 |
St. Lawrence Geology Alumni |
|
Last January, each of you for whom the department had a correct address was a recipient of our letter describing the Geology Departments hope that we can double the endowment for the Jim Street Fund from $60K to $120K in support of student research expenses and travel to professional meetings. We have a leadership position in the area of undergraduate research both nationally and locally, having been involved in the process at least since the days of Doc Bloomer. Until the 1990’s our students did research with faculty and some published that research, but few actually presented their research at national or international meetings. That condition changed as many universities began to foster undergraduate research programs and their students were encouraged to present. New venues for student presentation have opened.
At St. Lawrence our students have been eager to participate professionally, and the University has helped with financial support as needed.Some of you have also helped by creating Student Research Fellowships specifically for Geology projects. These have had a major impact and are essential as the “heavy lifters” of our student research effort so please continue them.It is fair to say, however, that the greatest good for the greatest number of Geology students has been afforded by the Jim Street Fund which can act on students’ proposals immediately upon receipt with little or no delay and can fund needs of intermediate or lesser cost.These are an important aspect of student research you may be sure!Eventually we may be able to award a Jim Street Fellowship if needed in addition to the research or travel awards that we make presently.We are “growing” the Fund with those goals in mind.
The growth of the Fund as it has occurred from December 15, 2003 to December 15, 2004 is presented in the figure below.These are the gifts that the department is aware of because you have sent them directly through us or because the university has notified us of them!Donors to the Fund are listed here with this expression of our gratitude.Thanks very much to all who have made this growth possible.In four more years we will achieve our goal of adding $60,000 to the Street Fund.It is doable and we thank all who contribute. Every gift counts.
| Graham Baird Henry Cerwonka Dale N. Chayes Bob & Kim Delatour David & Marlene Egan Dean Eppler Mark Erickson Kenneth & Mary Feathers |
Andrew Fetterman Ruth Fetterman Andrew Fountain Gerald & Maureen Gould Michael Hayes F.D. and Margine Holland, Jr. FrankKarboski Mark C.Klett |
Rob&
Karen Lewis Tom Loomis Ron & Kathy Metzger Kenneth H. Noble Mike Perfit Andrew P. Perham Alisa Scott |
Bill &
Mary Scott William H. Sias Sally Street David Wald Bill & Joan Watts Marguerite Walsh Don &Cindy Weeks |
THANK YOU!Please
let JME know if there errors at meri@stlawu.edu.
Look for updates at http://it.stlawu.edu/~geoclub/alumni/jimstreetfund.html
NEWS FROM ALUMS
| Chris Adams ‘84 Chris stopped in the department and had a visit with Mark.He is a High School Principal in Lancaster, PA and will be finishing a doctorate in April ’05.He has two children. Jeff Barclay ‘84 Jeff and his family were in the process of moving back to the U.S. after an amazing 3-year adventure in Rome, Italy where he and his wife, Beth were teaching at a small K-8 international school called Ambrit Rome Int’l School.Now they are in Manchester, Vermont where Jeff will be teaching Physical Education, Earth Science and a bit of Math at Maple Street School. Hank Cerwonka ‘80 Hank sent a note in May to Mark with a donation to the Jim Street Fund and congratulations on Mark’s champsosaurus fossil find.At that time he was gearing up for a show of his photos. Last summer he had his first solo show that was an exciting milestone for him, and he will have 20-some images for sale on the web, through the stock agency Coloradoimage.com. Sarah Czajka ‘01 Sarah has been working in Connecticut at Geologic Services Corporation for 3 years as an environmental consultant.She writes that the company has given her a great base and numerous opportunities to develop her career, but she feels the need to diversify her background beyond petroleum sites.She is looking to move out west, and has leads in Tempe, Arizona and Denver, Colorado.Good luck, Sarah. Carrie Denesha ‘00 Carrie is having a great time examining road cuts and bridges and cores of Kansas cyclothems as she works for the Kansas Dept. of Transportation in Topeka. That sed. and strat. stuff that she did seems to be paying off if the enthusiasm of her emails is any example. Glad you are enjoying your work, Carrie. Dean Eppler ‘74 There is not much to say that hasn't been on web sites and in the news.Dean visited campus in June to receive an ALUMNI CITATION for his work in the space program.He presented an informative and humorous seminar describing his career activities at NASA and everyone enjoyed it.Congratulations, Dean! Jeannine (Mansfield) Fiore ‘97 Jeannine has been working in child care at the local YMCA for the last 4 years.She is married and they had a son, Elias Daniel in August.She plans on being a stay at home mom for a while. Karl Fleischmann ‘83 Karl is still in Anchorage, Alaska going on his 7th year there.He and his wife, Carolina, have 4 children.Karl is the GIS/Remote Sensing lead for ConocoPhillips, working inside more than he would like, but will be getting back out in the field this summer to help put new batteries in the radio collars on polar/grizzly bears and double-check some surveying operations.He is also field testing some new remote pen-based GIS mapping gear.Sounds very interesting. David Griffing ‘83 Dave has joined the