Geology
Department News 2003-2004
Below are news items, event announcements and pictures of interest
to students, alumni and friends of the Department of Geology during
the current academic year. Should you wish to contribute to this
news list, please send an e-mail with a description of the item,
including attached pictures where appropriate, to Dr. Christopher
Cirmo at cirmoc@cortland.edu,
or to Susan Stout at stouts@cortland.edu.
You may also send them via US Mail to Susan Stout, Secretary of
Geology and Physics, SUNY Cortland, PO Box 2000, Cortland, NY 13045.
We look forward to hearing from you!
If you would like to view news items from other years, please
click on the dates of interest below.
SPRING
DEPARTMENT SEMINAR
April 22, 2004.
Geology Department and Geology Club Presentation, Supported by SGA
and a CALS Grant!
Dr. Diane Stanitski, Associate Program Manager in the Office of
Climate Observation (OCO) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), will be presenting a lecture entitled "NOAA's
Role in Advancing International Ocean Research: Focus on the Deep
Ocean Basins" on Thursday, April 22 at 7pm in Room 109 Bowers Hall.
The lecture is part of the Geology Department/ Geology Club Lecture
Series, and is cosponsored by SGA and supported by a CALS grant.
The lecture is free and open to the public
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FALL
DEPARTMENT SEMINAR
November 12, 2003. Geology Department and Geology Club Presentation!
The Department of Geology
and the Geology Club are sponsoring a presentation by Dr. William
Kelly, Associate Director of the New York State Geological Survey.
Dr. Kelly's presentation is entitled "New York's Rich Mineral
Industry." The seminar is scheduled for 5pm in Room 109 of Bowers
Hall. Students and faculty will have a chance to meet Dr. Kelly before
the seminar, and he will join Geology faculty and students for dinner
after the presentation. We are honored to have Dr. Kelly on campus
for this important opportunity to learn about New York's mineral resources,
opportunities in the Geoscience, and for information regarding Professional
Geologist certification in New York State. Please join us!
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SCHOLAR'S DAY 2003 and STUDENT
RESEARCH
The Department had a major presence at the 2003 Scholar's Day at SUNY
Cortland, held on April 17, 2002. Both faculty and students sponsored
presentations including an entire afternoon session dedicated to "Wetlands,
Glaciers and Fossils." Presentations were divided into Faculty
in Session I, and Students in Session II.
FACULTY:
* Hydrological Classifications of Wetlands in the Adirondack Region:
A New Paradigm.
Presenter: Christopher P. Cirmo, Associate Professor and Chair, Geology
* Hubbard Glacier and the Ongoing Blockage of Russell Fiord: Geologic
Perspectives on an
Environmental Catastrophe.
Presenter: David Barclay, Assistant Professor
* Marine Bivalves from Western North America and he End-Triassic Mass
Extinction
Presenter: Christopher McRoberts, Assistant Professor
STUDENTS:
* The Role of Wetlands in Water Quality Maintenance in the Catskill/Delaware
Watersheds
Presenter: Mr. Michael Reid
* Climate Changes and Fluctuations of Scott Glacier in Southern Alaska.
Presenter: Mr. Michael Kloczko
* Biochronology of Halobiid Bivalves in Nevada: Using Fossil Clams
to Divide Geologic Time:
Presenter: Ms. Emily Hopkin
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KRADYNA
SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS
The James Kradyna Scholarships, for use as financial assistance to
students taking summer field camp courses, were awarded this spring
to Mark Duffy and Robert Gray. This award, in the amount of $500 per
student, was created in honor of the late James Kradyna, long time
friend of the department and a person instrumental in the establishment
and successful running of the Brauer Field Station and its courses.
Mark and Robert are pictured below left. In addition, Michael Kloczko
received the James Kradyna Student Award ($250) awarded to a student
showing a "positive attitude, endless enthusiasm and energy,
good initiative, sound judgement, maturity and competence in geology
and outdoor studies!" Mike is pictured below right in his favorite
field site!.
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DEPARTMENT ACADEMIC AWARDS/2002-2003
The Geology Department made its annual academic awards at the spring
Honors Convocation at SUNY Cortland in May. The Max Hawkins Award
for the senior major with the hightest GPA went to Emily Hopkin.
The Graham Heaslip Award for academic excellence in a junior Geology
student went to Amanda Buboltz, and the freshman award for highest
GPA went to Stephanie DeSisto! Emily worked with Dr. McRoberts this
past summer in the field in British Columbia, and at the Paleontological
Research Institute in Ithaca. Amanda worked with Dr. Cirmo this
summer on an EPA-funded project in the Catskills of New York. The
students are pictured below (from left to right; Amanda, Emily and
Stephanie). Also, Adelina Primiano was this year's recipient of
the "Darwin" award, given to the student in Historical
Geology (GLY 272) giving the best oral presentation.
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FIELD TRIPS!
Field trips this year include the Fall 2003 trip was to downstate
New York and New Jersey to view the Geology and Paleontology of
the Newark Rift Basin, let by Dr. McRoberts. The group photo below
was taken at the basal contact between the Jurassic Palisades Sill
and the lacustrine sediments of Triassic Lockatong Formation, near
Fort Lee, NJ. The spring trip is still in the planning stages and
is being led by Dr. Barclay. To view photos of this and past trips,
as well as to obtain more information, click the Geology Field Trip
link here....GEOLOGY FIELD TRIPS!
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DOMINION SCHOLARSHIPS
During the summer of 2002, Dominion Resources Services Incorporated
established a scholarship fund for students pursuing Geology degrees
and with a preference for students pursuing some aspect of environmental
science. Mr. Kevin Zink, a Cortland Geology alumnus ('77), assisted
in the establishment of the Dominion Scholarships by working with
his company in procuring a donation of $10,000 in 2002 and $10,000
in 2003 toward these scholarships. The awards consist of a $2000
per year scholarship for up to two years. The 2002-2003 awardees
of these scholarships were Amanda Buboltz and Rachel Hutchinson,
both GLY-Environmental Science majors. Rachel completed an internship
with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution this past summer.
For 2003-2004, the Department has awarded the scholarhips to Jason
Smith, Stephanie Desisto and Alex Feulner. The Department hopes
to secure sufficient future funding to award two-year scholarships
each year to promising transfer students and to students in the
department of junior standing and with interests in environmental
science and related areas. Amanda and Rachel are pictured below
left with Mr. Kevin Zink viewing a poster presented by them at the
National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Salt Lake City
in March 2003. In the image to the right, below, are pictured the
2003-2004 recipients Jason, Stephanie and Alex.
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ADJUNCT INSTRUCTORS
We would like to welcome our adjunct instructors for the Fall/Spring
semesters 2003-2004. Ms. Ann Bronson will be teaching Earth Science
(GLY 171) and associated labs, while Molly Moffe and Bonnie Quackenbush
are each teaching a section of SCI 140. Ann holds a BS in Geology
from Binghamton University and an MS from the University of Buffalo,
and previously worked as Assistant Director or the Office of Institutional
Research and Assessment. She obtained a NY Certification in Earth
Science in the spring of 2003. Molly is a recent graduate of Cornell
University where she took an MS in Bio/Environmental Engineering,
and has a BS in Chemistry and Environmental Science from Bucknell
University. She also has experience with an NSF-funded high school
teaching project. Bonnie has her BS and MSEd from SUNY Cortland
in Adolescence Earth Science Education and has previous experience
in the high school setting. Julie Barclay will return to teach GLY
171 labs in the spring semester after a "well-deserved"
maternity leave!
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FACULTY/STUDENT RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
As usual, our faculty have been very busy with research projects
this year and have involved students in much of their work. Dr.
