processes of volcanic eruptions

Th e Graduate School DissertationCompletion Award

Keehoon KimSource mechanism of volcanic explosions investigated

by seismo-acoustic observations

Laura NeserTh e timing of Laramide deformation in the northern

Rocky Mountains

J. Robert Butler Scholarship Fund

Jesse Hill

Walter H. Wheeler Teaching Award

Adam CurryLaura Neser

David Walters

Undergraduate AwardsPhi Beta Kappa

Alpha of North Carolina Chapter

Jason Hallman

Anadarko Field Camp Scholarship

Caroline Edwards Tim Nelson

Drew Stephens

Department of Geological Sciences Field Camp Scholarship

Katie HowardLaura Pianowski

Roy Ingram Geology Field Camp Scholarship

Jason Hallman

Opp White Award

Evan Baker

Tarr Award

Daniel Gurganus

Faculty AwardsWalter H. Wheeler Teaching Award

Larry Benninger

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Recent Graduates BA/BS Class of 2012

Kate BaustianTerrance BurgessThomas ChapmanAustin Conklin

Kimberly DelongPatrick Donnelly

Mark HamblinCooper HarrisWynne Kelly

Matthew LeaderKatherine MooreMallory Nickel

Jing NiuGabriel Parrish

Martin ReedRebekah Rhodes

Kelsey RogersAmbrose Mavor-Parker

MS Class of 2012

George AllenKaren Bossenbroek

Kayla IrelandSun JingyuanColleen LongJosh Rosera

Caitlin RushlowJonathon Syrek

Ian WinkelsternYue Zhang

PhD Class of 2012 Joel HudleyRyan MillsTing Wang

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Recent Graduates BA/BS Class of 2013

Demarcus ArtisEvan Baker

Ashley BarhamCorey Brown

Veronica ButlerTravis Courtney

Becky EmmonsDaniel Gurganus

Katie HowardHayley Irick

Siobhan KenneyTimothy NelsonLaura Pianowski

John Drew StephensJennifer ToddSam Wright

MS Class of 2013Courtney Beck

Ryan FrazerJesse Hill

Jennifer JohnsonRoger Putnam

Cristine Winchester

PhD Class of 2013 Sara Hanson-Hedgecock

Keehoon Kim

Newly hooded PhDs, Drs. Joel Hudley and Keehoon Kim, with their advisors, Drs. Donna Surge and Jonathan Lees.

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I’m incredibly honored to be joining the Department of Geological Sciences at UNC as an Assistant Professor specializing in Hydrogeology and Surface Processes. I

have just arrived in Chapel Hill aft er an extended summer of fi eldwork, packing, and wrapping up projects from my previous position at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park, CA.

I was born in Edmonton, Alberta, under the shadow of the Canadian Rockies, and spent my formative years backpacking and canoeing near Banff National Park where I developed my passion for big mountains and raging rivers. However, I was lured away to California where I spent the second half of my life. I am very much looking forward to this next chapter of my career here in Chapel Hill. Aft er the last decade or so of living in hectic San Francisco, the south-ern hospitality and calmer lifestyle are a welcome change.

To summarize my academic background, in 2001 I earned my BA from Pomona College, majoring in Geology. Combining my interest in the outdoors with my academic pursuits seemed too good to be true, and by the end of my junior year I had completed most of the geology cours-es Pomona had to off er. My senior thesis integrated both hydrology and geology to investigate the suspended sedi-ment concentrations and mineralogy of diff erent pro-glacial streams and lakes in southeastern Alaska. I also spent a lot of my free time in college rock climbing and hiking around the Mojave desert. As a result I became fascinated by the issues related to both the scarcity of water and its ability to rapidly change features of the landscape. Aft er fi nishing undergrad, I spent an extended summer with the Forest Service in Santa Barbara before deciding to return to school and learn more about hydrogeology and geomorphology. I earned my PhD from the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Stanford University in 2009 with a dissertation entitled “How Does Runoff Begin (and End)?” Th roughout my PhD, I worked extensively with the Integrated Hydrology Model (InHM), which was the fi rst numerical model to simulate the physics of coupled surface water and groundwater fl ow in 3D. Th ere have since been a number of similar models developed by various institutions, but our ability to collect the hydrologic data needed to apply models like InHM routinely for assessing environmen-tal problems remains limited. A large part of my ongoing research is focused on addressing this limitation with better

approaches for integrating fi eld data into model simulations and evaluating issues surrounding data worth.

During my graduate studies I also worked part time at the USGS on an ecohydrological investigation of soil mois-ture dynamics designed to inform the sustainable man-agement of the endangered Desert Tortoise habitat in the Mojave National Preserve. When I graduated I was lucky to be able to transition this experience into a post-doc position at the USGS. At fi rst I worked primarily on projects related to radionuclide transport at the Idaho National Laboratory and Nevada National Security Site (formerly known as the Nevada Test Site). One major focus of my work was on de-veloping and testing new approaches for quantifying rapid, preferential fl ow through fractured rocks and soils. Th e other major focus was on understanding the utility of geo-logic heterogeneity in constraining groundwater fl ow and contaminant transport models. Th roughout my research career I have also worked on the quantitative characteriza-tion of hydraulically induced landslides, particularly on how human activities such as deforestation and road construc-tion can lead to catastrophic slope failures.

I am very grateful to be working with the excellent un-dergraduate and graduate students at UNC and also to be joining a group of amazing colleagues in the Department of Geological Sciences. I look forward to teaching courses on physical hydrogeology, soil physics, and watershed hy-drology. Also, as part of the current “Water in Our World” Initiative on campus, I am developing a supercourse for undergraduate non-majors on how humans interact with the hydrologic cycle. Th is new course will be off ered jointly through the Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology starting in Spring 2014. I am very excited to start building an innovative program in research and teaching at UNC.

New FacultyBenjamin MirusAssistant ProfessorPhD 2009, Stanford UniversityHydrogeology & Surface Processes

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Faculty News Larry Benninger

My gamma-ray spectrometry lab has operated for a little over a year now. Students are working on a number of projects where gamma results can help. We have gen-erated a nice data set on three cores from lakes within the Peace-Athabasca delta (Alberta), where we are collaborating with Tamlin Pavelsky. To date the most interesting result is that the rates of sediment accumulation in delta lakes are very low. Evidently the Precambrian basement does not readily subside, so most of the high sediment load of the Athabasca River deposits in Lake Athabasca. Th e major delta is subaqueous, but in many areas, just barely!

Students working during summers have begun to collect stream sediments from sites sampled during the Nation-al Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) project of the 1970’s. To date we have samples from Franklin and Halifax counties. Because of the diff erences in analytical methods we don’t replicate NURE results exactly, but we have found high concentrations of uranium and thorium in some locations. We intend to move our sampling into more of the hot spots that NURE identifi ed. Down the road we hope to broaden the focus to include mineralogy, and possibly chronology, of the U, Th minerals.

We still hope to expose more of our students to gamma spectrometry, as an entry point into environmental radio-chemistry. Th e development of course modules for the core courses is advancing slowly, and your ideas for modules or for research projects will be welcome! And we will be most appreciative if anyone can donate cuttings or core from wells that have been gamma-logged.

Drew S. ColemanSeveral big things are happening in the isotope lab this

year. Th e lab had a large group of students move on in the past year, so I accepted two new PhD students (Sean Gaynor and Connor Lawrence) and a new MS student

(Tom Chapman). Some might recognize Sean and Tom – they are both former Carolina undergraduates. Sean is back aft er completing his MS at New Mexico State. Tom’s National Guard duties require him to stay in North Caro-lina, so keeping him for a Masters was an easy decision for all. Connor comes in as a Royster Fellow – one of the top Fellowships off ered by the University.

Th e other big news is that we were funded for a new mass spectrometer this summer. Th e old mass spec has been chugging away, essentially every day, since 1992. Th e new instrument will bring us back to the state-of-the-art. We hope to exploit advances in the technology to begin analysis of isotopes in individual mineral grains, hopefully leading to better insights into the connections between volcanic and plutonic rocks.

During my annual pilgrimage to visit family in Texas, we stopped in Houston and had lunch with a huge group of alums and their families. It was a fantastic lunch and was so great to see such happy and successful alums. Th anks for picking up the tab too!

Allen F. GlaznerI spent most of the last year fi nishing up my term as

Chair and trying to keep my lab and research going. Sure is nice having a much freer calendar! I’m on reassignment this fall semester, so that has also freed me up for fi eld work and meetings. I attended the Goldschmidt Meeting in Florence in August, followed by a fi eld trip to the volcanoes of Sicily and the Aeolian Islands. Th e highlight of that trip was an evening hike up Stromboli to see it erupt in the dark. Aft er that I visited Herculaneum and Pompeii, and got lots of great pictures and stories for my classes. Th e experimental lab (built by Bill Ussler 25 years ago) has been completely refurbished, and I’m using it to study the eff ects of tempera-ture cycling on crystal growth. Th at lab and the XRF, XRD, and SEM labs keep me pretty busy. Many students use these labs, so in the spring I’m teaching a new analytical tech-niques course. Field work in California continues.

Tamlin Pavelsky

Tamlin begins his fi ft h year with UNC Geological Sci-ences by welcoming two new PhD students, Ona Strikas and Elizabeth Humphries, into his research group. Ona is working on using regional climate models to understand how a shift from snow to rain is likely to impact water resources in the American West, while Elizabeth will focus on observing and modeling fl ow and form in braided rivers using fi eld data and a new NASA airborne instrument, AirSWOT. Tamlin and Elizabeth conducted three weeks of fi eldwork in Alaska this summer, collecting bathymetry and water surface elevation measurements on the Tanana River near Fairbanks. Tamlin also continues to work on the NASA Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission and is working with PhD student George Allen

Neoproterozoic pillow basalts, Anglesey, Wales, UK. Photo by Donna Surge.

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to develop the fi rst high-resolution, global dataset of river widths from satellite imagery. On the teaching front, Tamlin was on research and study assignment in the spring but in the last year has taught classes on the science of climate change and on remote sensing and GIS for earth scientists.

José A. RialJosé’s Wave Propagation Laboratory includes post-doc-

toral fellow, Jeseung Oh and graduate students, Elizabeth Reischmann and Xiao Yang. He and his team are studying the synchronization of polar climates in search for simple rules at the heart of climate’s complexity.

Polar synchronization is a unifying concept in complex systems such as the global climate. Results from our re-search can provide new insights into climate dynamics by establishing that geographically remote and apparently un-related climatic variations might in fact be tightly connected to each other as synchronizing oscillators. Synchronization of nonlinear oscillators in general and polar synchrony in particular point to dynamic processes that link Greenland large temperature fl uctuations (abrupt warming events amounting to 10-15ºC in a few decades) to Antarctic tem-perature variability. Understanding such relationships is critical for the advancement of a full theory of paleoclimat-ic dynamics. For instance, in the modern era, are climate teleconnections examples of synchronization? If so, are there rules for their establishment and persistence? If the complexity of the climate system can be reduced in some measure by assessing the role of long-range symmetries due to synchronization, our understanding of global climate dynamics would greatly benefi t. Please visit us at www.dy-namicpaleoclimate.org to learn more about our research. Kevin G. Stewart

Kevin is continuing to work in both the Rockies and Ap-palachians, studying the structural geology as well as sedi-mentology with a great group of graduate students. Laura Neser (Ph.D. candidate) is working on the structural and stratigraphic evolution of the northern Bighorn Basin and

associated Laramide mountain ranges. Jesse Hill (MS 2013; current Ph.D. candidate) recently completed his master’s thesis looking at the origin of enigmatic topographic linea-ments, which cut across the southern Appalachians. Mag-gie Ellis (Ph.D. candidate) is working on the relationship between recent normal faulting and landscape evolution in Nevada, and Jay Bridgeman (MS candidate) is investigat-ing the possibility that a signifi cant part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina experienced eclogite-facies metamorphism. Th is past spring Kevin was invited to teach part of a fi eld course in Aruba for a group of students from the University of Suriname.

Donna SurgeBy December 2012, all of my graduate students left the

nest. Ian Winkelstern got his MS degree in August 2012, and his master’s research was accepted for publication in PALAIOS. Joel Hudley defended his dissertation last December and is continuing on as a research colleague in my lab and lecturer in the department. Last year was the fi rst time in my career when I had zero graduate students, but happily Justin McNabb joined my lab as a new graduate student this past summer. He is working on using Pliocene bivalves from the Mid Atlantic Coastal Plain to address questions related to biological consequences of climate change. I am continuing my research on reconstructing sea-sonal variability in coastal sea surface temperature during the last two millennia using archaeological shells from medieval and Viking deposits in the Orkneys, Scotland. I am also continuing to publish with Dr. Bernd Schöne (Uni-versity of Mainz) and together we completed a chapter on bivalve sclerochronology for the Encyclopedia of Scientifi c Dating Methods to be published by Springer next year. On the teaching front, I started teaching Geol 202: Earth System History in Spring 2013 and plan to teach it every semester. Last but not least, I was selected as one of two Working on

Tamlin Pavelsky and PhD student, Elizabeth Humphries, conducting fi eld work along the Tanana River in Alaska.

Post-doctoral fellow Jeseung Of (left ) and graduate students Elizabeth Reischmann (middle) and Xiao Yang (right) discuss the shape of Jakobshavn glacier calving front in Western Greenland in José Rial’s Wave Propagation Lab.

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Women in Science (WOWS) Scholars by the College of Arts and Sciences for the July 2013-June 2015 term.

Lara WagnerLara continues to collect and analyze data from a num-

ber of diff erent seismic deployments both in the US and internationally. Her current projects include the recently completed CAUGHT (Central Andean Uplift and the Geodynamics of High Topography) deployment which comprised 50 broadband seismic stations in Bolivia and southern Peru, the also recently completed PULSE (PerU Lithosphere and Slab Experiment) 40 station deployment,

also in southern Peru, and the ongoing SESAME (South Eastern Suture of the Appalachian Margin Experiment) de-ployment across Georgia and parts of Florida, North Caroli-na, and Tennessee. Lara is working with both graduates and undergraduates on these projects to better understand the formation and growth of the Altiplano Plateau, the causes and consequences of fl at slab subduction in Peru and in the western United States during the Laramide, and the eff ects of tectonic inheritance on continent formation and stability in the southeastern United States. She is very excited to have been recently promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure.

Th e UNC team along with Peter Johnson of SUNY Buff alo and Jeff Johnson of Boise State University prepare the airborne acoustic array for launch. In case you were wondering, yes, those are infl ated trash bags...very high tech!

Big Bang in Buff alo

The summer break started off with a bang for UNC postdoctoral fellow Keehoon Kim, PhD student Daniel Bowman, and former under-

graduate student Jake Anderson. Th e trio participated in a series of volcano explosion experiments organized by the Center for Geohazards Studies in Buff alo, New York, last May.

Th e “eruptions” consisted of a total of twelve blasts ranging in size from 1/3 to 1 lb of high explosives. Th ey were designed to simulate steam explosions caused by the interaction of magma and groundwater. One blast threw material over 200 ft into the air.

Th e UNC team deployed a network of infrasound microphones and seismometers to monitor the acous-tic and seismic signals produced by the blasts. Th e

fi eld session also provided an opportunity to test an experimental acoustic array consisting of microphones suspended from tethered helium balloons.

Results from the explosions will help the three students quantify the connection between seismic and acoustic signals from volcanic eruptions. Th e team was also interested in the three dimensional spread of sound above the simulated eruptions and whether or not the blasts produced measurable shock waves. Th e trio and their advisor, Dr. Jonathan Lees, anticipate at least one publication based on the data collected at Buff alo.

Th e project was a welcome break from the uncer-tainty that surrounds most fi eld work on volcanoes. “It’s very rare for volcano seismologists to have access to a controlled experiment,” said Bowman. “Most of the time, you bring your instruments and hope the volcano behaves.”

Research Corner

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1951-1960John A. Ruggles (BS, 1952) Since graduation I spent 3 years in the US Army Corps of Engineers; 35 years as a petroleum geologist with Humble/Exxon, Mesa, and Anadarko; 15 years as a consultant; and then 5 years as a consulting hydrogeologist in Chapel Hill. I worked on a Water Committee in Pinehurst that used well records to defi ne the Middendorf Aquifer, which is our drinking water sup-ply. With the use of over 100 well records from Raleigh and Moore County Public Utilities, we were able to develop a Well Field Protec-tion Plan for the Village and have it established as a town ordinance. We took the information from the well records and created visual logs of the subsurface so that we could construct cross-sections defi ning the architecture of the aquifer.

Joel Watkins (AB 1953) I am 81 years old and happily retired in New Braunfels, Texas.

Robert (Bob) Butler (BS 1958) I have retired aft er more than 40 years participation in the SOSUS program. Since retirement my wife and I have traveled internationally extensively and we volunteer in educational activities. We live over-looking the fi rst green of the Stony Creek Golf Course near Burlington when in CONUS. We had only 13 students in the program in the 50’s, so classes were taught every other year. I’m sure Mitchell is signifi -cantly nicer than New East, but I learned to play bridge in New East Annex. Anyone remember Herb Paylor?

1961-1970Steve Kesler (BS 1962) I retired in 2012 aft er 46 years of teaching, including a four-year start at LSU, then seven years at the Universi-ty of Toronto and ending with 35 years at the University of Michi-gan. Me and other U of M geology retirees (including Ted Moore, BS, 1960) can now be found in the emeritus penthouse on the fi ft h fl oor of the geology building.

Ken Walker (BS 1959, MS 1964)I had a year of service as an Air Force offi cer between my BS and MS. I am retired aft er 33 years of full-time service and 6 years in a phased retirement position as a faculty member in Geological Sciences (now Earth and Planetary Sciences) and a Campus and Sys-tem administrator at Th e University of Tennessee–Knoxville. I spent 10 years as Department Head and 10 years as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research, Associate Vice Chan-cellor for Research, and Assistant and Associate Vice President for Research. I also taught undergradu-ate and graduate courses and super-vised graduate students the whole time. When I retired in 2001, I had supervised more PhD students to completion of their degrees than any other faculty member of the UTK Department up to that time. I also supervised many MS students. Many of my graduate students are now working in the petroleum industry in research, exploration, or production positions. I spent 6 years in a phased retirement posi-tion at UTK and completely retired in 2008. My partner and I of 19 years have lived in Pompano Beach, Florida since December of 2006 (the fi rst couple of years as “snow

birds” returning to Knoxville for the school year).