faculty at Hartwick College.He really seems to be enjoying it based on discussions with Mark at GSA. How could he not be happy with the Devonian right outside his department’s back door?David is also expected at SLUGAC. Brett Harvey ‘02 Brett has been operating an instrument for A.C.Z Environmental Labs in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, mostly testing water and soil samples from mining sites for Mercury and Selenium.He has also been coaching Alpine ski racing part-time in the Winter. Trent Hubbard ‘94 Trent was married this summer in Fairbanks, Alaska on Summer Solstice! He and Grete visited Canton later and found no one here, but they were impressed by the new student union and athletic facilities!He has just submitted an abstract to the NE GSA in March on some of the work he did with Mark for his senior thesis some years ago!Now that he is teaching in Missouri we hope to see them both more often. Charles Kreitler ‘69 Charlie sent Mark an email after receiving the last newsletter with identification for people in the photo and some reminiscences of Doc Bloomer and they visited at GSA. Tavis Lloyd ‘02 Tavis is working for Louis Berger Inc., in Florham Park, New Jersey.He completed his Masters at SUNY Oneonta and seemed to get along well there. |
Len Mason ‘99 Mark was pleased to have a good visit with Len Mason while he was presenting, with his advisor Daryll Pederson, two posters describing his Masters research at U. Nebraska, Lincoln.The excellent posters dealt with knick point generation, waterfall morphology and migration/wasting stimulated by mineral-rich ground water seepage. Needless to say Len is doing great work and we hope he will go on as he seems to be enjoying his geology.Look for Len at SLUGAC in April. Sarah (Zimmerman) McElfresh ‘98 Sarah attended Bonnie Muller’s wedding and sent a picture of David Waugh, Heather Cunningham, Bonnie and herself. She and Scott are enjoying their daughter, Katie, and Sarah keeps in touch with Mark often. Robert Morrow ‘84 Bob has been teaching 9th grade Earth Sciences for the past 5 years in Fairfield, Connecticut.He writes that he really enjoys it and is hoping to start teaching some single semester electives in the next few years including Astronomy and also resurrecting the Geology course that was once offered before he joined the staff.At the time of this note, Bob was getting ready for a wedding in the summer.Congratulations. Bonnie Muller ‘99 Bonnie is working at Buffalo State College as a lab instructor and stockroom tech.She was married in October.Congratulations, Bonnie! Paul E. Myers ‘53 Paul wrote this nice tribute to Robert Bloomer.“’Doc’ Bloomer changed my life!He stimulated my imagination, gave me a vision of what I could do with my life, and helped, goaded, encouraged me to always get out there and do more.He saw to it that I got a summer job panning heavy minerals with USGS in NC the summer after I took my first geology courses.(He didn’t waste time with me, just got me “out there.”)Then, in the spring of my senior year, graduating with a “base” geology degree, he informed me he had “saved a place” for me at Harvard.My protestations were ignored – so I went.He ALWAYS wanted to know how I was doing.He cared, he pushed, he shaped my directions, helped me find my way.He was a great teacher – my life’s model – because I ultimately became a teacher.I hope I was half as good as he was.” Andrew Owens ‘99 Andrew worked for ATC Associates in Baltimore, Maryland for three and a half years.He has done everything from drilling for water and soil samples to NEPA work for the telecommunications industry to working as an EH&S manager for a commercial shipyard.He recently started working for a local consulting firm (Advantage Environmental) and has begun a few months worth of no-stop asbestos sampling for telecom sites.A wedding is in the works for March 12, 2005 in Woodstock, Maryland. Nate Page ‘02 Nate is in Jackson, Wyoming working for Nelson Engineering.He is working on a project that is a contract with the State of Wyoming on their Abandoned Mine Land program.He is learning a lot working with several old mine engineers and geologists who have been in the business a while. Booth Platt ‘00 Booth is completing a very useful study of aquatic and semi-aquatic oribatid mites as his Masters research under direction of Roy Norton at SUNY-ESF.Booth visited Canton and presented a long afternoon of lab technique and systematic information for Mark’s Paleo-acarology course. Booth has a good eye for mites and really enjoys the work.We hope the thesis goes well Booth. Larry Robjent ‘96 Larry and Jess made a brief stop at Mark’s house on their way over to catch a show at the Black Box in which Trisha Smrecak a junior geology major had a lead role. They were well and still enjoy teaching in Lake Placid.Larry is actually teaching some Earth Science among his other duties!SLUGAC – no excuses. Bill Romey (Professor Emeritus) Bill sent Mark an email – he had just finished his latest e-book, An illustrated guide to the Geology of sites commonly visited around the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands.Bill gave the guest lecture for the NYSGA Banquet in Potsdam and showed his spectacular images of Gondwana geology!Lucretia visited too.She is still an active participant with their Antarctic lecture cruises. Paul Sanchirico ‘97 Paul and wife, Liz Polzl ’98, just bought a house in Fayetteville, New York.They have 2 boys and were expecting a third last September.Paul entered a radiology residency that he has two more years of training to do before he will be on his own.He writes that “geology was a great major for a physician.Formulating