David Barclay continued his studies in south central Alaska on glacial
stratigraphy and Little Ice Age histories, at the Sheridan, Sherman
and Scott glaciers. Dr. Barclay presented his findings at the Annual
Meeting of the Geological Society of American in Denver in October
2002. He also gave an invited lecture at Binghamton University in
March, a presentation to the Central New York Association of Professional
Geologists at Green Lakes State Park this fall, and at Scholar's
Day 2003 with student Michael Kloczko (pictured below, top left).
Dr. Chris Cirmo continued his intensive field work involving wetland
functional assessment and hydrogeomorphology in the Adirondack and
Catskills regions of New York. He was assisted in the Catskills
work by students Amanda Buboltz, Jesse McMahon and Lauren McChesney,
while sponsoring student Noah Mantaro on an NSF-funded CRUI grant
involving Adirondack streams. His students presented a poster at
the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Salt Lake City,
in March 2003, and he presented an invited lecture at Paul Smiths
College in the summer of 2003. Dr. Robert Darling continued work
on his mineralogical characterization fluid inclusions in late stage
hydrothermal quartz , in collaboration with Dr. Lou Derry of Cornell
University, and presented an invited lecture at Hamilton College
in Spring 2003. Dr. Gayle Gleason completed a project on the interaction
between deformation and metamorphism and is collaborating on a project
with Dr. Darling.and student Stephanie DeSisto (pictured below,
bottom center), on the kinematics of a mylonitic shear zone on the
banks of the Moose River in the Adirondacks. Stephanie is analyzing
the petrology, microstructures and lattice preferred orientations
within the shear zone in order to determine the metamorphic grade,
deformation mechanisms, and sense of shear related to the formation
of the shear zone. Dr. Gleason is also finalizing a proposal to
the NSF entitled "The effect of polyphase deformation on the
lattice preferred orientation in quartz aggregates." Dr. Chris
McRoberts spent time this summer in British Columbia and Montana
with colleagues from the USGS, the Alaska Geological Survey, and
University of Alaska. He worked last year and this summer with student
Emily Hopkin (pictured below, top left), examining patterns of biodiversity
and biochronology of Triassic bivalve mollusks. Emily presented
a poster at the Annual Geological Association of Canada in Vancouver,
and Chris gave a presentation and chaired the session on the End-Triassic
Mass Extinction.
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GEOLOGY/BIOLOGY SOFTBALL GAME!
On Friday September 26, 2003, the Department of Geology and the
Department of Biological Sciences held their second annual softball
game. Revenge was on Team Geology’s mind as it remembers all
too well how last year’s game was stolen from them in the
bottom of the ninth inning! This year Team Geology had a score to
settle.....and left no "stone unturned" in their preparation
to bring the trophy to its rightful place! A final score of something
like 18 to 8 (to be honest, we stopped keeping score after the 5th
inning) was the result and Team Geology regained possession of the
coveted Bat and Ball Trophy. Better luck next year Biology! Team
Geology is pictured below (minus Dr. Cirmo who was on the injured-reserve
list at the time!), followed by Matt Horsley "parading"
the "Rock and Bat" trophy around the diamond!
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DR. WILLIAM
MAXWELL HAWKINS
| Dr. W. Maxwell Hawkins, faculty member in
the Department of Geology at SUNYCortland from 1963-1991, passed
away on October 13, 2002 in Florida. He is survived by his wife
Muriel, and daughters Marlene and Julie, and several nieces
and nephews. Dr. Hawkins was mineralogist by training, was a
founder and first chair of the Department of Geology, and is
fondly remembered by many local, regional and national alumni.
Dr. Hawkins established the W. Maxwell Hawkins award honoring
the senior Geology major with the hightest GPA. Dr. Hawkins
will be remembered in a Memorial Service to be held at the SUNY
Cortland Interfaith Center at 3:00pm on Friday, November 1.
All interested alumni, friends and former students are invited
to attend. Thanks, Max, for all your service and support over
the years, and for being a Geology "founder." |
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