EARTH SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT Spring 2012 Newsletter

www.ccsf.edu/Earth

Participants in Geology 21b – Field class – Spring 2012

IN THIS ISSUE…

Special Classes and Events of 2011-2012

Earth Sciences Club Events

Earth Science Mentoring Program

Student Updates

Faculty Updates

Alumni Updates

MENTOR APPRECIATION PARTY Friday, May 18 – 5:30-7:30 pm – S45

END-OF-SEMESTER HIKE

For the Department and the Earth Sciences Club Saturday, May 26 – 10 am to 2 pm Rodeo Beach, Marin Headlands

PLEASE JOIN US AS WE HIKE

AND CELEBRATE the hard work of everyone this semester.

New Fall 2012 Geology 10 – Physical Geology

Chinatown Campus Tuesdays 6:30-9:30 pm

Instructor: Duane DeVecchio

Summer 2012

What’s shaking and whose fault is it? Geology 21c

The San Andreas Fault System Saturday 9 am to 12 pm – July 7

Saturday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm – July 14 and 21 Instructor: Chris Lewis

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DEPARTMENT UPDATES AND NEWS

From the Department Chair… Katryn Wiese, May 1, 2012 We have had a very productive year while enduring the challenges of severe budget cuts with higher enrollments and fewer sections. Sound like last year? It just keeps happening! Despite these distractions, we were able to implement a number of exciting new opportunities for our students including a facelift to our website, with all kinds of great resources: transfer information, internships, careers, news stories, etc. Thanks to Cort Benningfield

for helping us keep it up to date! Take a look: www.ccsf.edu/Earth

In Spring, we got some additional supply storage space (S39 – shared with hazardous waste!). The new space has allowed us to get some breathing space in our other rooms, where we traditionally nestle in amongst the rocks, maps, and lab samples. We have continued to upgrade and improve our exhibits. Thanks to Jim Ambrose for developing and maintaining a department rotating exhibit, and thanks to those who helped develop our new Marine Life Scale exhibit, starring the Blue Whale vertebrae we picked up from a beaching over the Summer. The Earth Sciences Club kept itself busy during its second year with a number of activities. S45 study sessions have been as busy as ever, filled with students working together, studying rocks, fossils, maps, and more. We participated in the Bay Area Science Festival at AT&T park, in November, 2011, and were grateful for the help of our students and colleagues in making that a resounding success. Our students participated again in the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU)

conference in San Francisco in December 2011. We sent seven students on free day passes thanks to AGU. Part-timer Ben LeFevbre ran an urban petrology field trip well attended by department members and AGU participants. In 2011, we offered a robust summer program in Oceanography, Geology, and Physical Geography for the first time in years. In Fall 2011, we offered three new classes: Climate Change, Environmental Geology, and an accompanying Environmental Geology Lab. We expanded to teach one of those at the Southeast Campus. We offered our second field-

only class in years – San Francisco Geology, in March 2012. This coming summer we will be able to offer a 1-unit field course in July. The rest of our program was dropped due to budget cuts. Fall 2012 we face the greatest cuts ever, and we’ve dropped 17% of our offerings, but we’re still hanging in there. On the faculty front, Fall 2011 we welcomed former part-timer Chris Lewis as a new full-time hire – half-time geology, half-time physical science. We also were grateful for the efforts of our new part-time hires for Summer and Fall, including Kristin Keenan, Ian Duncan, and Russell McArthur. Carlos Jennings, our geography intern from the San Francisco State University Master’s program, worked with Darrel in Fall 2011 and Carla in Spring 2012 and luckily for all of us, he will be joining us again in Fall 2012 – thanks to the Faculty Diversity Internship Program (FDIP). New part-timer Duane DeVecchio joined us in Spring and will also continue with us in the Fall. We’re sorry that some of our part-timers have had to wait out the budget cuts. We wish we had more classes to offer everyone – certainly the student need is strong. But we’ve cut to the bare bones and in Fall will be offering the minimum number of lecture classes required to fill our corresponding labs. After a few years of growth, we’re having to reduce – unfortunately when the student need is greatest. We miss those who are taking time off, either by their own decisions (Kristin had a baby!) or by budget cuts. In Fall, we’ll be offering our first course, Physical Geology, at the new Chinatown campus with stellar views of the North Bay, Mt. Tam, and Hayward Fault. Telegraph Hill lies at your feet – all viewed from the top, 14th floor, dedicated to the Science Departments. I hope you’ll pop by and say hello or join one of our classes!