a story base upon snipits of info such as structure and stratigraphy is exactly what I do every day now.The difference is the field work is the human body and the only rocks I see are pathologic (kidney & gallstones).” Christopher Stevens ‘04 Chris is now pursuing the study of sand dunes on the Canadian Prairie Provinces at the University of Calgary.He is very excited to be starting his MS.C program this January there and looks forward to the many opportunities they have to offer.He writes:“The department has already made me feel welcome as all of you in Brown Hall did four years ago.” Jessey Tase ‘99 Jessey wrote in April that she was in Missoula completing her Masters in geography.She was doing GIS, and had a job for the Forest Service.In the Summer she was moving down to the San Juan National Forest in Colorado to work for them. Doug Waters ‘79 Doug was in NY while his son visited colleges.Once again Mark missed him but had a great phone conversation with him in Alaska.Doug heads up the Geophysics Exploration program for the largest Native American landholdings in NA, and his group does major consulting around the world.He fishes a bit too and Mark plans to visit him one of these days! |
NEWS FROM MARK ERICKSON
Lance’s graduation from Macalester Cum Laude with a double major in
Physics and Geology, which I attended accompanied by Bud Holland, was followed
the next day by our graduation at SLU with Mark Klett receiving an honorary
doctorate (see alumni page of Geology Club web site
--http://it.stlawu.edu/~geoclub/alumni/index.html).After the red eye flight from MSP, I was able to put Mark’s hood
on him. These events had to be the highlights of May.Lance has stayed in St. Paul and while “taking a year off” is
working at a brewer’s supply store since he and some of his college friends are
investigating the brew pub industry.
It's continuing to be busy around here! A trip to China with a group of faculty last summer has led to funding for myself and two students (Camille Partin '06 and Ben Meade '06) to make a return trip. We plan to conduct an evaluation of the new Chinese systems of National Geological Parks and look at the balance between protection and development at these sites.
The department is also putting on a
trip to Alaska for next August, with 11 SLU students already signed up and
likely a similar number from Queen's University.
We'll follow roughly the
same route around the Chugach Mountains as our 2003 trip, but perhaps with a
few additional detours.
It seems like just yesterday that I
joined the department, yet here I am planning for my first sabbatical (Spring
2006). I'll likely stick around Canton and get some writing done but will
also take a trip to do some hiking in New Zealand.
See everyone at SLUGAC next semester!
Greetings!Allow me to introduce myself, I am Diane Burns and currently substituting for Mike Owen while he enjoys a sabbatical year.With roots in the east coast from having been born and raised in Baltimore, MD, I came to SLU this past August from points west having done my graduate work at the University of Wyoming.It is quite a change, seeing all of this greenery and the over-abundance of rivers and rain.
Come the spring semester, one of the courses I will be teaching will be on the resources of the earth.As a substitute for lab experiences, I will be taking the students on a series of Saturday trips to visit mines, factories and other facilities.We hope to see many different ways in which earth materials are transformed into everyday products.If you have any suggestions for trips, please feel free to email me dburns@stlawu.edu.I would certainly like to hear more ideas!
Have a safe and happy holiday season!!
This spring will be the 5th SLU GEOLOGY ALUMNI CONFERENCE. The first and second announcements can be found on the alumni website http://it.stlawu.edu/~geoclub/alumni/slugac.htmlunder SLUGAC.SLUGAC is a very unique conference, and I have found in attending other conferences and in talking with others in the field that they wish they had a similar conference where they were an undergrad.Where I did my graduate work, the department thought it would be a great thing to do – that is of course if someone else was willing to do all the work.Here at SLU we are lucky that back in the early 90’s, some people did decide to do the work and SLUGAC 1 was held in 1992.About every 3 years there has been another conference where Geology Alums return to campus to share their experiences with each other and current students.We let students know just what they can do with that B.S, in Geology – whether it seems like it is connected or not.We share what we are working on and pass on the types of opportunities exist that the students never thought existed.We can become current in other aspects of the field that we might miss at an AGU or GSA conference.We can network and discover new collaborators.It may just be that one alum has refined a computer program to do what you need to, or that someone has gained access to a field area you're interested in.The possibilities are endless. Perhaps most importantly is that we reconnect with each other and make new professional friendships.It may the one “reunion” where it is ok to talk shop!
We hope that you will consider attending SLUGAC 5 this April.We are trying to maintain a list online of alumni who have expressed an interest in attending and those who wish to present at this years’ conference.If you are interested in attending, please email me at mcelfres@telerama.com or Mark Erickson at meri@stlawu.edu and Mark will forward your name on to me.
Hope to see as many of you as possible in April.
So, if you'd like to purchase mugs, here's what you do:
