1

Department of Geosciences

NewsletterApril, 2010

Greetings from the Chair

Welcome to a new issue of the Newsletter from the “new” Department Chair! Thanks to Bob Burger the Newsletter is going out for the second year in a row. Maybe we can get him to reconsider retirement?

I hope this newsletter finds you well and hope that you will visit us during reunion or any time that you are in the area. It’s always good to see you again and catch up on what’s new in your life. Things here change at a much slower pace but there are some changes. First, Tony Caldanaro has left the department to take a full-time position with the Science Center Computer group (CATS). While we are sorry to see him go, he is still around to help with Macintosh support and his office has only moved next door to Bass Hall. We welcome Mike Vollinger as our new Geosciences Technical Assistant. Mike comes to us from UMass where he is completing his Masters Degree in Volcanology. Some of you might already know him as he has served for a number of years as their X-ray Florescence Research Assistant and has helped many a Smith student with sample preparation for the XRF.

The Department welcomed the newest member to its family with the arrival of Ethan David DeSwert born to Sara Pruss and David DeSwert on March 9. He weighed in at 7lb 14oz and word has it that Sara already has him on a schedule! With Sara on maternity leave, Steve Nathan, from UMass, has stepped in to teach the Oceanography course. Steve is a foraminif-eral biostratigrapher and is not new to the Department having taught The Environment back in 2003.

Next year Larry Meinert, our Professor in Residence,

will be in Washington, DC where he will serve as a GSA-USGS Congressional Science Fellow. Hopefully Larry will straighten out congress and get more money for research in the geosciences!

The biggest news is that we are about to embark on a major renovation to Sabin Reed and Burton Halls. Chemistry has moved to the newly opened Ford Hall freeing up space on the first floor of Sabin Reed. This will bring some exciting changes to the layout of the department. A new microscope room will be created in the space that is now the geomorphology lab. This will service students in sedimentology, mineralogy, and petrology. The geomorphology lab will move next door to the space that is currently occupied by the aqueous geochemistry lab. Mineralogy and petrology will be taught either in the sedimentology lab or in the geomorphology lab giving students direct access to the microscope room. The geochemistry lab will move down the hall to one of the old chemistry labs that will become part of the new Center for Aqueous Biogeo-chemistry Research (CABR). This will be a 3-lab suite with a teaching lab (aqueous geochemistry), an instrument room and a research lab. The old petrology lab will become a new computer lab that will include a wide range of software supporting GIS projects. The Spatial Analysis Lab that is currently housed in Bass Hall will move next door to the new geomorphology lab and finally John Brady’s experimental petrology lab will move upstairs from the basement to part of one of the old chemistry labs next to paleontology. The whole project is expected to be completed by December of 2011 and will result in the geosciences occupying virtually all of the first floor.

Finally, the Department will be undergoing a

2

decennial review next year and we are interested in re-ceiving input from you on what you thought was good and bad about your Smith geosciences educational ex-perience. You can send your comments directly to me or to other members of the department. If you want to learn more about what is going on in the department, you can check out the web page at http://www.science.smith.edu/geosciences/.

Sincerely,Bob NewtonProfessor and Department Chair

The GEO-STARS and Schalk Funds – A Great Way to Support Geosciences

at Smith College

In our 2009 newsletter, the Department announced the establishment of the GEO-STARS Fund – an endowed fund designated for support of numerous departmen-tal activities. The endowment yield from the GEO-STARS Fund will be used in support of geo-activity extras that require funding beyond what our always tight departmental budget allows.

A primary goal of the fund is to assist our students with travel and other expenses related to research, field courses, and attending professional conferences. GEO-STARS funds also will help support the De-partmental Luncheon Seminar Series, enabling guest speakers, students, faculty, and alumnae to share their educational, research, and professional experiences. In addition, the Fund will provide support for alum-nae social gatherings at annual Geological Society of America (GSA) and American Geophysical Union (AGU) meetings.

Our goal for GEO-STARS is to secure sufficient funds for an endowment yield of $20,000 to $25,000 an-nually. Gifts to GEO-STARS can be made through the Smith Alumnae Office by designating the GEO-STARS Fund (Smith Fund 544399) as the intended recipient of the gift, or by sending gifts directly to the Department of Geosciences designated for the GEO-STARS Fund. As in the past, gifts also can continue to go the Schalk Fund, established in memory of Profes-sor Marshall Schalk – the yield from this fund also is used in support of Geosciences at Smith. Should

you have questions or further ideas for GEO-STARS, please contact Department Chair Robert Newton. Help keep Smith Geosciences strong and moving forward, support GEO-STARS and the Schalk Fund! Thank you!

Faculty Updates

John Brady2009-10 has been a year filled with service respon-sibilities for me. During the summer, I worked with Dick Briggs to write an NSF-MRI2 proposal for Stim-ulus funds to replace our aged electron microscope. Although we were not successful (only 7% were), we hope the effort will yield a new SEM on the next submission. My duties as President of the Mineralogi-cal Society of America began at the GSA Meeting in Portland in October. You can read my letters to MSA in Elements magazine during 2010. I was elected to Faculty Council last May, which has meant weekly meetings and membership on two other committees (Mission and Priorities – CMP and Resource Alloca-tion – ACRA). I now know a lot more about Smith’s response to the economic downturn (cutting $22M out of a $190M budget). I am also Smith’s representative on the WFCR Foundation Board. Finally, we have all spent time on planning renovations to Sabin-Reed, which began in January, with Bob Newton doing the bulk of the work.

Former geology major Nancy (Davis) O’Hara ’82 and John Brady at Jeff King’s Husky Homestead in Alaska.

Research this year has been mostly writing a chap-ter for the Reviews volume to be published in

3

conjunction with an MSA short course on Diffusion to be held prior to the AGU meeting in December. With collaborator Daniele Cherniak of RPI, I have as-sembled an online database of published diffusion data for minerals (http://diffusion.smith.edu). Our Reviews Chapter is an overview of “diffusion of all elements in all minerals.” This summer I will return to SW Mon-tana with Tekla Harms and Jack Cheney of Amherst College for another Keck summer project as we con-tinue to follow the effects of the Big Sky Orogeny in the ranges south of the Tobacco Root Mountains.

Since my daughter Caitlin ’03 moved to Alaska to pursue her dog-sledding interests, Nancy and I have visited her each summer. Last summer, while watch-ing a presentation Caitlin was making at Jeff King’s Husky Homestead, we noticed a tourist with a Smith College t-shirt. She turned out to be former geology major Nancy (Davis) O’Hara ’82 (see our photo with a sled dog puppy), now a lawyer in Rhode Island. Smith geoscientists can be found wherever the rocks are interesting! Mark BrandrissEntering my second decade at Smith, I’m having a great time teaching Geoscience courses at all levels. The newest is GEO 102: Exploring Our Local Geo-logic Landscape, a stand-alone 2-credit field course for any and all students who want to know more about their surroundings here in the Connecticut River Valley. Question: How many times can you take groups to the top of Mt. Holyoke before getting tired of it? Answer: I don’t know — but it must be a lot, because I’m still enjoying every trip! In addition to Geoscience majors, the course is drawing plenty of humanities and social sciences majors who are simply interested in the world around them. Geosciences for everyone!