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

Thanks to Cort Benningfield, we now have a color printer in the department. And we have been deeply grateful for all his help with maintaining some of our website pages.

Thanks to the APASS/STEM grant and it’s last week with funds still to use, we received $3000 towards lab supplies. That’s 3 times our normal budget! We used them to laminate maps and purchase a multitude of needed materials for all our labs.

Thanks to Princeton Press and other AGU exhibitors for the donation of books and maps.

Thanks to Helen Court for continuing to add funds to and support the Jim Court Scholarship Fund – which provides scholarships for Earth Science students.

Thanks to AGU outreach, we received passes for sevent of our Earth Science students to attend the Fall 2011 American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in San Francisco.

Thanks to Jim Ambrose for continually updating and maintaining our Department cabinet in the basement.

Thanks to Darrel Hess for contributing financially to our discretionary department fund. We hope, in the next year, to use these funds and others that we raise to repair our seismograph, geochron, and weather station and to increase our computing power and bring in laptops to our labs, to help our students to access real-time online data and satellite images during labs.

Thanks to ALL of the Earth Science faculty and students who have made time contributions to our department this year, including Ben Hickey, Chris Lewis, Gari Melikian, and Dion Campbell for helping out with the Bay Area Science Festival, Ben LeFevbre for running a field trip at AGU time in December 2011, Carlos Jennings for assisting with the Marine Life and Scale exhibit, volunteers in our mentoring program, Lohanne Santos and Alyxe Anderson for their help at FRISCO day and so many more. We depend on all of you!

THANK YOU TO OUR MENTORS! Earth Science Mentoring Program

Summer 2011, Fall 2011, and Spring 2012 Mentors and Lab & Department Aides:

Allison Adams (oceanography)

Rosa Anduaga (geology, oceanography)

Cort Benningfield (oceanography, GIS, paleontology)

Dion Campbell (geology and paleontology)

Joe Dean (geology, oceanography, paleontology)

Barrie Diggs (geology)

Al Garduno (geology and oceanography)

Owen Limbach (paleontology)

Connell Lindh (geography)

Stephanie Manseau (oceanography)

Amanda McIntosh (geology and oceanography)

Aase Mitchell (geography)

Jeff Newell (oceanography, geology, geography, and paleontology)

Jason Pauls (geography)

Suzanne Ubick (geology, paleontology)

For more information, go to www.ccsf.edu/Earth

2009 Study Session in S45

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Earth Sciences Club Events

PLEASE JOIN US AS WE HIKE AND CELEBRATE the hard work of everyone this semester.

MENTOR APPRECIATION PARTY – Friday, May 18 – 5:30-7:30 pm – S45

END-OF-SEMESTER HIKE For the Department and the Earth Sciences Club Saturday, May 26 – 10 am to 2 pm – Rodeo Beach, Marin Headlands

UPCOMING EVENTS:

May 19, 20 -- USGS Open House

PAST EVENTS:

Wednesday, April 25 -- 4-5 pm -- Berkeley Lawson Lecture on Earthquakes (Once-A-Year lecture series)

Thursdays -- U.C. Berkeley EPS Department Seminars –

Fridays -- U.C. Berkeley EPS Department Career Panels

Saturday, April 21 -- UC Davis Picnic day: opportunity to check out the campus and Earth Science department

Saturday, April 21 -- Cal Day Open House -- UC Berkeley

Friday, April 13th -- Frisco Day (FRIday =Successful College Opportunities)-- Department Booth for open college day with High School students and others in the community

Friday, April 13th -- 5 pm -- Video in S45 on Evolution

Sperm Whale Soirée -- Art & Science Reception & Lecture -- Saturday, March 3rd -- 7:00 to 10:00 pm --At the Randall Museum

The Mineral and Gem Society of Castro Valley -- Jewelry, Gem & Mineral Show & Sale -- March 2, 3 & 4, 2012

Holiday Potluck Party -- Dec. 16

Urban Geology Field Trip Saturday, Dec. 10, 9-11 am, Union Square

AGU -- Fall Conference Moscone Center -- December 5-9

AGU Pre-Conference Pow-Wow -- Friday Dec 3 -- Noon to 1 pm -- S45 Review strategies, tips, and don't miss events

Bay Area Science Festival -- November 6th -- Thanks for all the help! AT&T Park

COASTAL CLEANUP DAY + beach picnic -- September 17th 10 am to 1 pm

U.C. Berkeley Meet and Greet and BBQ -- September 15th from 3-6 pm.

For more information, go to www.ccsf.edu/Earth

CONGRATULATIONS TO AGU ATTENDEES The Fall 2011 meeting happened the first week of December. This year we were able to send:

* 7 students on 1-day passes, courtesy of AGU organizers: * Rosa Anduaga, Tyler Beal, Dion Campbell, Barrie Diggs, Shirin LeClere, Amanda McIntosh, Gari Melikian Other attendees who went for longer times: Jason Pauls and Pierre C.

Some comments from students who attended in 2011 follows:

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AGU Conference Highlights "AGU was great. Although I understood less than 10% (less than 1%) of what I heard and saw, it was useful for me to see a full-fledged conference in action, to begin to understand what it might mean to be a research scientist. I looked for posters on Large Data but also Remote Sensing turned out be quite interesting, and it was a little more accessible to me, especially at the posters cause the people could see when I didn't understand and lower the level of the language...I attended 3 talks but understood very little. Did chat a little with the guys from Saudi Arabia who gave one of the talks about the Red Sea. Did get to know a couple of the people who were working with the organizers and turned out they were staying close to me in North Beach, went out for drinks." – PC "My two days at the AGU Fall conference were filled with moments of excitement, confusion, and enough intellectual discourse to make my head spin. I would encourage Earth Science students to attend any and all sessions that may appeal to them. The two hours I spent in each session answered many questions about subjects that had remained a mystery through lecture courses and my own independent study. The amount of information was overwhelming at times, but I just kept reminding myself that there was no test at the end; and I was there to listen to professionals discuss topics ranging from Coastal Geomorphology, to Climate Change and Landscape Response. I cannot wait for next year’s meeting and I hope to be more prepared and clear my schedule well in advance." -- JP “The AGU conference was so much fun! It was really cool being able to talk to people who know so much about their field. The lectures were fascinating, but way over my head. I found the posters and exhibits much less intimidating. For the most part everyone was really nice and they were more than happy to simplify their research so that I could understand it. At one of the exhibits the woman told me all about the trips she has taken for her research! At another booth the exhibitor had made a complete 3D model of the sun and the magnetic field around it and explained how he made the code and mapped it all. Even though I did not understand much of what I saw it was a great experience and I would definitely go again next year! Thank you!" -- AM "I just came back from my day at AGU. I spoke to many people in the the exhibit hall (after filling my bags of goodies). I talked to the people from Scripps, NOAA, Department of Energy, (among others. I attended many talks that sounded interesting but gave me a headache 5 minutes into them. However I did find a couple of them that I could relate to, such as the "magnetic monitoring of bacterial microbes in mid-ocean ridges", "evidence of Andean uplift" and "wetland hydrologic processes" and even though they were a little bit hard to follow, I got something out of each one of them. The star of the AGU is without a doubt NASA (no pun intended). They had the biggest booth at the middle of the exhibit hall, and most attendees were proudly carrying their NASA badge around their necks. Where I come from, these things are only seen in movies. I'll live to be a hundred and my amusement towards their work will remain similar to a 4 year old. I highly recommend other fellow students to leave shyness at home and speak to everyone around them. There are people that can help in directing students to apply to fully funded internships around the world! I also had a great time eavesdropping other people's conversations in the halls and tables, which was a nice break from the typical stuff one hears all the time :) I left around 6pm, my shoes were punishing me and my stomach was growling (no food, but lots of coffee and beer if you stick around long enough). But I left with a bag full of souvenirs (I call it Christmas shopping) and the certainty that there are great people all over the world willing to give their all for science and the betterment of the future. I am glad to be part of it all :) Thank you again, AGU was a great experience to be exposed to." -- RA "Cool moments at AGU -- SL: 1. A session on an experiment using various amounts of nickel and iron alloys in a test sample to explain shear-wave velocity models and how they differ from real world data. I hadn't noticed that title in all the titles in the guide and it was a terrific (and understandable) presentation. 2. Being included in a technical conversation by two scientists discussing some really odd landforms called Carolina bays. 3. Seeing tons of satellite images of the Earth and Mars and Titan and learning what science learns from them. I highly recommend hanging out at the NASA exhibit. AGU was a terrific way to see what's going on in a huge number of fields."

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Bay Area Science Festival Highlights

By Ben Hickey Department Volunteer Fall 2011

On Sunday Nov 6th, 2011, I participated in the Bay Area Science Festival at AT&T Park, helping to man the CCSF Earth Science exhibit along with Professors Katryn Wiese, Chris Lewis and earth science students Dion Campbell and Gari Melikian. This annual event was held to promote and celebrate local scientific resources and opportunities to students of all ages in the Bay Area. Our exhibit, titled “Earth Rocks!”, gave visitors the chance to view 3D maps of North America and to participate in a series of hands-on activities which involved matching different rock and mineral specimens to their formation environments and unique properties. These events proved popular among children of all ages and it was particularly entertaining to watch young students figure out how to determine properties such as magnetism, fluorescence, and hardness from the tools they had available. The event proved to be a lot of fun and the time flew by, with barely enough time to check out the many other excellent exhibits on display. The only slight disappointment was seeing the look on some people’s faces when being told they could not take our ‘cool’ mineral and rock specimens home with them. Hopefully, this event will have inspired some of them to become future geologists and one day they will go on to discover samples of their own.

FALL 2011 – Climate Change

By Carla Grandy

(For more detailed information, visit my website: https://sites.google.com/a/mail.ccsf.edu/carla-grandy/home. ) Climate Change was offered as a 1-unit class for the first time in the Fall of 2011. There was a good mix of students, most of whom had some kind of science or earth science background. The class met for 3 hours, the last 6 Fridays of the semester. Because of the scheduling, there were fewer students enrolled than would probably have been if it were held earlier in the semester, but it was a good turn-out anyway with about 40 students. The class was intended for people without any background in the subject, but because most of the students had previous knowledge, we were able to delve deeper into the issues and had some really great class discussions. During the 6 weeks we covered: weather and climate patterns, feedback loops, greenhouse effect, climate proxies, natural and anthropogenic forcing agents of climate change, impacts of climate change and potential solutions. We had a speaker from the Climate Reality Project come and talk about current legislation and impacts of climate change, and students did research papers that proposed and looked into the feasibility of potential solutions to climate change. Overall feedback from students was very positive, though many expressed that they would have preferred to have the class as a full semester course where they could spend more time talking about each of the concepts and go into further detail. I think it would be great to keep this one unit course for students who are not necessarily science majors, but want an understanding of climate change, but also try to add a 3-unit course that could go devote more time to climate and climate change. Overall it was a really successful course.

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SPRING 2012 – Environmental Geology Our Environmental Geology program got off the floor and running in Spring 2012, with two lecture offerings and one lab. One of our lectures was taught at the Southeast Campus by Chris Lewis, the other by Carla Grandy, who also taught the lab. We have four instructors in the department who really want to see this offering grow and strengthen, and many of us will be attending a June workshop held in Montana, titled Teaching Environmental Geology – one week of intense education on how better to teach this class!

Semester observations from Carla Grandy – Instructor Many of the students in the lecture have taken previous Earth or Environmental Science classes. (In fact, faculty who teach Environmental Science and other related classes have been recommending Environmental Geology to students who are wanting more classes dealing with environmental issues.) The lecture class has dealt with many timely issues from earthquakes, tsunamis, coastal hazards to issues of water resources in the west and finishing off with a discussion of climate change. In my lecture section, I generally spent one lecture introducing geologic processes and then the following lecture on case studies and current events relating to the process. For example, with water resources I spent one day talking about the water cycle and the geology of groundwater storage, etc. Then the next lecture was focused on issues of water usage, water conservation and technologies that exist for recycling, desalination, etc. I have tried to keep the class very active and hands-on. Students have remarked that this is a “more engaged” group than average. I agree and think that is because most of the students in the class are interested in environmental issues and either seeking degrees or already have degrees in the field. The lab for the course has dealt with the same issues that are covered in the lectures – natural hazards and issues of resource use and conservation. The class has had several field trips: Natural Hazards trip to Mussel Rock, Pacifica and Thornton State Beach; Hayward Fault; and a tour of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The students elected to do a project in place of one of their exam grades so the final few weeks of the semester will be spent with them research and presenting local environmental issues such as the use of gray water in San Francisco and opportunities to expand the use of alternative energies in the Bay Area. As one of the students said – “Anything that helps them think like environmental geologists would be very useful and probably more interesting.”

Students standing on Hayward Fault. Photo by Eva Chu.

View looking north from mussel rock. We looked at coastal

hazards and slope stability issues there.

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SPRING 2012 – Environmental Geology

Environmental geology tours San Francisco’s largest wastewater treatment facility. Chris Lewis – Instructor San Francisco is a great place to study environmental geology and our new Geology 30 class takes advantage of the some of the resources available here through a number of field trips. As the instructor of a small section of Geology 30 offered at the southeast campus this semester, I was able to organize one such trip to San Francisco’s largest water treatment facility, the South East Water Pollution Control Plant. Eighty percent of San Francisco’s waste and storm water is treated at this facility, ranging in volume from 85 to 250 million gallons a day. The wastewater flows mostly by gravity through 1000 miles of pipe beneath San Francisco to one of three processing facilities. San Francisco is the only coastal city in California to use a combined system that treats both sewage and storm water together before releasing the effluent into either the bay or the ocean. The plant was built in 1952, but it’s still the site of some innovative practices. Methane, harvested during the processing of biosolids, provides 30% of the plant’s energy needs. In addition to seeing and smelling the major processing stages involved in treating waste and storm water, we also toured a NASA funded research project onsite experimenting with the use of single-celled algae, chlorella, to treat sewage waste water while generating biofuels. Career opportunities were also discussed and we plan to continue this tour will classes in the future.

Sasha Tozzi, postdoctoral researcher with UC Santa Cruz’s Ocean Science department (right) and Jonathan Smith, from SFPUC (left), explain a NASA funded project at the SE Water Pollution Treatment Plant during a recent Geology 30 field trip. The project explores the use of chlorella to treat sewage effluent and produce biofuels.

Civil Engineer and City College graduate Kent Eickman uses a model to demonstrate how sewage and storm runoff is managed by San Francisco’s Public Utilities Commission. Students toured San Francisco’s largest waster treatment facility on a field trip for Geology 30 this spring.

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FIELD GEOLOGY – SPRING 2012 Storms threatened, but it was mostly blue skies for the Geology 21b – San Francisco Geology field trip March 10 and 17 (with a March 3 orientation). Here are two students’ write-ups on the class: From Zann Cannon Goff – Five Stripes

Our class met in the science lab at school only once. It was a day to look over the coming agenda and discuss what the class was going to be all about. Soon we were taunted with packages of different flavored cream-centered cookies in front of us, with orders to not eat them. The class was Katryn Wiese's Geology of San Francisco. It was a fantastic short-session field class, with a focus specifically on San Francisco's own unique geologic composition. We met that first Saturday on campus to wrap our heads around what, exactly, we were looking to see in the field, and spent the two following Saturdays out in the field, hiking and climbing and collecting samples. The cookies that were taunting us were really just a learning tool, and a brilliantly simple method at that: We pulled apart cookies and bulldozed the cream from one side to the other, in an effort to grasp the concept of accretion. I've gotta say, it was a better method than any video I've seen explaining the process during my couple years of geology and geography classes. It was so visual, so tactile, seeing how the cookie cream folded and fractured and piled up. Then we'd add another flavor cookie to the bulldozing, and watch the varying bands of terrane accrete. The discussion turned to the land we call San Francisco, the tip of this peninsula. We learned about the five discrete terranes that can be found within the city's borders, and looked at topographical maps to see visual clues that would stand out to us in the field in trying to identify them. We learned how the geographic features are connected and named. Then we ate our little San Franciscos. That first day in the lab we also played with rocks. We had samples of the primary rocks we would expect to find, and we needed to learn to identify them. The great part here was that we all got to use our own methods to identify them. We each had to touch and feel and look through a lens, and come up with our own descriptions that would help us each to identify these in the field. There was no right or wrong, per se, but rather just encouraging observation on our own and guidance about what in our descriptions could prove challenging to rely upon in the field. We learned details of these five stripes I mentioned. We learned what comprises the stripes, and turned back to our maps to discuss what we would expect to find at various points in town.

From Marli Diestel:

As a child, in my closet you would find boxes and boxes of rocks. I would pick them up from school, the street, the park and anywhere else that I could find them. My mother was always frustrated, but allowed me to continue my collection, and even took me to museums or brought me books on identifying them. However, once I got older, my obsession started to die out and I realized that I would probably never become a geologist. The Geology 21b is the perfect course for those who are interested in geology, but are not planning on majoring in it or pursing it as a life career, but those who would still find enjoyment out of it! Learning how to identify things in the field is a great skill to have no matter what your interests are. One of the greatest things about this course is that since it focuses on only San Francisco geology, it is able to capture everyone's interest, as we can directly see how each aspect influences where we live. On top of the joys of learning about the ground we live on and seeing how different rocks affect each area of San Francisco, we all got to run around the city for 2 days and see different areas we wouldn't always travel to! Finding new interesting spots to go was a true joy! This class is perfect for mid-semester blues and will lighten up any rough course schedule. You get to exercise, explore and learn – all out in the fresh air! Any class that I don't have to sit inside gets an A+ from me!

Exploring Battery Godfrey – Photo by Marli Diestel

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The two days of field class were great. Other than fog obscuring our views midway through the first day, the weather wasn't all that bad. We missed storms perfectly, and didn't need the rain gear we'd packed along. For someone like myself, this class was a fantastic way to get out and explore the City. I've lived here over 20 years now, and have never owned a car. I've made a point of taking every opportunity that arises to explore every corner of this place over the years, but this was the first time I'd taken a class that would explain things to me that I had seen, a class that would put all the pieces together for me, and show me even more new places. I grew up a couple hours north of here, and always noticed how the large mountains along the coast (San Bruno, Tam, St Helena...) seem to have the same general form and orientation. The valleys have similar juxtapositions along the coast. I've always noticed this, but never really understood how this came to be. Learning about the way terrane is accreted was like a light going off in my head, especially when I saw the diagonal stripes of SF. Getting up on high places around town was a great way to look at the layout of the land, to see for ourselves these very diagonal stripes we could see on our maps, to see how the hills are connected to each other (or not), and to see the continuity up and down the region. I'm a gardener by trade, but I've always been a history and Earth Sciences buff out of personal interest. The history lessons have taught me that much of our city is built on landfill on the bay, that we extended the shores. Say that all you want, but going out with a class to India Basin Shoreline Park, and later to Candlestick, really makes you appreciate just what that means. It was exciting to visit a place where you can clearly distinguish what, exactly, this landfill is that they are talking about, and see its direct interface with the bay mud. We could see the actual vertical profile of the layers of fill, and how they react to water. Revelation! It's one thing to hear the term, but another to stand on it and talk about it. It was exciting to see the actual bay mud all the landfill is based on, and to recognize what you would see had the fill not been dumped there. With the help of our maps I could imagine the muddy, marshy shores dipping deeply in and out with the undulations of the land. Another fascinating aspect was a visit to the Brisbane Quarry on San Bruno Mountain. Fascinating to see the layers of natural rock that the hill is composed of! Equally fascinating was to picture that all the Bay Area roads are made up of what left this void in the hill. Imagining that this hillside has provided enough stone to build local roads for over 150 years is remarkable, given the sheer volume of roadways we have. It's hard to picture them all essentially "fitting" into this cavity! We went places where we could see deep folds - actual folds - in thin layers of red chert, and flash back to our cookies that day in lab. We could now visualize how these folds had

Fort Funston – Photo by Zann Cannon Goff

Sunset Hills Rocks – Photo by Marli Diestel

Grand View Point – Photo by Zann Cannon Goff

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formed and hardened into solid rock. Some of us had colder cookies and the cream would break and fracture and pile up, and we saw places where greywacke sandstone was fractured and piled. I've been to Fort Funston a dozen times with my dogs, but never had I looked at the cliffs and recognized that different layers have built upon each other over the years. Nor had I ever noticed a layer of white crystalline glass, the 400,000 year old Rockland ash layer. And fossils of clams and sand dollars far below that ash layer, evidently a million years old or more. We went places where we could see the California state rock, Serpentinite, exposed in grand grey-green monoliths. We were able to touch and feel and examine all these rocks where they lay, and identify them using our own descriptions that we had decided were meaningful to us. We learned first hand how useless some of our descriptions were when faced with the living rock vs a relatively tiny sample in a lab. Like "heavy". Carpooling around town was great. It was an excellent way to meet some other students, and it allowed for a shorter caravan and an easier time assembling at each location. Katryn had also taken traffic into account when laying out the itinerary, so we had no hindrance in getting everybody from one location to the next. Not having a car myself, this really was an excellent opportunity to see some new sites that can be otherwise challenging to visit, and indeed we got to see some special places off the beaten path that would have been inaccessible to us in any other context. I've enjoyed working my way through many classes in the Earth Sciences department, and this was by far my favorite to date. I've taken all evening classes because of my work schedule, so it was especially great to have such a concise class where I could learn so much in such a short time. That concise aspect was also the biggest drawback, in my humble opinion. If I had any one wish from the class, it would be for it to have more sessions!

Bribane Quarry – Photo by Katryn Wiese

Students Silvia Cruz and Zann Goff – Photo by Marli Diestel

Group photo with San Bruno Mountain quartz crystals

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STUDENT UPDATES

From Åse Mitchell – Geography

I got accepted into UCBerkeley for transfer this fall!! I've decide I'm going to continue on with geography there, as that is my intended major. For me, a degree in geography holds a true power in its knowledge about how people relate to the world, and I will use this power to tackle global issues affecting this planet. My interest in geography first started when I took a cultural development class at the University of Arizona, but due to my sudden resignation from the school, I never finished the course. This was the only thing I regretted about leaving Arizona. However, when I returned home to the Bay Area, I took the opportunity to continue looking into the subject that had inspired

my interest. I enrolled myself into my first introductory physical geography class and lab at City College, and became instantly enthralled within the first few weeks of instruction. I knew then, that this was the subject I wanted to major in. I began to look at the world with a new perspective. I would catch myself watching the ocean, trying to analyze the different processes going on between the rocks and the waves crashing upon them. I became so captivated with physical geography, that I would share with others the exact circumstances necessary to form an incoming mid-latitude storm, so that they too could see how amazing I saw this planet when these storms would hit our coast during the winter. By doing this, I saw how much I wanted to share my new knowledge with everyone. Once I started to fully understand the physical processes at work, I then began to apply this knowledge to understanding the bigger issues affecting humans and the environment today. I began to comprehend the importance of the land, and the consistency of the seasons in relation to people’s survival. If I started to educate people about the connection that many indigenous tribes have with the land, then I can make a difference in how people view our world. By the end of the semester my professor offered me a position as a physical geography mentor in the earth science department. I felt honored that my professor asked me to do this, and I am currently in my second semester of mentoring. I was surprised by how much I loved aiding students, especially those who needed help with understanding concepts in geography. The mentoring program enabled me to see the importance of helping others, and geography continues to open my eyes to a truer purpose in life. I now know that with my knowledge in the subject, I can continue to have a positive impact on my peers, as well as using it to solve larger global issues.

From Suzanne Ubick – Anthropology Archaeology first became real to me as a bookish twelve year old in the little town of Bulawayo, in the country then known as Rhodesia. I saw a poster advertising a lecture series on Petra, the Rose-Red City of Rock, and was immediately captivated. For three weeks, I walked the two miles to the City Hall each Saturday afternoon through the dusty summer heat, while a whole new world opened to me through the clicking of the slide projector. That was 40 years ago and many thousands of miles away, in a world so different that it seems like another planet. Then, in 1998, I came to San Francisco from South Africa on a work trip, and my kind hosts took me to see UC Berkeley. We walked to Sather Tower, and I thought that should I ever be lucky enough to go to university, I would like to go to Berkeley - but that seemed as far out of reach as another galaxy. On Friday, when my acceptance letter was posted on my Berkeley application page, I was so startled and delighted that I promptly burst into tears! Now that I'm officially a Bear

Cub, my energies will all be bent to earning the B.A. in Anthropology, after which I plan to stay on for a Ph.D. in Archaeology. My passion for the Bronze Age/Iron Age transition, in the Adriatic Islands Bridge spanning the waters between Italy and Croatia, drove me to register at CCSF three years ago, where the expertise of Monica McCarthy in the Continuing Education Department, who crafted my classes plan, and the enthusiasm of the professors (THANK YOU, Profs. Wiese, Lucas-Clark, and Lewis), opened yet more new worlds for me and made my educational path so interesting that it never seemed long.