Craig Wood (AB 1964) Aft er UNC, I went for MS degree at U Wyoming (1967), then for PhD studies at Harvard University, PhD 1992 (vertebrate paleontology - inspired by Walter Wheeler). As of July 1, 2012, I fi nally retired aft er 38 years on Bio Dept faculty of Providence College (Rhode Island), teaching geology, evolution, and vertebrate anatomy; happy to be home again in the woods of Tide-water, Virginia.

Charlie Bartlett (MS 1965)I am still having fun as a consultant here in SW Virginia and only 10 miles from Emory & Henry College where I taught geology from 1967 to 1979. I am still involved with the geo program out there from time to time. I am semi-retired which means I come into my offi ce at 10 o’clock or later. I went back to Chapel Hill in 1965 for my MS with Dan Textoris on my thesis com-mittee. Just wanted you to know you were not forgotten. I’ve still got rocks in my head.

Tom Pickett (PhD 1965) Th e news from me is that I spent three weeks in Ecuador this summer. A week in the Amazonian rain forest near Puyo, Ecuador, several days in Quito and a week in the Galapagos Islands. Th is month I am spending three weeks in the Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Yellowstone area.

Gary Allen (PhD 1968) Aft er leaving the Hill in ‘68, my wife and I moved to Charlottesville where I headed the petrology and geochem section at the Virginia survey for a couple of years. We then headed south to my wife’s home state of

Class Notes

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Lee Mims is and al-ways has been a North Carolina farm girl. She

played outdoors from dawn to dusk, built forts, drank water from garden hoses and ran with sticks. And for 25 years, she raised and trained Quarter Horses.

She was oft en sick as a child, and it was while staying home with her mother that Mims learned the beauty of

words. Together they read endlessly: short stories, fairy tales and adventure novels.

Because of her love of the great outdoors, she later earned a bachelor’s and master’s (1980) degree in geology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel

Hill and worked as a fi eld geologist. And as a popular wildlife artist, Mims owns her self-named studio where she does both portrait and fi ne art oil paintings. She has two pieces on tour with Paint America and recent-ly sold a painting to Ms. Andy Griffi th for his museum.

Books never escaped her, and her geology back-ground inspired Hiding Gladys, the fi rst of the debut author’s Midnight Ink-published Cleo Cooper Mystery Series. Busy writing the next installment, Trust-ing Viktor, Mims is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

She lives on a family farm in Clayton, NC with her husband.

You can learn more about Lee at www.LeeMims.com.

Lee Mims, Field Geologist Turned Writer

Louisiana where I joined the geolo-gy faculty at the University of New Orleans. Th e beautiful city and the good food combined with a great faculty kept us there for the next 35 years. Along the way we raised two wonderful kids. I retired the semes-ter before Katrina hit in 2005, and aft er rebuilding our house from the damage of the storm, Ruthie and I have continued to travel and to pursue many of the things that had been deferred during our working years. We now split time between Mandeville and Monteagle, TN, and oft en get to see our daughter, her husband, most importantly the grandkids in Cary, NC.

Al Curran (MS 1965, PhD 1968) I continue to enjoy retire-ment from the Department of Geo-sciences at Smith College. I have a small offi ce on campus and am ac-tively pursuing research projects on ichnology, fossil and modern coral

reefs, and carbonates stratigraphy in the Bahamas, Dominican Repub-lic, and Belize. Jane and I keep in touch with fellow geo-alums from the 60s including Paul and Judy Benson, Tillman and Margaret Cooley, Phil and Myrna Justus, and Tony and Lynne Randazzo. Recently we visited with Detmar and Julie Schnitker in New Harbor, Maine. All are doing well. Looking forward to a good Carolina turnout at GSA in Denver this fall.

Jim Tull (BS 1969) I graduated from Carolina in 1969 with a BS in geology, and later (1973) received a PhD in geology from Rice. I taught for eight years at the University of Alabama before moving to Florida State in 1981. I served as Geology Department chair from 1984-1991. None of that is news, but this summer I was asked to Chair what is now a combined department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric

Science. We have 40+ faculty, >400 undergraduate majors (Geology, Meteorology, and Environmental science), and >150 graduate stu-dents (MS and PhD programs in Geology, Meteorology, on Ocean-ography). Most people would have thought that I had learned a lesson from being chair before, but the pain seemed to recede with time. Now I have a real challenge to keep tabs on an interdisciplinary program like ours. I’m still naive enough to think that this is a great opportunity to be involved in Earth Science higher education. Much of my optimism and professional commitment (if not my naiveté) is derived from my days at UNC, a time when students inherited the excitement and wonder about the natural world from a dedicated fac-ulty. Let’s make sure that continues.

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Featured Alum: Gus Wilson (PhD 1971)

My undergraduate degree in geology is from the University of Tennessee. John Dennison taught there my senior year, and introduced

me to Dan Textoris, leading to my coming to Chapel Hill in 1966, and fi nishing in 1970. At UNC in my last year, the faculty decided to hire every year a diff erent grad student as an instructor to teach freshman ge-ology and one other course. I was the fi rst guinea pig for that, and taught my last semester there. I learned a lot from that experience. I spent the next year at the Kansas Geological Survey on a post doc devot-ed to mathematical applications to geology. ‘71-73 I worked in Tulsa for Amerada Hess, working in the Basin and Range of NW Utah. Not wanting to stay in the mid-continent, I went to work in Saudi Arabia for Aramco. I was fortunate to work on the fi rst project to identify the source rocks for Saudi Arabian oils, did regional subsurface mapping, and later set up and ran a petrography group. Aft er a year’s assignment in fi eld modeling at Exxon Research in Houston, I resigned and became self-unemployed. I have been a consultant since 1982, working on core and thin section studies, evaluations, and a number of regional studies.

I haven’t retired yet, and just reached 70. Some day. However, the story is complicated. My wife and I left Houston in February 2000 in our 38 foot sailboat, crossed the Gulf to Florida, around, out to Bermu-da, and to Maine. We have continued to live aboard our boat, now for 13 1/2 years. From 2000 – 2008, we sailed between the Bahamas, Bermuda, and as far

north as Newfoundland, and points along the east coast of Canada and the US. We also spent four years of cumulative time in Baltimore over those years.

In the early ‘80’s, I got to know a couple of British consultants whom I helped fi nd funding for some proj-ects. In 1987 we formed an informal partnership which also included the University of Reading to do multicli-ent reports on the Middle East Archive at the Universi-ty, which was the research collection of the Iraq Pe-troleum Co. western consortium, that the IPC gave to the university some years aft er they were nationalized. Th e archive has about 250,000 thin sections (at least), a similar number of cuttings, outcrop, and core samples (the last two pulverized into small pieces), from Iraq, the Emirates, Syria, etc. We did 9 multi-client reports, most on Iraq, and all based on original work with the archive samples. We have sold a lot and are still selling them. I kept working on the last couple of these aft er Helen and I left Houston. In 2004 the University sold the archive to ExxonMobil, which left it in Reading. ExxonMobil gave me a contract to keep working on it, and I have just fi nished this summer working on a project redoing the Tertiary of Kurdistan that began 8 years ago. We still kept sailing, but for the fi rst 3 years I rented an offi ce in Baltimore, and we spent more than 2 years there. We lived on our boat in the inner harbor, and my offi ce was on the harbor in an “executive offi ce suite”, so I could walk to work.

In 2008 as I was fi nishing one phase of that proj-ect, we decided to sail across the Atlantic, and left the Chesapeake in June, stopped in Bermuda, the Azores, La Coruna Spain, and then Falmouth in England, ar-riving late August. We have spent the last 5 winters on our boat in London, in the St. Katharine’s Docks on the

Gus Wilson and his wife, Helen, on a hike in southern England.

Map showing where Gus and Helen have sailed over the last 15 years.

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Heels on Earth

Th ames by the Tower of London. I continued work on the ExxonMobil project, commuting to Reading which is about 40 miles west of London. Aft er doing that on visitor visas for two years, I applied for Tier 1 self-em-

ployment visas for us, so currently we are UK resi-dents, at least until our recently renewed visas expire in 2016. We like being on this side of the Atlantic.

Summers for about six months each of those years, with one exception, we have sailed north for the summer, as far as the Lofoten Islands above the Arctic Circle in Norway, as far as Stockholm in the Baltic, plus points in between, and this summer we are sailing counterclockwise around the UK, and currently are in Arklow 40 miles south of Dublin on the Irish coast, waiting for some gales to pass by before sailing to Fal-mouth.

Th e nonsailing summer was 2012. We had to have some major work done on our boat, and we were able to caretake the fl at of friends, overlooking the Th ames, while they were away sailing. I kept working until we got back aboard in late August that summer, and we sailed a few weeks.