After spending most of my research time over the past several years studying the plutonic rocks of the Isle of Skye in Scotland, I’m heading back to southeast-ern Alaska this summer for a month of teaching and research with the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP; find out more at crevassezone.org, which has some great photos). Hopefully I can persuade some Smith students to come along in future years, follow-ing in the ski tracks of former JIRPer Marian Kramer (Smith Geosciences ’04). Also on the research front, watch the Journal of Geoscience Education for an

upcoming article on the use of specific gravity deter-minations in Mineralogy courses, featuring an experi-mental apparatus test-piloted by Smith Mineralogy students during the past few years.

Bob BurgerThe 2009-10 academic year has been a relatively quiet one for me, as I am on sabbatical leave for the year. I’ve managed to occupy myself in a variety of ways, but primarily have been working on an introductory-level textbook based on my natural disasters course. I’m very much enjoying the challenge, but it is slow going because I’m creating an E-book version as well as a regular print version. The E-book version is worthwhile, however, as it will greatly expand (anima-tions, QuickTime movies, Google Earth images) what is present in the print version. I’ve also become quite interested in the late stage tectonic events that affected the Mesozoic rocks in the Connecticut and Deerfield basins. I became interested in this question because of some enigmatic breccias and folds present in the Jurassic Turners Falls Formation in the Deerfield Basin, which have variously been ascribed to tectonic or soft-sediment deformation. So, I’m also spending some time doing literature searches on this question and thinking about what types of fieldwork would be most productive in trying to resolve what happened to these rocks in the Mesozoic. Next year Lily Seidman, Class of 2011, is going to do an Honors thesis on this topic, so it should be an interesting time

This past September my wife, Ann, and I were fortu-nate to travel to the Great Lakes region as the Smith representatives on a Smith Alumnae Association trip. I presented three lectures focusing on the regional min-eral deposits and the origin of the Lakes. We also will be traveling for Smith to the Canadian Rockies in late June, and are, of course, anxious to return to a region we love.

As I reported in last year’s newsletter, the 2010-11 academic year will be my last at Smith due to my re-tirement. I’ve decided to go out with a bang, however, and will have at least two Honors students as well as teaching a double-course overload: Natural Disasters and Environmental Geophysics in the Fall semester and Structural Geology and Geographic Information Systems in the Spring. Although I will be very busy, I can’t wait to begin since I love teaching all four of

4

these courses and want to teach each one more time.

Ann sends her best to all. My sons, Doug and Bob, are doing very well, as are our four grandchildren. Life is good, the Geosciences Department is thriving, and I hope to see all our past majors again very soon. Al CurranLife in retirement is good! When not traveling, I’m happily hanging around my office in the basement of-fice area of Burton Hall, pursing research and publish-ing projects on trace fossils, Bahamian geology, sea-level change, and the geology of fossil and modern coral reefs. My research mostly involves carbonate regions of the tropics, specifically the Bahamas, the Miami area of south Florida (ichnology of the Miami Limestone – see photo), Belize, and the Dominican Republic.

Urban geology in the wilds of Miami, Florida – Al Curran braves the sub-tropical jungle to sample the Miami Limestone.

Geology and retirement combine well as an excuse for travel, and I’m doing my share. The Big Trip was to China for three weeks in August-early September. Activities centered on attending an international ich-nology conference at Henan Polytechnic University in Henan Province. Our Chinese colleagues were great hosts, and they led us on some excellent field trips to fabulous geologic sites that were well off the normal tourist tracks. After the meeting, Jane and I continued on our own, and we did surprisingly well given our limited Chinese language skills. Other travels this year included Belize, the Bahamas, south Florida, and GSA meetings in Portland, Oregon, and Baltimore. It was great to see a good turnout of Smith alums at both of the GSA meetings!

Beyond geology, I continue to be involved with the

Coral Reef Ed-Ventures program in Belize, along with Professors Paulette Peckol and Susan Etheredge. We have a great Coral Ed 2010 team, and this summer will mark the 11th year of the program. I continue to enjoy playing tennis and all outdoor activities, and Jane and I retreat to our small house in Wellfleet, on Cape Cod, as often as possible. We have five grandkids, and they take great pleasure in running me ragged whenever possible.

To all geo alums, if you make a visit to the Smith cam-pus, please feel free to drop by the Department and Burton B-11 for a visit. I will be glad to see you. Bosiljka GlumacThis academic year started with a trip to Micronesia with my partner and field assistant Tony Caldanaro. We visited the islands of Palau, Yap and Guam with support from a Rappaport Fellowship at Smith College to help me further explore my interest and develop a teaching and research program in archaeological geol-ogy. [I am a member of the Archaeology Program

Bosiljka Glumac admiring Yapese Stone Money in Micronesia. These large artifacts were carved out of cave flowstone on the

island of Palau and transported on rafts to the island of Yap, more than 400 km away in the west-central Pacific. Photo by Tony

Caldanaro.

Advisory Committee and in the Spring of 2009 for the first time I taught a course cross-listed between Geo-sciences and Archaeology called Archaeological Geol-ogy of Rock Art and Stone Artifacts that attracted over 30 students.] On Palau we attended an archaeological conference with a field trip to the Rock Islands and one of the “Survivor” Palau beaches. Our field work involved examination of cave flowstones that served as source rocks for large wheel-shaped arti-

5

facts known as Yapese Stone Money, which we got to examine on Yap. Other highlights of our first visit to the western Pacific include swimming with thousands of jellies in Jellyfish Lake on Palau and scuba diving with manta rays on Yap.

I continue to enjoy teaching. In the Fall I taught Sedi-mentology with my second largest enrollment, and this January I took the largest group of Smith students to San Salvador, Bahamas. This Spring I am teaching the senior seminar in Tectonics and Earth History and I have a course release as a co-director of a year-long Kahn Liberal Arts Institute project that I envisioned and proposed called Telling Time: Its Meaning and Measurement. This project involves almost 20 student and faculty fellows from across disciplines (Geosci-ences, Physics, Astronomy, Biology, History, Music, Art, English, Anthropology, Economics, Philosophy, and East Asian Studies), and has been a stimulating intellectual pursuit of ideas involving time and tem-porality. My Kahn project is a continuation of carbon isotope stratigraphy research on carbonate strata of various age from the US Appalachians and from Croa-tia as well as my research on cave speleothems that I started two years ago when I participated in the Kahn project Underworlds and Undergrounds.

Besides all of this, I continue to work individually with AEMES (Achieving Excellence in Math, Engi-neering and Science Program), STRIDE, and Geosci-ence students. I also continue to mentor Fulbright applicants and to be involved in many other facets of college life. On a personal note, my son Alex is al-ready over 6 and in kindergarten and his sister Yelena is 4 and in preschool. They traveled with Tony and I to Mount St. Helens and Seattle after Portland GSA, to the Bahamas in January, and to Washington D.C. after NE/SE GSA Meeting in Baltimore this Spring Break. Even though we love to travel I look forward to stay-ing at Smith next year during my sabbatical to main-tain access to my laboratory facilities and to devote most of my time to writing.

Larry MeinertThis has been a year of changes that will culminate in moving on from Smith College to start a new life in the nation’s capitol, Washington, DC. The changes started a year ago when a friend’s performance at age 60 in the Boston Marathon inspired me to take on a similar challenge. This was no small endeavor

since I had not seriously trained for anything in any sport since college. I identified the St. George, Utah marathon as being the most appealing to my geologic sensibilities. It is near Bryce and Zion national parks and is a point-to-point course through the red rock country. It starts at a mile high, like Denver, and fin-ishes in St. George at ~2500’, with plenty of hills both up and down. It usually is dry and cool (at least at the start) so I figured the climate would more-or-less com-pensate for the elevation and I hoped that the scenic power of those red rocks would pull me through. It is a popular race and they hold a lottery for the ~10,000 runners who hope to enter each year. I submitted my name and on May 11, 2009 received notice that I was in. On May 12th I started training.

The big event in progress; check out my form.

I plotted every scheduled run on my busy travel cal-endar, ending on Oct. 3rd with the running of the St. George Marathon. Like most training schedules my weekly runs and particularly the weekend long run built gradually through the 5 month period, peaking at a 25 mile run on Sept. 12 before tapering for the marathon itself. One unusual feature of my training schedule due to my frequent world travels as a geolog-ical consultant was that my long runs literally spanned the globe with runs in Hedemora, Sweden; Bergen and Oslo, Norway; Townsville, Australia; Westport, Queenstown, Wellington, and Taupo, New Zealand; Portland and Joseph, OR; Rochester, NY; Grinnell, IA; and of course western Massachusetts. Although it was somewhat difficult to fit in runs while traveling the world, the varied locales were a blessing in dis-guise as I never saw the same scenery twice. Almost by definition, every long run was longer than

 

6

I had ever run in my life and the green pastures along the Hedemora River in Sweden and the volcanic cones and calderas of New Zealand kept even the longest stretches fresh and interesting.

Do I look like a geologist or a marathoner?

When race day arrived it was sunny and beautiful; the red rocks gleamed. Even better, I finished without killing myself and was very pleased to have run sub-four hours (3:56:04) in my first marathon. I may do it again this Fall!

During the marathon training another change devel-oped as my wife – Georgia Yuan, Smith’s General Counsel – got a call to join the Obama administra-tion as deputy General Counsel in the Department of Education. We decided this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a difference and give back to the country that has been so good to us and our fami-lies. Knowing that we were moving to Washington D.C. made teaching my last Sherlock Holmes First Year Seminar in the Fall and final Economic Geology course in the Spring somewhat bittersweet. In my seven years at Smith I have enjoyed every student, ev-ery class, and every senior honors thesis. It has been a privilege to be associated with such a fine institution, students, and faculty.

Once the decision had been made to move to Wash-ington D.C. I then looked for opportunities to get involved. I was fortunate to be selected as the 25th GSA–USGS Congressional Science Fellow. In some ways I am following in the footsteps of Maria Hon-eycutt (’85) who was the 2007–08 GSA–USGS Con-gressional Fellow and Merilie Reynolds (’08) who was a Congressional Intern for the American Geologi-cal Institute.

My new position will start in September, 2010 and I do not yet know what Congressional office or commit-tee I will work in but I am sure that it will be exciting and fulfilling. I will try to keep a connection with Smith to continue ongoing projects with John Brady and perhaps contribute to future honor theses and other student endeavors. The future looks bright!

Bob NewtonThe big news this year is that I have taken over as department chair from Bosiljka. The duties of chair, coupled with teaching Global Climate Change, In-troduction to Earth Processes and History, and Geo-morphology have kept me very busy but I have still managed to start a couple of new research projects. My study of road salt impacts on groundwater has expanded into New Hampshire where I am work-ing with the Green Mountain Conservation Group to determine the impact of road salt on groundwater in the Ossipee Aquifer. This is one of the largest strati-fied drift aquifers in New Hampshire and is being stressed from salting along a major north-south road that crosses through the principle recharge area. This project is also examining changes in surface water chemistry in streams as they emerge from pristine wa-tersheds within the Ossipee Mountains and flow into the surrounding developed areas. This research has been greatly facilitated by the new equipment acquired as part of our Center for Aqueous Biogeochemistry Research (CABR) NSF grant. The ICP-OES system has proven to be fast and reliable for a wide range of major and minor constituents as has the Dionex Ion Chromatograph for anions. We have also found that the new graphite furnace atomic adsorption instrument is capable of easily measuring arsenic concentrations down to less than 1 ppb!

This summer I plan on working with two students to begin a long-term monitoring project at Avery Brook in West Whately. A number of years ago Amy and I ran a Keck project in Avery Brook. It is an interesting site as it lies within a nearly pristine watershed that is the major tributary to Northampton’s principle water supply reservoir. The purpose of this study will be to monitor changes in the flux of ions and sediment into the reservoir in response to climate change. We hypothesize that increased precipitation especially that associated with high intensity events, will cause an increase in sediment flux. We also hypothesize that increasing temperature will result in higher

 

7

Geomorphology students measuring stream discharge at Broad Brook using the new acoustic Doppler flow meter.

organic decomposition rates that will cause increases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC). High DOC is al-ready a problem for Northampton because high DOC water reacts with chlorine to create a series of carcino-genic compounds.

On a personal note, Jill and I are suffering from the empty nest syndrome as both our kids are now in college. Molly is a junior at Bates and is doing an environmental studies major with a concentration in geology while JT is a freshman at UNH, starting the computer science and engineering program. To solve the “empty nest” syndrome Jill got us a second golden retriever, Lilly, to go with Wendy. Lilly has proven to be a challenge as she eats everything in sight (includ-ing cell phones) and has earned the nickname “spawn of the devil”. Hopefully this is only a puppy stage and she will soon grow out of it.

Hope to see many of you at reunion this spring or any-time you are in the area.

Sara PrussI am now in my third year in the Department of Geo-sciences, and I have enjoyed every moment of my time at Smith! This last year has been an exciting one for me, both professionally and personally. In January of 2009, I was awarded my first NSF grant as a co-PI with my colleague Tanja Bosak at MIT. This award funded 4 weeks of field work for research on the ~720 Ma Sturtian cap carbonate, the Rasthof Formation, in northern Namibia, southern Africa. I conducted this work in May and June with a Smith College Geosci-

ence major, Alexandra (Sasha) Breus ’10, and my col-league from Harvard, Francis Macdonald. In addition to exploring some of the most enigmatic sedimentary rocks in the world, we enjoyed observing cheetah, leopards, giraffe and zebra in their natural setting! After returning from this first round of field work, I quickly prepared to take two other Smith undergradu-ates, Katie Castagno ’12 and Hannah Clemente ’11, to Newfoundland and Labrador for 3 weeks of field research in July. We studied Cambrian reefs built by sponges and deep-water Cambro-Ordovician carbon-ates of the Cow Head Group. We also encountered large icebergs off the southern coast of Labrador and made friends with moose while hiking through New-foundland forests.

In addition to all of the fun I have had with students in the field lately, I have also enjoyed teaching my Pale-ontology and Oceanography classes. Student projects in Paleontology have focused on predator-prey inter-actions in mollusk assemblages, and these data have yielded important results that have been presented at Smith College’s Celebrating Collaborations as well as the Annual Geological Society of America Meeting in Portland, OR, last Fall. I am currently a Fellow in a Kahn Liberal Arts Institute project entitled “Tell-ing Time: Its Meaning and Measurement”, and here I have focused on the taphonomic processes of mod-ern carbonate settings by measuring the radiocarbon ages of mollusk shells from the Bahamas. On a more personal note, I am on leave for the Spring semester 2010 in anticipation of the birth of my first child in early March. My husband, David DeSwert, (who also works at Smith College as the Director of Budget and Grants) and I are ecstatic about the addition of Ethan David DeSwert to our family!

Amy Larson RhodesThis past fall, I taught Aqueous Geochemistry (GEO 301), a project-based course that looks at how the chemistry of water and soil is affected by how differ-ent minerals weather. The field work for the course was based at Smith’s 200-acre, forested property in Whately, MA, which was recently inaugurated as the “Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station.” The students sampled bedrock, soils and streams, and they used their samples as a means for learning different analytical techniques, including use of new instrumen-tation that we purchased through a National Science Foundation grant. I greatly enjoy teaching

8

this course, which is very “hands-on” for the students. This past Saturday, two GEO 301 students presented results from the class project at Smith’s “Celebrating

At the Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station, West Whately, MA. Top: Smith’s 200-acre property consists of forest and pas-ture and borders Northampton’s drinking water reservoir. Bot-tom: Mary Gowins (’11, left) and Jenna Zechmann (’12, right)

take a water sample at a perennial stream.

Collaborations” campus-wide event. In their poster titled, “The Role of Bedrock Geology and Forest Can-opy on Soil chemistry at the MacLeish Field Station,” Katy Meek (’10) and Caroline Wise (’10) showed a difference between the soil and water chemistry in watersheds with deciduous trees underlain by marble bedrock versus hemlock areas underlain by schist.

This summer, I will be collaborating with three student interns to build on the GEO 301 results. We have ob-served egg masses of the invasive pest hemlock wooly

adelgid on branches of hemlock trees at the MacLeish Field Station. As a result, we expect to see a change in the forest structure such as has been observed in southern New England. This summer, we will be con-ducting various soil bag experiments to predict how the nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients in the soil may change as a result of forest succession from hemlock to black birch.

The Aqueous Geochemistry class finds a millipede while digging a soil pit at the MacLeish Field Station.

I am currently teaching two introductory courses, GEO 109 “The Environment” and a first-year seminar titled “Global Environmental Changes and Challeng-es.” This semester in GEO 109, we just concluded a mock trial of the famous groundwater contamination case described in Jonathan Harr’s nonfiction story, A Civil Action. I had conducted this class project in the late 1990’s when the movie A Civil Action starring John Travolta came to the box office, but I gave this class exercise a rest until just recently. The story still resonates with the students. By researching the litera-ture and other sources, the students testify as experts in hydrology, chemistry, and medicine about the vi-ability of TCE contamination reaching drinking water wells in Woburn, MA, and whether the contamination caused a childhood leukemia cluster. The debates today became quite heated, and I’m always impressed by the quick and creative thinking that results from students during the mock trial proceedings.

Beginning in the fall, the Environmental Science and Policy Program will launch a new major, and I will co-teach the introductory course with Donald Baumer from the Department of Government based off

9

the first-year seminar I am currently teaching. Our goal with the course will be to combine scientific and policy perspectives on the major environmental prob-lems of the 20th and 21st centuries, and I’m glad to bring a geology perspective to the class.

As part of my work for Smith’s new Center for the Environment, Ecological Design, and Sustainability (which is much more easily spoken as “CEEDS”), I have been managing operations of the MacLeish Field Station. Our aim for MacLeish is to create a world-class facility that advances environmental education and research. Smith is fortunate to have a 200-acre site on which students can conduct a variety of class or independent research projects, or to just take a break and hike in a beautiful forest. The property is ecologi-cally important; it is within a patchwork of forest and gently farmed pastures that contribute to one of the largest remaining tracts of undeveloped land in Mas-sachusetts. Bordering Smith’s property is the primary reservoir that supplies drinking water to the City of Northampton. This summer, Smith students will begin construction of the first, new nature trails for the prop-erty that were part of a design developed by the 2008 Landscape Studies Studio course. Reid Bertone-John-son, of Landscape Studies who is co-managing the site, and I are putting together grant proposals to help fund an outdoor classroom, instrumentation to monitor different climatic parameters, and a docent program where Smith students will lead natural history tours for different community and educational groups. In 2008, Jill Ker Conway gave a leadership bequeath to CEEDS, after which she named the field station for Pulitzer Prize winning poet Archibald MacLeish and his wife Ada. We are hopeful that foundations and other donors will follow President Conway’s lead in support for development of environmental education. Learn more about MacLeish at the website: http://www.smith.edu/green/about_macleish.php. Curious about the weather? See live meteorological readings measured at MacLeish at http://macleish.smith.edu on a cool and informative webpage created by STRIDE scholars Meredith Gallogly (’12) and Jenna Zechmann (’12).

My husband Erik and I still live in Northampton, and our daughters Sylvia (7 years) and Linnea (3 years) keep us busy. Sylvia goes to the Smith Campus School, and recently she has been learning about coral reefs from Katherine Donovan, a Smith alumna and

teaching fellow who, as an undergraduate, participated in Smith’s “Coral Ed-Ventures” program in Belize, organized by Al Curran and Susan Etheredge (Dept. of Education). Learning about coral reefs has motivated Sylvia to be a better swimmer so she can snorkel near and study them someday. Linnea loves preschool at Smith’s Center for Early Childhood Education, which is located around the corner from campus and our house. She wishes her school would hold pajama day more often. We’re all looking forward to a trip to Nor-way this summer to have a reunion with Erik’s family, who all live on the Norwegian coast south of Oslo. We’ll be sure to see some great rocks too!

Student/Faculty Publications(* denotes Smith student)

Glumac, B., Curran, H.A., *Motti, S.A., *Weigner, M.M., and Pruss, S.B., 2010, Polygonal fractures in ooid grainstones of Cat Island, Bahamas: A unique sedimentary structure in carbonate deposits: Joint Northeastern and Southeast Sections, Geological So-ciety of America Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, v. 42(1), p. 168.

Glumac, B., Curran, H.A., *Weigner, M.M., *Motti, S.A., and Pruss, S.B., 2009, Formation and distribu-tion of ooids along a beach-to-offshore transect at Pigeon Cay, Cat Island, Bahamas: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Annual Meeting, v. 41(7), p. 116.

Guswa, A.J., Rhodes, A.L., *McNicholas, J., *Mehter, S., *Spence, C. (2009) Ecohydrologic implications of differences in throughfall between hemlock and deciduous forest plots, West Whately, MA. Eos Trans. AGU, 90(52), Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract H33D-0908.

*Motti, S. A., and Pruss, S. B., 2010, High predation rates on a carbonate tidal flat, Cat Island, Bahamas, Northeastern and Southeastern Sections, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 42, No. 1, p. 188.

Pruss, S. B., Hurtgen, M. T., and *Breus, A., 2009, En-vironmental insights into paleobiological patterns of the Cambro-Ordovician Port au Port and St. George Groups, western Newfoundland, An

10

International Conference on the Cambrian Explosion, Banff, Alberta, August 3–8, 2009.

Pruss, S. B., *Duffey, S., and *Stevenson, M., 2009, Predation rates in a modern carbonate setting, San Sal-vador Island, Bahamas, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 41, no. 7, p. 706.

Rhodes, A.L., Guswa, A.J., *McNicholas, J., *Mehter, S., *Spence, C. (2009) Effect of hemlock and decidu-ous forest canopy on chemistry of throughfall, West Whately, Massachusetts. Eos Trans. AGU, 90(52), Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract H34E-01.

Student/Faculty Research

Beaton, Kirstie (Bosiljka Glumac): Origin of Milky Way Mud, Palau, Micronesia. (STRIDE Research Project)

Betances, Catherine (Bosiljka Glumac): X-Ray Flourescence in a Provenance Study of Yapese Stone Money. (AEMES Research Project and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)

Beyer, Megan and Castagno, Katie (Bosiljka Glu-mac): Carbonate Black Pebbles in the Paleosol at the Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary at Bamboo Point, San Salvador, Bahamas. (Bahamas Class Research Project and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)

Breus, Alexandra (Sasha) (Sara Pruss): Field analysis of Neoproterozoic and Ediacaran carbonates, Namibia. (NSF-funded summer internship)

Castagno, Katie (Sara Pruss): Field and geochemical analysis of the Cambro-Ordovician Cow Head Group, western Newfoundland (SURF Project, STRIDE)

Clemente, Hannah (Sara Pruss): Paleoecology of Low-er Cambrian archaeocyathid reefs: Southern Labrador, Canada (SURF Project, Special Studies)

Dalton, Lilly (Sara Pruss): Petrographic and laboratory analysis of the Neoproterozoic Rasthof Formation, Okaaru locality (AEMES project)

Duffey, Siobhan (Bosiljka Glumac): Microstratigraph-

ic analysis of a Quaternary Speleothem in Pursuit of Easily Accessible Paleoclimate Information. (Special Studies and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)

Duffey, Siobhan (Sara Pruss): Synthesis of predation and diversity of Bahamian shell assemblages (Praxis Summer Internship)

Froneberger, Miriam (Bosiljka Glumac): Marbles from Yap (Federated States of Micronesia) as a possible local source of Yapese Stone Money. (Kahn Institute Assistantship and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)

McNicholas, Jennifer and Mailloux, Emily (Bosiljka Glumac): Comparison of an Ancient and Modern Soil Horizon, San Salvador, Bahamas. (Bahamas Class Re-search Project and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)

Meek, Katy and Wise, Caroline (Amy Rhodes) The Role of Bedrock Geology and Forest Canopy on Soil Chemistry at the MacLeish Field Station (Class Re-search Project). Motti, Sarah (Sara Pruss): Predation on a tidal flat, an analysis of a gastropod-dominated assemblage from Cat Island, Bahamas (Special Studies)

Nakhnikian-Weintraub, Sofia, Kaplan, Jessie and Kennedy, Caitlin (Sara Pruss, Bosiljka Glumac and H. Allen Curran): Mollusk Predation by Polinices Snails from Haitian Boat Beach on San Salvador, Bahamas. (Bahamas Class Research Project and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)

Rahilly, Kristen (John Brady): The Forsterite-Anor-thite-Albite System at 5 kb Pressure (Honors Thesis)

Thibault, Nikki (Amy Rhodes) Grain-Size Analysis and Mineral Weathering of Soils at the MacLeish Field Station (Special Studies Research Project). Thorpe, Caitlyn, Sundberg, Madelyn, Schultz-Baer, Mia and Durkin, Kathryn (H. Allen Curran and Bosiljka Glumac): Post-Hurricane Recovery Analysis of East Beach and Hanna Bay Beach, San Salvador Is-land, The Bahamas. (Bahamas Class Research Project and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)

Weigand, Jessica (Sara Pruss): Analysis of biominer-alization in the late Ediacaran Omkyk Member

11

and Hoogland Members of the Nama Group, southern Namibia (AEMES project)

Wise, Caroline (Amy Rhodes) Biodiversity and Aque-ous Geochemistry of Vernal Pools in the Mt. Holyoke Range (Special Studies Research Project).

Departmental Events

Geological Society of America Annual Meeting

H. Allen Curran (Geosciences Professor Emeritus), Rachel Grandpre ‘05, and Hali Kilbourne ‘98 at the Smith College Alum-nae Reception at 2010 GSA Meeting in Portland, Oregon. Photo

by Bosiljka Glumac.

Once again Smith Geosciences were well represented at 2010 GSA Meeting in Portland, Oregon. Attend-ing were Professors John Brady (also as the Presi-dent of the Mineralogical Society of America), Al Curran (Emeritus), Bosiljka Glumac, Larry Meinert, Sara Pruss, and Engineering Major Katy Gerecht ‘10. Smith College participated in the group alumnae reception. Among others in attendance were (with their affiliations at the time of the meeting): Rachel Grandpre ‘05 - graduate student at the University of Rhode Island; Hali Kilbourne ‘98 - research scientist at the University of Maryland Chesapeake Biologi-cal Lab; Michelle Arsenault ‘01 - science assistant with the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia; Ruth Indrick ‘08 - community stewardship coordinator with AmeriCorps in Dufur, Oregon; Maya Wei-Haas ‘09 - graduate student at the Ohio State Uni-versity; Whitney Dorer ‘07 (Psychology and ES&P)

- with non-profit Friends of Trees in Portland, Oregon; Shannon Ristau ‘99 - social worker in Portland; Sarah Vorhies ‘06 - PhD student at Yale; Stephanie Moore ‘07 - PhD student at UT Austin; Madeline Weigner ‘09 and Jane Didaleusky ‘09 - prospective graduate students; Roxanne Renedo ‘09 - with USGS at Menlo Park, CA; Dina Venezky ‘92 - geologist at USGS Volcano Hazards at Menlo Park, CA; Kate Whittaker AC’90 - artist from Duluth, Minnesota; Julie Herrick ‘02 - graduate student at Michigan Tech; and Donna Whitney ‘85 - geology professor at the University of Minnesota. Thanks to all alumnae for coming to the reception and for keeping in touch! To view all photos from Portland please see our Departmental page on Facebook.

2010 Interterm Course on San Salvador, BahamasThis year the Bahamas course attracted the largest and most diverse group of students, faculty and staff. Nineteen students who took this 3-credit field course are majoring or minoring in geosciences, biological sciences, environmental science and policy, psycholo-gy, chemistry, neuroscience, history, medieval studies, architecture and government! Bosiljka Glumac and Al Curran were co-teaching the course.

January 2010 Interterm course on Sal Salvador, Bahamas. The group is standing on the Holocene North Point eolianites. Photo

by Tony Caldanaro.

Prof. Laura Katz (Biological Sciences) visited us in the field and her PhD student Laura Parfrey helped with the course. Also with us and working with Al Curran on trace fossils was Koji Seike, a postdoctoral fellow from Tokyo, Japan. Ann Pufall helped with course logistics before and during the course. As always we appreciated the company and assistance of Jane Curran and Tony Caldanaro. With

12

Bosiljka and Tony’s children Alex (6) and Yelena (4) we were a group of 29! We are all thankful to Kathy Richardson who did so much behind-the-scene work, and the students appreciated financial support from the Marshall Schalk Fund. In the field the students worked in groups on individual mini-research projects and many presented their results as posters at Cel-ebrating Collaborations this April.

January 2010 Interterm course on Sal Salvador, Bahamas. The students snorkeling in the Pigeon Creek delta. Photo by Bosiljka

Glumac.

2009 Berkshire Mountains Field TripThe Geosciences department once again kicked off the new academic year with a weekend field trip for anyone and everyone who wanted to see a bit more of the world. This time, on the 12th of September, it was an all-day excursion to the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. The weather was cool and refreshing (some might say foggy and drizzling) as we journeyed from Dalton to North Adams and Williamstown, de-ciphering the record of Ordovician mountain building that was written in stone during the first great pulse of Appalachian orogeny.

Following in the footsteps of literary giants, we vis-ited the famous marble natural bridge in North Adams (described by Nathaniel Hawthorne in letters chroni-cling his travels) and also the summit of Mount Grey-lock (the highest point in Massachusetts, described by Henry David Thoreau in his book “A Year on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers” and visible to Her-man Melville from his office window as he wrote Moby Dick). The geology and scenery were marvel-ous, which explains why those authors of yore

Organizer and leader of the Departmental Fall field trip, Mark Brandriss, sharing with the students his knowledge of the geology

of northwestern Massachusetts. Photo by Tony Caldanaro.

took the trouble to write their glowing portraits of the landscape. Based on Thoreau’s description of the expansive view from Greylock’s summit, however, it’s obvious that he wasn’t fortunate enough to share our wondrous experience of strolling peacefully through the muffled silence inside the clouds that blanketed the peak. After descending, the trip ended with a barbecue dinner at the Williamstown house of Mark Brandriss and Ronadh Cox.

Technically Speaking

Tony Caldanaro (Former Technical Services Spe-cialist)

For the last 12 years I have had the good fortune to be the Technical Services Specialist for the Department of Geology, now Geosciences. I feel I truly lucked out getting a position with the best department at Smith College and one of the best Geology departments in the country. I want to thank the Geosciences Faculty for this opportunity, and I hope that I was helpful keeping things running and making jobs easier. I al-ways tried my best to keep the Faculty out of trouble, but as you know some of them just attract trouble : )

I want to thank all the students (current and alumnae) who have cycled through the department during my time. You all truly made it fun, and assisting Geo students is one of the things I will miss the most. A true perk of the job! I plan to stay involved

13

though and to participate in various Departmental activities: field trips, talks, reunions, etc. So I will definitely see you around.

On paper I am now a Systems Administrator (OS X) for the Computing and Technical Services (CATS) group serving the entire Science Center. This in-cludes Geosciences of course. So as Geosciences is mostly an all-Mac department, I will still be heavily involved with the Department. I also will continue maintaining the Department’s Listservers and Face-book page and assisting with its website. I will al-ways consider Smith College Geosciences my second http://127.0.0.1/ (computer humor for “home”).

It was definitely a difficult decision to leave my Geo tech position, but one made easier when I learned about my replacement. With that in mind I would like to welcome Mike Vollinger - the new technical assis-tant for Geosciences. I look forward to working with Mike, through the transition period and beyond.

Mike Vollinger(Current Technical ServicesSpecialist)

My name is Mike Vollinger, and I started as the new geology technical assistant in January, 2010. I earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Massachusetts in 1993. After a couple of years off, I went back to work in the X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) Lab at UMass where I’d worked briefly during my senior year as well as for other professors in the Geosciences Department. My duties included prepar-ing samples for XRF analysis, hand picking mineral separates, and training various 5 College personnel (mostly students) in sample prep and lab protocol for the XRF Lab. I also have been on two research cruises to study the evolutionary history of Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawaii.

In addition to my duties as the department technician at Smith, which involves trying to keep on the scien-tific equipment running and helping the faculty and staff in any way needed, I am working on completing my Master’s at UMass. I hope to finish before the end of the year. The topic of my thesis is “The Oxidation State of Hawaiian Magmas”. It is widely assumed in the literature that Hawaiian magmas are close in oxi-dation state to the oxygen buffer, quartz-fayalite-mag-netite (QFM). My research shows that this is not the

case, and that the magmas are more reduced, similar to basaltic magmas from mid-ocean ridges. This has wider relevance to our understanding of the oxidation state of the mantle and mantle plumes.

Geology Club

Our efforts this term were indoorsTo become a chartered Smith OrgOur stalactite is doneand in The Cave will be hungNext semester we hope to do more

Geology Graduates

Class of 2010

Alexandra S. BreusSiobhan R. DuffeyFrancesca E. KingSarah A. MottiKristen E. RahillyNikki C. Thibault

Alumnae News

From the DepartmentWe ‘ve learned that 3 recent Geoscience graduates have received NSF Graduate Fellowships for 2010.

They are:

Mayer, Kristin kamayer@stanford.eduGeosciences – Geochemistry, Stanford University Wei-Haas, Maya Li mweihaas@gmail.comGeosciences - Environmental Geochemistry, The Ohio State University

Winsor, Kelsey winsor@wisc.eduGeosciences – Paleoclimate, University of Wisconsin-Madison

14

A current Smith senior (Engineering Major), has also been awarded an NSF Fellowship in Geosciences:Gerecht, Katelyn Elizabeth Geosciences - Hydrologic Sciences, University of Texas at Austin

From Our Alums

Mary Rea, ‘39You are doing a great job, but I’m afraid that any news from the class of ‘39 wouldn’t have much geological interest! Practically every thing I learned in college is out of date, and what I’ve learned since has been from my travels to the Antarctic, Africa, and time spent at sea with Lindblad. I wish you the best of luck and keep up the good work!

Judy Hamilton, ‘61I’ve just started working for FEMA on an on-call basis for disaster mitigation. I’ll be primarily in the Rocky Mountain area (Region VIII), but we’re paired with the Atlanta region so I may be doing some work there too.

Sally (Stanton) Hasted, ‘67I’ve got a very dull year to report. In Oct 2008 I changed jobs after nine years, to escape from a vi-cious supervisor whom no-one could stand. I took a job teaching 15 teenage girls in a residential rehab program, having been promised the job did not require physical restraints on the students. When I arrived to begin work, the administrator who had hired me (a very nice person) had either been terminated or “per-suaded” to leave, and I was told the job did require physical put-downs!! I offered not to take the posi-tion, but was begged to stay because of my special education experience and ability to teach just about any subject I can read up on. So the 2008-9 school year was spent working with a great co-teacher, turn-ing around the lives of some wonderful young women.

Since I am philosophically opposed to physical re-straints on children, and have trouble with my knee, right arm, and spinal osteoporosis, I disciplined them through mutual respect, kindness, and by piling on honors-level academics of a challenging and engag-ing nature, individualized to their tastes and abilities. The result was a happy, absorbed classroom, excellent learning, and widespread acknowledgement that ours

was the happiest and most achieving room in all the Connecticut branches of this particular school. We stressed Math (my co-teacher’s specialty) and sci-ences (heavy use of my minerals and fossils, and of bio materials we both provided), lots of great read-ing and writing, and oral reports to develop personal expression. History was fascinating for them, and we got in plenty of global perspectives on cultural and sociologic issues. The kids adored it all. Personal result: one week from term’s end, I was told I was not being rehired because of my inability to chase and put down our students, who weighed up to 240 lbs and were considered potentially violent. The fact that they NEVER acted out violently when we two were in the room, but only when other teachers came in to find out why we had such a happy classroom, didn’t matter. As a result, I have been unemployed this winter, other than being a substitute on call at another school for emotionally needy students.

I am still seeking a teaching job with “difficult kids”, a field which really suits my interests and abilities. Anyone who knows of one within commuting distance of Wilton CT, please let me know!! At sixty-four and a half years old, I’d hoped to retire by now and take small jobs or do volunteer work in the environmental field, or get back somehow into Geology. But my mother (102+) must now be supported, and my hus-band, so it’s “off to work I go”.

I’d love to work in a museum, nature center, or school, doing enrichment education in Geology and the natu-ral environment. I will equally happily sort maps, fossils, and dust rocks. Any ideas?

Margaret Dein Bradley, ‘73I am still working for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, where I have been involved in the investigation and remediation of hazardous waste sites. With every site being different and new investigation and cleanup techniques always being developed, it remains interesting. Much of my free time I spend really enjoying my choral music (soprano) and violin. Indeed, just last weekend I participated in the 125 anniversary celebra-tion of the Smith College Glee Club on campus.......a very intense and deeply satisfying two-day rehearsal and concert schedule.

15

Amanda Stiff, ‘79My Geology Major at Smith College has enriched my life many times over. I am forever grateful to those patient professors who tolerated a Government Theory major in their midst. (Code for yikes she has NO sci-ence background!) I live in Southwest Florida and for-tunately am able to enjoy where I live so much better as a result of my Smith education. I teach Finance and Investing at Eckerd College in St Petersburg Florida (Adjunct) and have a small financial advisory and brokerage business.

Who knew that organizing “On the Rocks” my senior year would lead to my being chairman of the Sarasota Reading Festival for three years, a nationally recog-nized event celebrating the power and the joy of the written word!Please let me know if you find yourselves in my neck of the woods, do come to see the wonders of real Florida………….. Paynes Prairie Preserve, Corkscrew Swamp, Siesta Key Beach and the River of Grass. With best wishes from the land of sand, shells and karst topography…..

Carol Birney de Wet, ‘81My eldest son is a geology major at Bates College. This is great fun for his parents as we are both ge-ologists. It must have been all those summer field research trips we took, cleverly disguised as family adventures! Middle child, daughter Emily, starts at Wheaton College in MA this fall and the youngest is in high school.

I’m serving as an associate dean of the faculty for the next couple of years, still at Franklin & Marshall Col-lege. It is an interesting transition to full time admin-istrative work but I find helping both new faculty and department chairs manage their particular challenges quite rewarding.

I’m continuing my research on carbonate tufas with new collaborations on material from Chile and east Africa. I also enjoying working on a comparative project with Cambrian carbonates in PA and NW Scot-land that were once part of the same Laurentian shelf system.

I keep in touch with Nancy Davis ‘82. You saw her picture in the latest Alumni Quarterly where she was visiting with John Brady’s daughter in Alaska.

Donna Whitney, ‘85I am a Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Geology & Geophysics at the University of Min-nesota. My research is in metamorphic petrology as applied to problems in continental tectonics. In addi-tion to my long-term field sites in western North America and Turkey, I have also recently started work-ing in Switzerland and Norway.

Maria Honeycutt, ‘952010 finds me still working at NOAA’s Coastal Ser-vices Center, based out of the DC area. I’m work-ing on climate adaptation policy and related projects to increase the resiliency of coastal communities to climate and weather hazards. Although my travels this year won’t bring me to Northampton for my 15-year Reunion, I did just return from a vacation to Death Valley. It was great fun to finally revisit many of the same areas that we explored on the Five College trip back in 1993, which was my first time seeing the des-ert and spectacular mountains of the Southwest. My geographer husband was a good sport as I went geolo-gy-crazy and snapped a million pictures. Truth be told, I think he’d be the first to admit that the Racetrack is pretty darn cool (2 fighter jets flying low through there during our visit certainly helped!). Although I’ll always be a coastie by trade, it was that ‘93 DV field course that made me love the western U.S. and drives me to visit as often as I can. Years later, I still appreci-ate the efforts of the faculty, especially Bob Burger, and my classmates to pull off such a great trip -- thank you!

Sarah Smalheer, ‘97I’m still at my job as a science dissertations editor for UMI/ProQuest. Seven years and counting! In a few days I will be heading to Boston to run the Boston Marathon next Monday, April 19. This is an event al-most a year in the making as I ran my qualifying time in May of 2009. This will be my fourth marathon, and I am very excited! (and more than a little nervous.)

Kelly H. Kilbourne, ‘98I’m keeping busy in Maryland between my relatively new job (<1year) as a research scientist at Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Ultimate frisbee, Belly-danc-ing, and serving on my county Environmental Com-mission. I am also in close contact with two fellow ‘98 alums who some former geo majors would know, Anne Nester (went on the Death Val-

16

ley trip in 1997) and Lora Harris (Ben Greenstein’s research student in 1994-1995). Anne was teaching Philosophy at McDaniel College when I worked there, and Lora is a colleague where I work now! In the mythical space known as “spare time” I love to gar-den and have been visiting the farmers market to buy locally what I can’t grow in my small veggie plot or between the flowers and shrubs.

Heather “Cricket” (Sawick) Kennedy, ‘99I’m living in San Francisco and working full-time in pathology research at Genentech; I also do a little modeling work in my spare time. In November, I married my husband Adam, a scientist. We actually eloped in Reno but we’re still planning a “real” wed-ding ceremony for this coming winter. I made it out to the Class of ‘99 10-year reunion this past summer and had a chance to catch up with Al Curran and Jim Smith, and I’d love to reconnect with any other Geo people out there if I haven’t already! Give me a holler on Facebook, www.facebook.com/weehollywood!

Lena Fletcher, ‘99After finishing an MS in forestry last May, I (and wife Lex (Smith ‘02)) welcomed our fourth son to our fam-ily. I am currently working half-time as a research as-sociate at UMass while my baby is young and will be starting a PhD program in forest hydrology at UMass this coming fall.

Maryann M. Ashworth, ‘00I am living in Malta, NY, a town north of Albany, with my husband and three children. This February we welcomed our third child, Marcus, into the world. My daughter Malia is 4 and will be starting preschool in the fall. She loves projects and being read to. My son Miles is 2 and loves playing with balls, riding his tricycle, and playing with trains. I am working part-time as an environmental engineer for an environmen-tal consulting firm. Recently I have been designing and permitting stormwater management systems and working with industrial clients to help them remain in compliance with the State Pollution Discharge Elimi-nation System permits. I am looking forward to catch-ing up with geo-alums at Reunion.

Michelle Arsenault, AC ‘01I just finished a 3-year contract at NSF, where I was a Science Assistant in the Geosciences Directorate, and I just started a new job as a Grants Specialist in the

Office of Education at NOAA in DC. The job at NSF was great: I met some really great people, got to know the geoscience community-at-large, and did lots of networking. The new job at NOAA promises to be as equally fun and rewarding. The office is located direct-ly across from the White House in downtown DC, so I plan on spending my lunch hours on the mall!

Elizabeth Moreland, ‘01I taught Earth Science in New Jersey after graduation and earned my M.A. at Seton Hall University. Cur-rently, I am a High School Assistant Principal and am working on my Ed.D. at Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity.

Kimberly (Cheney) Hess, ‘02 I am a MH-60J helicopter pilot in the USCG. I am currently stationed at USCG Air Station Clearwater, FL and have been in the CG since 2004. I’ve been married for 3.5 years (to another Coast Guard pilot -JD Hess) and we just had our first kiddo. A little boy, John Mark, he is 6 months old, and having him has been really amazing! Not too much geology in my world other than being so fortunate to always have a great view of it! Hope all is well!

I remember a geology presentation of what the major had to offer in the way if future careers. My thoughts at that time were how cool it was that so many were doing random adventurous things, funny that now I’m one of them. I certainly wouldn’t be in my shoes without my Smith education; it truly opened the doors to make my dream possible. Cheers!

Silvia (Newell) Bulow, ‘04I am finishing my Ph.D. at Princeton and will defend this June. After a well-deserved vacation, I will be starting my postdoc in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at Princeton, studying nitrogen cycling in tropical soils in Panama and Costa Rica. It was my pleasure to give a talk at one of the Smith Brown Bags last fall on my doctoral work.

Erica Nichols, ’04 I am still working for Shell International in London, in Contracting & Procurement of Engineering, Design and Construction Services. What is more exciting is that I’m getting married on 26 June 2010, to an Eng-lishman who studies past sea level and climate change.

17

We are very excited!!! If any geo alums pass through London, please let me know!

Emma Anderson, ‘05After completing a Masters in Geology from the State Univerisity of New York at Buffalo, Emma Anderson has been working at Baltimore Woods Nature Center as an environmental educator. The primary focus of her work with the Nature in the City program which links urban school with neighborhood green spaces through environmental education. Nature in the City is in eleven of the Syracuse elementary schools teaching three one hour science lessons to each Kindergarten through sixth grade class. Emma is thoroughly enjoy-ing teaching hands-on minds-on science lessons on subjects ranging from birds, to insects, to water, to Mastodons and everything in between

Rachel Grandpre, ‘05I am finishing up the requirements for my Master’s de-gree in Environmental Science: Geosciences from the University of Rhode Island. I was recently selected as a Presidential Management Fellowship finalist and am currently seeking employment with the federal gov-ernment.

Lucy (Eckert) Kellogg, ‘05I’ve now been a mom for 4 years and an environmen-tal consultant for 2 years and look forward to getting back into academia soon. I’m continuing to enjoy exploring the diversity of North Carolina.

Kristin Mayer, ‘05I just wanted to let the Geosciences Department know that I got the NSF graduate student fellowship! I’m SO excited! I wish I could come and stop by the geo department in May, but unfortunately I won’t be able to make it to my 5 year reunion. I do hope I get a chance to stop by and say hello at some point in the not too distant future, though. Also, Caroline Harris says hello! She was in the Tobacco Roots with Sarah Carmichael (they were field partners) and now she is running my advisor’s lab at Stanford.

Elizabeth Thomas ‘05I began a PhD program in Geology at Brown Univer-sity and am studying organic geochemical proxies for past climate in lakes in the Arctic and China. I’m look-ing forward to my first trip to China in May, and to a month of fieldwork on West Greenland this summer!

I have the pleasure of sharing an office with a fellow Smithie (Danielle Grogan ‘09). I love living in New England again, and in my spare time am planting a vegetable garden and training for trail runs this sum-mer.

Sarah Pistone, ‘06I am about half way through with a MS degree in Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford University with a focus on geothermal energy. My department is heavily rooted in petroleum reservoir simulation and well tests, but I have broader interests in the geochem-ical and geophysical aspects of geothermal reservoirs. A recent course on the geomechanics of reservoirs was very interesting and I may continue research defining the specific stress state of a region in New Mexico. I am lucky to have an advisor, Roland Horne, that is willing to take his whole geothermal research group to the World Geothermal Congress (WGC) in Bali, Indo-nesia. If you’re in the area I’d be happy to show you my favorite climbing spots or beach locales.

Stephanie Moore, ‘07I don’t have any news to report in the Newsletter, but I wanted to say hello from Texas. I’m in my third year of my PhD and my research is keeping me inter-ested and busy. I saw John, Al, and Bosiljka last fall in Portland along with a big group of Smith alums (I think there were nine of us who went out to dinner). Austin had a nice, cold winter so I’m hoping that trend will roll over into the summer and we won’t have such a long stretch of 100+ days this year. I miss the east coast and especially New England. I always think of the crocuses that come up on the Smith campus letting you know it’s finally spring.

Marie McLane, ‘08Next week, I will be deploying to Summit Camp, Greenland as Field Coordinator. Through the end of August I will be living above 3200m of ice and 400km from the nearest point of land...at the apex of the Greenland ice sheet, as one of up to 55 researchers and support staff from around the world. More information can be found about the research station at summit-camp.org. I’ll have internet and would be more than happy to chat with students looking for more info on polar research or science support.

18

Merilie Reynolds, ‘08I’m still working in the gold mining industry of north-ern Nevada. My job duties are currently focused on mapping high wall in the huge Goldstrike open pit. Outside of work, I’m enjoying forays into skiing and rock-climbing, If you’re ever in the neighborhood, give me a call and I’ll arrange a mine tour. Barrick Gold, the company I work for, offers a number of summer internships (with excellent pay!) for under-graduate and grad students. Please contact me for more information. It would be great to have more Smithies out here! Also in 2009 I completed Indiana University’s field camp. It was quite an emotional challenge to return to the camp after being in a motor vehicle accident there the previous year.715-797-2450; merilie.reynolds@gmail.com

Danielle Schmandt, ‘09I am currently at the Colorado School of Mines. I am just finishing my first year of my Masters. I am writ-ing my thesis on a sedimentary-hosted copper deposit in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). I have spent one field season in the town of Kolwezi logging core and am getting ready for another! I saw the big-gest caterpillar of my life there! 5 inches and fuzzy! and I ate some crickets.

Maya Wei-Haas, ‘09I am currently at Ohio State University and my big-gest news this year is receiving the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. I will be working on a project that is focused on determining the fate of flame retar-dants (Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers or PBDE) in the arctic environment. Specifically I hope to exam-ine the role of photodegradation and the influence of dissolved organic matter in the break down of flame retardants.

Whether I am currently pursuing a Master’s or a PhD is up for debate, between NSF and my adviser’s fund-ing I have 4 years of full funding as a student, so if all goes well I could potentially change my Masters to a PhD! Hope that works as news!

Late-Breaking News!

Spotlight Award

Kathy Richardson, our departmental administrative as-sistant, is one of the recipients of the 2010 Smith Col-lege Spotlight Awards. These awards are designed to acknowledge staff members in the Smith community whose contributions go above and beyond the every-day scope. Kathy is recognized by the Department of Geosciences for her superb overseeing of the depart-mental field trip budget. This has not been an easy task, especially lately with increasing costs, changing policies, and limited funds competing with the im-perative of educating geosciences students in the best laboratory possible — the great natural outdoors. Just about every geosciences class has field trips ranging from lab trips to day-long and weekend trips, to longer interterm field courses in Hawaii and the Bahamas. Kathy has been doing her job of keeping track of all the anticipated and accrued expenses incredibly well! Over the years she has been working with various department chairs and Controller’s office personnel to devise and implement efficient methods of handling this complicated accounting. In addition, Kathy has helped with many other logistical tasks such as mak-ing lodging reservations, paying student drivers, and coordinating with groups from the Five Colleges. Con-gratulations and thank you Kathy for your dedication to and good work for the Geosciences at Smith!

The Spotlight Award recipient Kathy Richardson with Geosci-ences faculty Bosiljka Glumac, Bob Newton and Al Curran at the

Award Ceremony in April 2010.

19

Breccia (tectonic or synsedimentary?) in the Turners Falls Forma-tion (Jurassic) at Barton Cove, Massachusetts.

View of Poplar Hill Road in the fall, Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station, West Whately, MA.

Bosiljka Glumac exploring a cave on an island in the Republic of Palau (Micronesia) in search for the source rock of Yapese Stone

Money artifacts. Photo by Tony Caldanaro.