I stay in touch with Dan and Linda Textoris, and John Dennison, and a few of my 1966-1970 class-mates. We occasionally visit Chapel Hill.

Th e Wilson’s sailboat, Wings, anchored in the Tengelfj ord in the Lofoten Islands, Norway.

1971-1980Phil Justus (MS 1966; PhD 1971) I retired in 2010, aft er teaching at the US Military Acad-emy, and Fairleigh Dickenson University, and as Sr. Geologist, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I’ve been Trustee of the Rockville, MD, Science Center, arranging fi eld trips, including one to Great Falls of the Potomac, which I lead. I am licensed to practice geology in Washington State.

Philip Smith (BS 1974) Aft er 31 years as a geophysicist with the MMS in New Orleans, I retired and went to California. Aft er spending the last 5 years in San Diego do-ing oil and gas exploration, I have moved back east and am working as a consultant. We have settled in

near the gold mines of north Geor-gia and are enjoying small town life.

Bill Harris (PhD 1975) I re-tired from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in June aft er 38 years of teaching geology. I will continue research with colleagues as a Senior Research Associate at the NC Geological Survey and as a volunteer researcher with US Geo-logical Survey. Joan Barminski (1975-77) I am currently working for the newly formed (2011) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in the US Department of the Interior. As Regional Supervisor for Strategic Resources, my offi ce supports both conventional oil and gas resources and newly emerging ocean energy (wind and wave) off shore Califor-nia, Oregon, Washington and Ha-

waii. And I am chairing the Pacifi c Section AAPG Annual Convention in 2015, to be held in Ventura, California.

William Huf (MS 1976) Aft er earning my MS in rock mechanics under the direction of Dr. David Dunn, I accepted a position as a ge-ologist with the US Forest Service’s Pacifi c Southwest Regional Offi ce in the San Francisco Bay area. While working there, I completed a second MS degree, in geotechnical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. I then com-bined geological and engineering work for the rest of my Forest Ser-vice career. I had a parallel career in the Navy Reserve, retiring at the rank of commander in 1992. I retired from the Forest Service in 2001. A year later, my wife Sharon and I moved to the coastal town of

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Pacifi ca, CA, where we enjoy the great variety of arts and entertain-ment of the San Francisco area and the many opportunities to hike along the beaches and in the Coast Range. I serve in various positions in our neighborhood homeowners association and Sharon volunteers at a nearby wildlife care center.

Mark and Marianna (Cole-man) Abashian, (BS 1977) We are still in Kansas City; things are roughly the same but everyone is fi ve years older. Best wishes to everyone out there, with a special hello to alumni of fi eld camp 1976.

Lee Avary (MS 1978) As far as personal news, I retired from the WV Geological & Economic Survey 3 years ago. I now work as a consulting petroleum geologist, which has given me the opportuni-ty to expand my geologic horizons beyond the Appalachian Basin. I also continue to be very active in AAPG; I currently co-chair the PROWESS (Professional Women in Earth Sciences) Committee, I am the Eastern Section AAPG Coordi-nator for the Imperial Barrel Award Program, and I was the SEPM Field Trip Chair for the AAPG 2013 Annual Meeting, which was held in Pittsburgh, PA. I also led one of the AAPG meeting fi eld trips in collab-oration with John Dennison, with help from Ken Hasson. I had more than 30 geologists from all over the world on the trip; we spent 2 days looking at outcrops of the Devoni-an Marcellus Shale and associated rocks in eastern PA, eastern WV and western VA. I am also the fac-ulty sponsor for the AAPG Student Chapter at West Virginia University where I have an adjunct faculty ap-pointment. I was recently elected to serve as an At Large Member of the

Board of the American Geosciences Institute; I will begin my term at the GSA meeting in Denver in Oc-tober. I enjoyed my visit to Chapel Hill last fall prior to the Charlotte GSA meeting. Hope to see lots of Tar Heels at GSA in Denver!Joyce Trygstad Nelson (MS 1980) I have been living in the Denver Metro area for 25 years and hope to attend the UNC alumni party at GSA in October. I have been the Executive Editor for Th e Mountain Geologist (published quarterly by the Rocky Mountain Assn. of Geologists, www.rmag.org, for two years now. Before that, var-ious part-time publishing positions and lots of various volunteer work. Married to Phil Nelson, USGS, and have raised two daughters, both college graduates; one working and one in graduate school. We also have two grown sons, both

living on the West Coast. Although I miss igneous and metamorphic petrology, I found working in the petroleum industry and living in Houston, Dallas and San Francisco Bay area to be a lot of fun. I also was awarded a DOE SBIR contract for a research idea I had, also fun. Living in the Rockies allows me to get my igneous and metamorphic “fi x” whenever I want to go hiking. I miss the Carolina springs and East Coast humid summers (really!), and the beach, though. Looking forward to seeing “y’all” in October.

1981-1990 Ted Custer (MS 1974, PhD 1981) I retired on July 31st as Se-nior Manager of Geologic Services

Th e Bay of Fundy, between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, at a low spring tide. It is known for having the highest tidal range in the world, averaging a mean spring range of 14.5 m and an extreme range of 16.3 m. Photo by Donna Surge.

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from Patriot Coal Corporation. I will still be performing consulting work for the coal industry on an as requested basis.

Joan Fryxell (PhD 1994) Continuing as I have been—pro-fessor of geology at California State University, San Bernardino, where thankfully the fi nancial strangle-hold of the last several years seems to be loosening a bit. Several years ago, we were able to start a mas-ter’s program, and have a small but mighty group of graduate students, which is a lot of fun. Kids are mostly grown, and are thriv-ing—both are runners which keeps them out of trouble but results in huge grocery bills. Hope to see lots of folks at GSA in Denver! Chiulli moved away from Denver!?! Who let THAT happen???

Ann Johnson (BS 1984) For the last 16 years I’ve been employed at the US Environmental Protec-tion Agency headquarters where currently I am a senior scientist in the Offi ce of Policy. Prior to EPA, I worked for 12 years at an envi-ronmental consulting fi rm where I was fortunate to meet Bob Stewart (BS Geology, Trinity University), to whom I’ve been married for the last 18 years. In 2009, Bob and I traveled to Guangdong Province, China, where we became the proud parents of our daughter Nellie, now in kindergarten. Geriatric parent-hood has its challenges, but we wouldn’t change a thing!

Holly Stein (MS 1978, PhD 1985) I continue as director of the AIRIE Program at Colorado State University and my Norway residency half-time also continues. However, I have moved from the Geological Survey in Trondheim to

the University of Oslo where I hold a professorship and am part of a newly announced 10-year Centre of Excellence, CEED (Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics). Moving a large part of my research from economic geology to hydrocarbons, always with the Re-Os (rheni-um-osmium) geochemistry theme, has enriched my thinking on metal migration and sulfi de formation in the Earth’s crust. Our work spans many countries with fi eld work in India and a lecture tour and fi eld work in China in the last months. In early August, Paul and Patricia Fullagar visited in Fort Collins, Paul had a tour of my lab, and we all had a wonderful evening on the deck!

Nancy Williams (MS 1986) I’ve been in Springfi eld, MO since spring of 2004. Before that I was in Boulder, CO for 17 years and left my position as Membership Direc-tor at GSA to move to Springfi eld. I have been per course faculty at Mis-souri State University since August 2004, generally teaching an evening section of Environmental Geology each semester. I also started at the local Habitat for Humanity affi liate in 2005 and work as the Family Ser-vices director. Th is year I also took on the role of GSA North-Central section secretary, which I think will be a blast! I married Kevin Evans, professor at Missouri State, in 2009 and we have two cats and a back-yard vineyard full of Cynthiana grape vines from which we made 96 bottles of wine last year.

Andrew Zmoda, PG, PE (MS 1987) I am now working as a Senior Geotechnical Engineer for Geo-Technology Associates, Inc. in the York, PA offi ce. I was able to get my PE registration in Maryland

and Pennsylvania. We are seeing a lot of Marcellus Shale related work in PA, WV, and OH, especially road repairs, well pad construction, and slope failures.

Susan Fairchild (BS 1988) You may remember me as the single mom with 2 little girls going back to school at UNC in the late ‘80’s. I’ve been with the US Environmen-tal Protection Agency based here out of RTP for the last 22 years, and I’m now a senior scientist with the Agency (that’s a title to console me for my full head of gray hair). Even though I work in the air offi ce, I do rely upon my education in geology every day as I work in the minerals and manufacturing group and work on air toxics rules for industries manufacturing mineral products (glass, refractories, friction, fi ber-glass, mineral wool, asbestos, etc.) and sometimes metals rules (sec-ondary nonferrous metals, taconite processing, etc.). So if you are in the geology program and are hav-ing diffi culty fi nding meaningful employment, don’t get discouraged! Your education in geology will ALWAYS be an asset in your fu-ture careers. Last year, my husband (yes, I did fi nally end up with a good one) bought my grandfather’s house for us, and we packed up 20+ years of junk and moved (whatever we didn’t donate to Goodwill) up to Kernersville to be nearer family members. Piece of advice: if you ha-ven’t used it in the last 5 years, you don’t need it—give it away. As we are all getting a little older it’s been good to have family and be nearer loved ones. I’m expecting my 4th grandchild in February 2014! We have 3 half-grown grandsons, and are really just hoping for a healthy baby, but a girl would be extra nice. Corollary to “piece of advice”: if

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you gave away all of your baby stuff because it’s been well over 5 years since your last child, YARD SALE! For now, I hope to be taking extra time off to hug a newborn in the spring. My husband and I travel locally a lot, and we are glad that, although our daughters never really had much interest in geology, all our grandkids enjoy the rock hunt. So maybe it skips a generation.

Ren Ivins (BA 1988) Ren retired August 1st, 2013 aft er 17 years as the Erosion Control and Stormwa-ter Supervisor for Orange County, NC with the Department of Plan-ning and Engineering. Before this, he worked in private industry—groundwater remediation and gold mining exploration. His wife would

appreciate that anyone in the geol-ogy department who might benefi t from his knowledge or volunteer services, please contact him.

Bill Ussler (MS 1980, PhD 1988) I’ve shift ed my research focus at MBARI over the past few years towards marine microbiology, and am part of a group developing the technology to perform molec-ular biological assays of various types in the deep sea. Th e results of the 2010 deployment of what is termed the Deep Sea Environ-mental Processor was published recently in Environmental Science and Technology - “Autonomous application of quantitative PCR in the deep sea: In situ surveys of aerobic methanotrophs using the

Deep-sea Environmental Sample Processor” (Environ. Sci. Technol., 2013, 47 (16), pp 9339–9346 DOI: 10.1021/es4023199). I was inter-viewed Friday, August 23rd by Ira Flatow on his live NPR program ‘Science Friday’ concerning this research. I recently attended the Marine Microbial Ecology Gordon Research Conference in Hong Kong and gave an invited presentation on the “Application of molecular meth-ods to in situ studies of microbial biogeochemistry in the deep sea”. Typhoon UTOR spiced things up a bit by hitting Hong Kong during the conference. When it passed through Hong Kong the storm intensity was equivalent to a US category 4 hurricane (for compari-son, Hurricane Katrina was a cat3). Little damage or heavy fl ooding oc-curred—Hong Kong is hit by 4 or 5 typhoons a year and it took UTOR in stride.

1991-2000Jon Filer (MS 1979, PhD 1992) and Lisa Hu Filer (MS 1991) We’re still in Baltimore, where Lisa is starting her 11th year teaching at Friends School of Baltimore. Our oldest son, Avery, graduated from Friends this year and will be start-ing at St. Mary’s College of Mary-land this year where he’ll be playing basketball and hopefully studying. Our other son, Aidan will be in the 10th grade at Friends. Jon retired this year aft er a fi rst career as a petroleum geologist (14 years) and second 21 year career as a professor, the last 15 at Towson University.

Blake Rahn (BS 1993) My story is the same as before, teaching math and coaching cross-country/track at Northern High in Durham where

Random reunion between Tar Heel geology alumni at St. Mary’s College of Mary-land. Jonathan Filer and Lisa (Hu) Filer were dropping off their son, Avery, for his freshman year at St. Mary’s. We were pleasantly surprised to bump into old friends Eric (Schmuck) Andreas (MS ’91) and Asha (Davenport) Andreas (BS ’90) while they were also dropping off their daughter, Julia, for her freshman year at St. Mary’s. Aft er many hugs, we all reminisced of the good times together at Chap-el Hill while having lunch together. We look forward to seeing each other again during parents’ weekend in October. What a small world! Here is a picture of the two families.

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Sam Fuerst and Josh Roberts also work. My wife, Christi Hurt, got her undergrad (‘93) and MPA (‘97 MPA), both at UNC. She is the ex-ecutive director of the UNC Wom-en’s Center as well as the interim Title IX coordinator for the school. She is also currently chairing the task force revising the university’s sexual assault policies. Fun job. We both completed our second marathon (Richmond) in the last year; I’m tentatively planning my fi rst ultra for 2014. I’m going to try a 50-miler with yet another UNC grad.

Jamie Joines (BS 1994) Follow-ing graduation from UNC, I went to work in the Hazardous Waste business, working for a company in Apex, NC, called EnviroChem Environmental Services. I began as a Field Chemist and worked my way up to Facility Manager over a RCRA Part B permitted TSD facility. I worked in manufacturing for several years managing environ-mental, health, and safety for Athol Corporation in Butner, NC and was Environmental Coordinator for AW North Carolina in Durham, NC. Following that, I went into consulting with Eastern Research Group (ERG), who primarily works on government contracts. I am currently on contract working

on-site at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where I have been for the past 7 years. Most of my concentration is in environ-mental compliance in support of the EPA-Offi ce of Research and Development (ORD) Safety, Health, and Environmental Management (SHEM) offi ce. I have been happily married for almost 10 years now and have 3 wonderful children, Allie, Amberlyn, and Jerry (ages 7, 5, and 2, respectively). All three of my kids seem to be fascinated with rocks, so I have hope :). I’m also in-volved with a wonderful church in Raleigh, New Hope Baptist, where my wife and I have been members for about 10 years.

Laura Mallard (BS 1994) I have been teaching at Appalachian State University for over 10 years now! I never thought that I would be teaching at a university or living in NC. With my husband, I also own a whitewater raft ing, caving, rock climbing, canoeing, kayak-ing, etc. adventure guide service in Boone—River and Earth Adven-tures, Inc. We have 2 little boys with the oldest just starting kindergarten this fall.

Lee Delattre Steinke (BA 1994) I’m living in Denver and have been with WPX Energy (and Williams, from which WPX spin off in 2012) for 8 years. I currently manage a staff of 12 geologists, geo-physicists, and geological techni-cians working the Williston Basin in North Dakota. I have a 6-year-old daughter, Tessa, who loves fos-sils and recently explored Dinosaur National Monument, a 3-year-old son, Kasten, who loves trains and is collecting heralds from scenic railroads around the country, and a husband (age undisclosed), Tor,

who is an independent geologist working Louisiana gulf coast oil and gas. He went to the other Car-olina, which seems to claim some sort of rivalry with the real one, un-beknownst to those at the real one. I thought you would want to know. Lee has had the pleasure of running into Brian Coff ey a few times over the last 5 years or so, and he is help-ing to reinforce the use of technical geology into oil and gas industry work, which has eroded since the inception of resource plays about 10 years ago.

Celeste Burns (MS 1995) I’m in Durham, NC (so close) working for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Asso-ciation doing land protection/con-servation and enjoying our three young daughters (11, 8, and 6). Bart Cattanach (BS 1995) I am happily working in Asheville for the North Carolina Geological Survey as the senior Blue Ridge mapping geologist. My wife Holly and I are looking forward to the arrival of our fi rst child in January of 2014!

Chris Clayton (BS 1995) & Jen-nifer Soloway (BS 1996) Chris and I were married in 2000, and we are currently living in Raleigh. We have two children (Julia 6 and Sam 2). Chris has worked for a local civil engineering fi rm for almost 10 years. I, on the other hand, moved into computer soft ware aft er college and have been working for SAS since 2006. With the exception of social media, we haven’t seen most classmates since the 20th century!

Jennifer Godwin-Wyer (BS 1996) & Paul Wyer (Interna-tional student 1995-96, PhD from Oxford, UK) I can’t believe it’s been 18 years since Paul and I

Summer beach trip with Christi and Blake Rahn and their boys, Griffi n (10) and Calder (7).

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fi rst met each other in Dennison’s Geomorphology class in 1995! Yes, still happily married and living in Houston, Texas. I decided not to re-turn to work aft er our son, Callum, was born, and have been happily watching him grow up for the past 7 years, while keeping myself busy doing various volunteer work. Paul is still at ExxonMobil and is Senior Geophysicist for the company, and has had a busy two years of travel-ing back and forth to the UK, Nor-way, Australia, and the Philippines for work. We are about to fi nish building our new home, so are excited and busy preparing for that. Callum, our little smarty-pants, was able to begin school early, and at 6 years old is already in second grade! We look forward to reading what everyone else has been up to.

Kent Ratajeski (PhD 1999)I’m doing well. Family is now 4 with a 3-year old (Maggie) and a 1-year old (Josie). We just bought a new house, and we really enjoy the new neighborhood. I’m also enjoy-ing teaching and was just promoted to Senior Lecturer this year. I’ll be at GSA (with a very preliminary poster on metamorphic/hydrother-mal stuff in the Black Hills), so I’ll be sure to drop by the UNC group at the alumni reception.

2000-2012David Campbell (MS 1995, PhD 2000) I am currently teaching geology (and other earth or biolog-ical sciences as needed) at Gard-ner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, NC.

Brian Carl (PhD 2000) We have been in Th e Netherlands for a year now, enjoying all that Eu-

rope has to off er, trips to London, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Denmark—it’s great. I’m still with Shell, now at the Mother Ship offi ce in Th e Hague, working on oil and gas reserves in Italy. I really hate the frequent trips to Rome, eating pasta and drinking red wine from the hotel overlooking the Coliseum, and going for daily runs around the

Vatican City, but someone has to do it. Th e girls and Karen are enjoying biking around our suburban town of Wassenaar and going 2 km to the American School of Th e Hague. Our 3 story row house is small, but what it lacks in space, we gain in old world charm. Our biggest decision this fall is whether or not to get a dog, and where to visit this year—not bad issues to have. Come visit, or better yet, come work for Shell.

Philip Ong (BS 2000) Philip and VolcanoDiscovery Hawai’i Tours have been recognized as the 2013 Operator of the Year by the state-

wide Hawaii Ecotourism Associ-ation. He fi rst visited the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory as a fi eld assistant in 1997, returning in 1998 and 2000 as a student volun-teer and contractor. Based on this fi rst-hand experience and catering to a more inquisitive audience, Philip has been organizing and running specialty volcano tours in Hawaii for close to 10 years, co-founding VolcanoDiscovery Ha-wai’i Tours in 2006. Philip plans to host Stephanie Briggs and Melissa Saurborn on Kilauea volcano this year, and welcomes any other Tar Heels who would like to experience this dynamic landscape fi rst-hand!

Jennifer Bauer (BS 2001) I attended the Burch Field Research Seminar to Bishop, CA in the fall of 1999 with Allen Glazner and several other now alums.

Andrew Kylander-Clark (MS 2003) I am in Norway fi nishing up with fi eld work, before I head to Florence for Goldschmidt and Courmayeur for the International Eclogite Conference. As far as news goes, I’m still at UCSB overseeing the operation of the LA-ICP-MS fa-cility; I am now in charge of 3 ICPs and 2 lasers. Between that and rais-ing two energetic boys (5 and 7), there is rarely a dull moment. I am still able to get into the fi eld (Nor-way, mostly) to look at interesting rocks, and enjoying interpreting the geochronologic and geochemical data we are producing in the lab.

Ryan Taylor (BS 1998, MS 2004) At the end of the month, I’m leaving the US Forest Service in Paonia, Colorado aft er almost 10 years of fruitful employment. I’ve accepted a position with the Department of Interior, under

Taylor McCay and his baby daughter, Scarlett.

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Hello Tar Heels! What has life been like since graduation? Well, just 6 hours aft er graduating from Carolina in 2001, I boarded a plane to

Italy to be a fi eld assistant for now-department-Chair Jonathan Lees. Later that summer, I moved to Bos-ton to study Himalayan tectonics and erosion at MIT under the supervision of another Carolina alum, Kip Hodges. Aft er lots of adventures doing fi eldwork in places as varied as the San Gabriel Mountains of Cal-ifornia and Himalayas of Nepal, I did stints learning computer modeling at the University of Michigan, and spent many long nights in the noble gas geochronology lab, all to get a PhD in 2006. At one point or another I jokingly referred to getting my PhD as a “soul crush-ing” experience, but I’d go back and do it again in a heartbeat—my peers and teachers are still amazing colleagues, and the experience prepared me for the ca-reer I love as a geology professor today. Along the way at MIT I met a unique swing dancer-triathlete-rocket scientist named Geoff and decided he was a keeper in 2006. Next we moved to California, where I did a post-doc at Caltech while he worked at NASA-JPL. At Caltech I shift ed gears to study tectonics and climate of the Colorado Plateau, using a new kind of geochemis-try with a funny name called clumped isotopes. It was a great gig—Geoff and I both biked to work (even the day it rained!) and had easy access to beach volleyball, hiking and skiing on weekends. But the opportunity to become a faculty member at the University of Wash-ington was just too good to pass up! So in the summer of 2008, we road tripped our way up the west coast.

Life in Seattle has kept us busy! Geoff works as an engineer at Blue Origin, where he’s building and launching rockets for space tourism. I have been divid-

ing my time among fi eldwork (in the Indian Himalaya, Andes, and western US), setting up my own isotope lab, teaching, and advising graduate students and post-docs. Our son Dylan arrived in 2010, teaching us the real meaning of “busy,” tagging along as my occasional fi eld assistant, and making life in general much, much more fun. Th ings we love about Seattle include our friends and the outdoorsy northwest vibe, amazing summers, year-round green, mountains and water… and the easy fl ights to Hawaii and southern California when the rains come!

It has been great to reconnect with Carolina folks at GSA and AGU, and especially great fun visiting campus last year to give a Department seminar. I look forward to showing off Chapel Hill to my boys soon!

Featured Alum: Kate Huntington, nee Ruhl (BS, 2001)

Kate, Geoff , and Dylan on Orcas Island, Washington, looking over Puget Sound.

their relatively small and obscure Offi ce of Mineral Evaluation. I’ll be working on team examining federal property, helping to evalu-ate mineral potential and the like. We will be adjusting to city life, moving to the big city of Denver. On the home front, Ava, my oldest, just started the 5th grade (crazy), and Sasha is excited about being a 2nd grader. Th ey got mountain bikes last Christmas and have been

learning to trail ride in places such as Grand Junction and down in Sedona. Th eir rock collections are growing and their ability to carry home the big ones are impressive. I recently got engaged. My fi ancée, Stephanie Ogburn, is a reporter for Climatewire. Although she didn’t study geology, she loves to get out and enjoy it. We’ve been hitting the mountains and deserts as oft en as we can.

Taylor McCay (BS 2005) I’m currently working as a Sr. Geologist for a small Oil & Gas company in Houston, TX called Gastar Explo-ration. I’m managing our explora-tion and operations drilling for oil in Oklahoma. My wife Niki and I had a baby girl, Scarlett McCay, on 5/11/13.

Rich Gaschnig (MS 2005) I’m currently a post-doc at the Uni-

21

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versity of Maryland, working on the geochemistry of Precambrian glacial deposits. Th is year, I spent a month in South Africa and Na-mibia collecting samples. I’m also getting married in September.

Stef (Dilts) Bernosky (MS 2006) I’ve been working at BP now for 6 years, specializing in Explo-ration and Appraisal, currently working in the Deep Water Gulf of Mexico. Good fun, but having even more fun in my off -time explor-ing the ultramarathon scene. I’ve completed a handful of 50-milers and one 100-mile trail run (in sub-24 hours, a solid performance for a fi rst attempt, you can ask Allen Glazner for the details, as he has my race report). Currently gear-ing up for my second 100-miler in October 2013, this one is much hillier and rockier, which will make for an interesting time training for this topographically challenged Houstonite. I also had the honor of representing the US at the World Trail Ultrarunning Championship this July in Wales. Th e day didn’t go

exactly as planned, but was a great experience none-the-less.

Jeff Warren (PhD 2006) I continue my role as a senior advi-sor to the North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger handling energy, environment, and regulatory aff airs issues. An exam-ple of a few major pieces of legisla-

tion during the last three sessions of the General Assembly in which I have been involved include the Regulatory Reform Act of 2011, 2012, and 2013; the Clean Energy and Economic Security Act (2012); the Domestic Energy Jobs Act (2013); the Coastal Policy Reform Act of 2013; the Jordan Lake Water Quality Act (2013) as well as the State budgets for the 2011-12 and 2013-14 fi scal years.

Shaena Montanari (BS 2008) I fi nished my PhD in September 2012 from the Richard Gilder Graduate School comparative biology PhD program. During that time I did fi eld work in Mongolia, got an NSF Graduate Research Fel-lowship and Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, and published a few papers. My most recent paper covers using stable isotopes to look at paleoecology of Australian mega-fauna. Th anks to Donna Surge for turning me on to the method I con-tinue to use and probably will for the rest of my career! I am currently a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer Stefany (Dilts) Bernosky representing the US in an ultramarathon.

Jeff Warren (fi ft h from the left ) and the staff for the North Carolina Senate Presi-dent Pro Tempore.

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Heels on Earth

in the discipline of Ecology, Evolu-tion, and Environmental Biology at Columbia University in New York City.

Mark Stelten (BS 2008) I am about a year away from fi nishing my PhD at UC Davis. Over the next year, I will be focusing on writ-ing and looking for a new job or post-doctoral research position. So in short, not too much has changed but I will be making a big move in the next year or so!

Alana Wilson (BS Geology, 2008) I am currently completing a master’s degree in geography at the University of Colorado Boul-der, studying the impact of climate change on high-elevation, glacier-ized watersheds.

Scott Bennett (MS 2009) Scott completed his PhD at UC Davis in March 2013 where he studied the role of rift obliquity in forma-tion of the Gulf of California. He spent much of the 4 years since graduating from UNC mapping

syn-tectonic sedimentary basins and correlative deposits of regional ignimbrites in Baja California and on the Midriff Islands in the north-ern Gulf of California, Mexico. In March 2013, Scott started a 2-year Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow-ship with the US Geological Survey in Golden, CO. He is working with the Earthquake Hazards team at the USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center, characterizing the hazards of active faults such as the Wasatch fault in Utah. He recently assisted colleagues in a paleoseismic trench across the southern San Andreas Fault.

Rebekah Fuerst (B.A. 2009) Aft er completing her Master’s in Education at Boston University and teaching a few years up north, she moved to Charlotte in 2013 to continue her life in education. She currently teaches at Druid Hills Academy, a title 1 PreK-8 school. She is teaching all grades and is a member of the fi ve person STEAM Team (Science Technology En-gineering Art Math). She loves teaching geology and other sciences to kids of all ages!

Stephen Hughes (BS Geology, 2009) I anticipate completing my PhD degree at NC State in 2014. Don’t worry though: I continue to wear my UNC T-shirts all over this campus. I’ve been studying the early Paleozoic tectonic history of the Appalachian Piedmont of Virginia under the advisement of Dr. Jim Hibbard and I got my fi rst journal article published in the June, 2013 issue of the American Journal of Science. I’ve also submit-ted a manuscript to a GSA special volume dedicated to the 2011 M5.8 interplate earthquake in Virginia. Hope everyone at Mitchell Hall and

all my former classmates and TAs are doing well.

Michael Mobilia (MS 2009) I’ve been at the Department of Energy in DC for the past 3 years. Th e fi rst couple years I worked on analyzing uranium production in the US. As part of that, I served as the US delegate to the IAEA Urani-um Group and got to spend a week in Ukraine, where I toured a few uranium mines. For the last year I’ve been managing a daily report on US energy use and production that goes to the Secretary of Energy and the White House (probably into some folder in the basement where no one ever looks at it, but it sounds cool anyway).

Jacqueline Jessica Ratner (BS 2009) I just wrapped up my second fi eld season in Ecuador studying the volcano Cuicocha. It’s part of the STREVA project to reduce risk to volcanic hazards in Latin America and the Caribbean (http://streva.ac.uk/). I’m using a computer science method called “structure from motion” to rapidly recreate topography in 3D from digital photographs, on a time-frame of minutes to hours and with

Scott Bennett assisting colleagues in a paleoseismic trench across the south-ern San Andreas Fault.

Mike Mobilia on a tour of an old Soviet missile silo somewhere in the Ukraine.

23

Heels on Earth

sub-metric accuracy. We can use the digital models in numerical simulations of hazard scenarios so that policy makers and planners can keep citizens safe from disaster. One more year to go and then I’ll be wrapping up my PhD at Oxford and looking for job placement, so if you hear of anything please get in touch (shameless pitch!).

Kathryn Metcalf (BS Geo-physics, 2010) Last year I fi nished my MS in Geosciences with Paul Kapp at the University of Arizona on drivers of forearc normal fault-ing in northern Chile. My project involved evaluating existing data and models of forearc geodynamics and proposing a new model related to lithospheric structure inboard of the normal faulting. Now I am starting my second year of my PhD, also with Paul Kapp at Arizona, working on the Indus Yarlung Su-ture melange in southern Tibet. Th e goals of this project are to constrain the age, provenance, structure, metamorphism, and exhumation

of the melange throughout its evolution. I’ve completed one fi eld season and am heading back next summer to conduct more fi eld mapping and collect more samples.

Kyle Samperton (BS, 2010) I will be starting my fourth year in graduate school (PhD, Geoscienc-es) at Princeton University in Fall 2013. Working in Blair Schoene’s ID-TIMS lab, doing geologic fi eld work in the Swiss-Italian Alps. Lov-ing living in New Jersey with my wife, Ashley, but I miss Chapel Hill and UNC! Stewart Edie (BS 2011) I’m entering my third year of doctor-al study with David Jablonkski in the Paleobiology Program at the University of Chicago. I have to admit, I’ve become a full-blown biologist in grad school, but the Carolina geological mindset has strongly infl uenced my present research program! I was fortunate to publish my honor’s thesis from UNC in PALAIOS last spring, and

am grateful to all in the department who helped me complete this work.

Austin G. Kelly (BS 2011)Aft er graduating from UNC, I was accepted into Georgia State Uni-versity to acquire my MS which I hope to complete aft er the spring 2014. I recently returned from an internship this summer in Houston with BP America where I worked as a GIS Analyst. I am currently living in Atlanta and writing away on my thesis work and plan to hopefully return to work at BP aft er gradua-tion.

Zachary Vance (BS 2011) I defended in May and turned in my thesis last week. Mineralogy, geo-chemistry, and genesis of the hy-drothermal REE-fl uorite-Ag-Pb-Cu deposits of the Gallinas Mountains, New Mexico. I am starting a 1-year appointment at Los Alamos Na-tional Labs with Dr. Claudia Mora. I am moving up there two weeks from now. I got married on March 9th of this year. My wife is fi nishing medical school in December and is applying to psychiatry residency programs all over the country.

Ting Wang (PhD 2011) I am in my second year of post-doc work at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Earth Science re-search data, its data management and informatics processing are valuable in allowing labs working on a stable isotope project earth scientists to make new discoveries. Th erefore, I am working with my colleagues at Lehigh to assess and meet the data management needs of researchers at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES). Every time I enter the STEPS building where the EES department is located and pass by their labs and

Jacqueline Jessica Ratner in Ecuador studying the Cuicocha volcano.

24

Heels on Earth

facilities, it reminds me of Mitchell Hall and the great time I have spent at UNC as a graduate student. Go heels, go UNC Geology!

Daven Quinn (BS 2011) I’ve been studying tectonics in the Caltech PhD program for over year and just passed my qualifying exams. I am doing work on the structure of the California margin and on Martian hydrated stratigraphy. I will choose a thesis project and move to candi-dacy this year.

Ryan Mills (MS 2008, PhD 2012) My wife Liz, my son Walter, and I moved to Houston in June of 2012. At that time I started a NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship at Johnson Space Center. We are all happy, healthy, and continually perspiring.

Martin Reed (BA 2012) I am entering my second year teaching elementary school as a Teach For America 2012 Corps Member in inner-city Chicago. I am currently teaching Kindergarten, all subjects, in a severely at-risk neighborhood Charter School in the North Lawn-dale community. I plan on teaching for the next three to four years before going back to get my PhD in Environmental Policy.

Rafa Garcia-March (Post-doc 2009-2012) Presently I am the PI of the Marine Biology group of the “Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Martir” (UCV) and the Scientifi c Director of the Institute of Environment and Marine Science Research (IMED-MAR) of the UCV in Calpe (Ali-cante, Spain). But basically I am in charge of making the Institute work despite the crisis… We are working now in the reproduction of Pinna nobilis in captivity. We want to use

the seeds to recover endangered populations and to evaluate the possibility of commercializing the species. I am also working on the study of sclerochronology of P. no-bilis all around the Mediterranean Sea (I have funding for both stud-ies). On the other hand we have been working on some educational stuff , such as the “underwater trail” we installed in Calpe.

Joel Hudley (PhD 2012) Th is Fall I’ve been sharing GEOL 101 teaching responsibilities with Melissa Hudley and got the op-portunity to teach Prehistoric Life while Joe Carter was on research leave. Prior to this semester, my teaching duties were related to reviving, revitalizing, and updat-ing courses like Paleoceanography, Energy and Mineral Resources, and Sedimentology and Stratigraphy. Last spring, students in Sed/Strat enjoyed an adventure through the Appalachian Basin and across the Cincinnati Arch. Th e trip was fast,

the days were long, and the weather was a little chilly, but all survived the experience!

Cristine Winchester (MS 2012) I just transitioned from the Balkh province in Afghanistan to Kuwait for outprocessing. I wish customs wasn’t so tight or I’d bring you back some cool samples. Th e geology here was a constant challenge because our job was to prepare the earth for roads and buildings. Th e sand was so fi ne it fl owed like water in some areas and in others it was so coarse we had to haul in getch/clay and thousands of gallons of water to achieve any kind of sustainable compaction. We experimented with countless techniques trying to fi nd the best combination of material content, layer thicknesses, and water before getting any good at it. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well there and good luck with the ladder dike hunt.

Stewart Edie on a sampling trip to San Salvador in the Bahamas. He’s chipping out Chione cancellata shells from a Pleistocene reef (best Chicago winter activity ever). And yes, the water really is that blue!

25

Heels on Earth

Ian Winkelstern (MS 2012) I’m working on a PhD with Kacey Lohmann at the University of Michigan on paleoclimatic and diagenetic applica-tions of clumped isotopes in dolomite. I’ve also been helping teach introductory geology, including a fi eld version in Wyoming this past summer.

Evan Baker (BS 2013) Aft er graduating in May with my degree in Geological Sciences, I enjoyed a summer fi lled with new experiences. I spent two weeks traveling in China, including a few days amongst the fascinating karst towers in the southern part of the country. I also had the opportunity to in-tern at the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, WA. During my time at the observatory, I worked on volcanic hazard projects at Mt. Shasta and Mt. Hood. Th is fall, I started the PhD program at the University of Oregon, where I’ll be working with Jim Watkins in the experimental petrology lab. My fi rst project will use carbonate precipitation experiments to learn more about the equilibration of carbon isotopes in the calcium carbonate system. I truly feel that the work and research I did at UNC have made my transition to graduate school smooth and natural. I am still very proud to be a Tar Heel.

Roger Putnam (MS 2013) I am teaching part time at Columbia College in Sonora, CA and writing a new comprehensive guidebook to the big wall climb-ing in Yosemite Valley.

Our alumni receptions at the annual Geological So-ciety of America meetings have been a great way for old and new friends of the Department to meet or reconnect. Charlotte hosted the GSA annual meeting in 2012, and the meeting was back in Denver this year. Th e turnout at both of our alumni events was fantastic! Dozens of departmental friends were able to reconnect over food and libations.

Here are some of the folks we saw in Denver:

Charlotte and Denver GSA Alumni Receptions

Allen CurranJeff KurtzStephen KishHolly SteinClay KellyKaleb PollockKate HuntingtonCharles BrownCarl StockNancy WilliamsKenneth HughesLewis LandMiquela IngallsKyle SampertonKatherine Avary

Joyce TrygstadTina PruettRichard SpruillStewart EdieRichard DiecchioDonna & Henry UngerKristie BradfordRyan MillsSam WrightJonathan LeesKevin StewartAllen GlaznerDonna SurgeBen Mirus

Remembering Our Former Tar Heels Robert Ballin Neuman, 93, died May 24, 2013. Born February 29, 1920, he was a third generation Washingto-nian. He attended Gordon Junior High and Western High School. Dr. Neuman earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. During World War II, he served in the US Navy leaving as a Lieutenant. Like many in his generation the GI Bill supported his return to post-secondary education. He earned his PhD in Geol-ogy from Johns Hopkins University in 1949. His work and lifelong passion was geology. His specialty was fossilized brachiopods. Beginning in 1949 Dr. Neuman was a scientist for the USGS at the US National Museum, Washington DC. Aft er his retirement in 1985, he was an emeritus scientist of the USGS and the Smithsonian Institution. Much of his fi eld work and research focused on Lower Ordovician marine brachiopods found in northern Maine, where he fi eld work for more than 30 years. He introduced many students to ge-ology through fi eld expeditions. He worked closely with the

Maine Geological Survey for many years. In 2007 a camp-site on the International Appalachian Trail located near Mount Kathadin was named in his honor. Dr. Neuman had the good fortune to marry the late Arline (Ross) Neuman in 1949. Together they spent many summers on Shin Pond. He is survived by two daughters, Elizabeth Reichman and hus-band, David, and Martha Welsh and husband, Dr. Michael. He has four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. His sister, Dr. Alice Bessman also survives. Donations in his memory may be made to Orchard Cove Staff Apprecia-tion Fund, 1 Del Pond Drive, Canton, MA 02021 or Maine Chapter of the International Appalachian Trail, P.O. Box 916, Gardiner, ME 04345.

Sergio Constantino (MS 1971) passed away in July, 2012. He was a well-known and colorful character, who aft er graduating went back to Mexico to be head of research in the geology of uranium ores for the government, fol-

26

Heels on Earth

Tom Watson in Curacao, en route to his fi eld area in Suriname, 2006.

Diamond Donors ($1,000 or above)Anadarko PetroleumIrene & Robert A. BriggamanStephanie M. BriggsEllen K. BrundageBrian S. CarlEP EnergyExxon Mobil CorporationJennifer J. & John P. FoudyJacqueline S. IngramMichael LanahanCharles V. & Elaine C. MimsDaniel C. PignatielloCaleb J. PollockMiriam L. Renkin & Harry H. PoseyLydia E. & Francis O. RollinsElena & Joseph St. Jean Jr.Elijah White Jr.Th omas M. Whitehurst

Sapphire Donors($500-$999)Jean S. & Charles S. Bartlett Jr.

Jane W. & H. Allen CurranJesse W. DavisJoanne L. & Charles M. FrankelAllen F. GlaznerJohn R. MonradNancy M. RodriguezIone L. & Carl A. Taylor Jr.

Topaz Donors($100-$499)Mark S. AlspaughKatharine L. AvaryGerald R. Baum Troy P. Bernier Edward W. Boehm Paulette A. Bond Kevin J. Bradford Mont J. Bright Jr. Edward R. BurtJames R. Butler Jr.Robert P. CannonKristelle G. CastiglioneCaitlin L. & Guy T. CurrentEdward S. Custer Jr.Elizabeth H. & Mark A. Fairman

Ruth D. & Darryl L. FallsWilliam L. FergusonJohn F. FergusonKatherine L. & Samuel I. FuerstG.R. Baum & Associates, LLC W. Timothy Griffi nSamuel C. GuyStephen B. HarperWilliam B. HarrisBarbara & Steven A. HauckRosemary W. HayesBeverly R. & J. Wright Horton Jr.William L. HufStephen D. HurstPhilip S. JustusStephen E. KeslerNancy V. & Henry G. LatimerWilliam L. LykeJames A. MadisonWanda S. & Ted G. OakleyEmily R. & Michael G. Patillo Jr.Jean H. SeamanRichard K. SpruillKenneth F. Steele Jr.Holly J. SteinJohn C. Sylvester

Department of Geological Sciences Honor Roll 2013Th ank you! Th e Department of Geological Sciences gratefully thanks our generous donors who have supported its students, faculty, research, and programs in fi scal year 2013.

lowed by starting several businesses in Mexico City, work-ing with the fi sheries ministry in Ensenada, and owning a salsa cannery. While in Chapel Hill, he met a Greensboro college student, Darelyn of Long Island, and they were mar-ried. Th ey were divorced many years later. Sergio and Gus Wilson shared an apartment for over a year in Chapel Hill, and Gus visited him in Mexico. Sergio and Darelyn came to Houston several times over the years and stayed with Gus and his wife. Tom Watson (MS 2008) passed away at his home sudden-ly on Tuesday February 12, 2013. He was 31 years old. Tom received a BS degree in Geology and another in Marine Sci-ence and Management from Stockton College, Pomona, NJ. Tom’s MS thesis research was focused on the geology of a gold-bearing terrane in Suriname. Tom loved adventure and aft er graduation, he worked for 10 years in South America as a consultant in mineral and gold exploration.

27

Heels on Earth

Alice R. ToddCharles C. Todd Jr.Ruth T. & David H. WalzJohnnie P. WangerBetsey C. Wingfi eldJoseph L. Wooden

Opal Donors(up to $100)J. Melia AllenJennifer B. & Brian C. BauerTh omas G. Beaman Jr.Sheila B. & Richard P. BeaudryKathi K. BeratanDavid M. Best

Ginger E. CastleCharles D. FergusonDavid GiacominiRalph C. HeathFrancis A. HillsG. Merwin JonesGerry U. LawGene H. MaynardMarjorie J. McKinneyScott C. MeyerJohnathan S. Miller & Suzanna BrooksHugh H. MillsTh omas E. PickettJames R. Poole

William A. RansonKim H. Salisbury-Keith & Darryl J. KeithFrederick C. SechlerAlan F. SmithMichael D. StraneSarah S. TackerPaul G. TietzScott G. Van CampMark. R. WaltmanNancy S. WilliamsEdward A. Witort Jr.

Th is list recognizes donors who made gift s to the department of geological sciences between July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013 and does not include anonymous donors, or those with pledges, bequests or other planned gift s. Th is list was prepared with great care to ensure accuracy. To report a mistake, please contact Amanda Kuruc at (919) 962-6358 or amanda.kuruc@unc.edu.

State funds and tuition pay only part of the costs to recruit and retain the best faculty and gradu-ate students and support the unique liberal-arts

undergraduate programs that are the hallmarks of the Carolina experience. Private funds sustain and en-hance these extraordinary opportunities for students and faculty. Despite budget cuts, the Department of Geological Sciences continues to provide the best possible education for our undergraduate and graduate students. Each year, private support provides the fund-ing that helps support Carolina’s margin of excellence. Private giving is now more critical than ever. Please make your gift today via our secure website: http://www.geosci.unc.edu/page/support-unc-gs or by using the enclosed pre-paid envelope.

We continue to welcome your gift s to any fund in the Geological Sciences department and we hope you will consider either or both of these funding priorities:

Geological Sciences Department Unre-stricted Fund (101221): Provides the Chair with the most fl exibility to apply support to the depart-ment’s most immediate needs, such as graduate stu-dent and faculty research, fi eld camp scholarships, and equipment.

The Kurt Frankel Fund for Undergradu-ate Research in Geological Sciences (100162): Supports undergraduate research fi eld trips and is named in honor of Dr. Kurt Frankel, who earned his bachelor’s degree in 2000 and master’s in 2002 in Geological Sciences from Carolina. He was an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology when he passed away suddenly in July 2011.

For questions about creating scholarships and pro-fessorships, stock or estate gift s, specifi c programs, and suggestions on how you can support the Department of Geological Sciences, please contact:

Amanda C. KurucAssociate Director of Development

Arts & Sciences Foundationamanda.kuruc@unc.edu or 919-962-6358

Editor: Donna Surge

Invest in Geological Sciences at Carolina!

BACK COVER: Jökulsárlón is a glacial river lagoon, which drains into the Atlantic Ocean in southern Iceland. Th e icebergs and meltwater feeding the lagoon are from Europe’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull, part of which is visible in the background. Photo by Ben Mirus.

Th e University of North Carolina at Chapel HillDepartment of Geological SciencesCampus Box 3315Mitchell Hall

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