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STUDENT UPDATES

From Jim Ambrose – Student of all Sciences! EARTH SCIENCE CABINET IN BASEMENT HALLWAY

My name is Jim Ambrose and I am a retired chemist. I met Joe Henley in 2010. Joe is a retired contractor. We met by chance but soon discovered that we had taken Earth Science courses at CCSF, but not at the same time. We both knew Katryn Wiese. Joe had also worked on the Earth Science "STORY OF TIME AND LIFE" project. I informed Joe that there was a need for a cabinet to contain the department collection of meteorites. I had been trying to find one to buy but there were some restraints. The Building Department did not want one that would be free standing (fire safety) and they wanted a wall cabinet to be thin so it would not be a hazard to people walking in the hall. Joe wanted to build the cabinet. I told him that he would have to do it since I would not know how. So, I drew up a rough drawing and Joe got materials and craftsmen together and got it built. The wood is walnut. Joe did a beautiful job. The cabinet hangs about halfway down the Science Building basement hall. Katryn loaded up the meteorites and we found the cabinet to be only half-full. We decided to make the other half hold changing exhibits of interesting things that have to do with earth science. As much as possible, the exhibits should encourage a student to take an Earth Science course. From the start, I have maintained the exhibits. The exhibits change about twice each semester. However, I could use some help. If you have an idea for an exhibit, or better yet, if you want to make an exhibit yourself, please contact Katryn. She will contact me. You do not need to supply everything. The department has an amazing amount of stuff. I can help you with signage if you need it. Be aware that the cabinet is narrow. The glass shelves are not movable.

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STUDENT UPDATES

From Allison Adams – Oceanography USGS Student Jobs

Playing in the mud has traditionally been a favorite past time of children around the world, and as a child, I also made my share of mud pies. However, along with fellow City College students and Earth Sciences Club members Rosa Anduaga and Dion Campbell, I have learned a whole new way of playing in the mud in my student job at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park. Thanks to Katryn Wiese’s professional connections, we have been working as Biological Science Technicians in their Benthic Lab as part of the project “Benthic Community Dynamics in Estuarine Systems.” You may be wondering where the mud comes into play here—or maybe you’ve already figured it out because you’ve taken an oceanography class at City College and know what the work “benthic” means! The main topic of the research we assist with is what is living in the mud of San Francisco Bay. This work includes regular research cruises aboard the R/V Polaris to collect samples of mud from various sites in San Francisco Bay (see photo of Allison), and trekking up to our knees in mud in the Palo Alto mud flats (see photo of Dion). Once we have collected the samples, it’s back to the lab to wash the remaining mud out and sort and identify all the living critters. The main thrust of the research involves two invasive clam species that seem to have overtaken the bay, munching on more than their fair share of phytoplankton—Potamocorbula amurensis and Corbicula fluminea. The latter is also known by its common name, Asian clam, and can be found in various food products, although after counting thousands of them in lab, no one there has any interest in eating them! We see many other interesting critters in the mud, such as species of isopods, amphipods, worms, some bryozoans, and the occasional ostracods, sea slugs and small crabs. Aside from the excitement of the boat trips, we spend most of our time either sorting preserved mud samples or counting and measuring jars upon jars upon jars (I am not exaggerating!!) of preserved clams. In one day, it’s not uncommon to measure up to 3,000! (See photo of P. amurensis samples.) The counting and measuring can be done by hand, using calipers, but is made easier by using a proprietary computer program and camera. (See photo of Rosa.) The work also goes by faster if you bring your iPod. Some favorite things to listen to include books on tape, Radiolab podcasts, iTunesU podcasts of UC Berkeley biology class lectures, or any kind of music. It’s not just the clams and other critters that make this job so great. What I appreciate is that we are developing valuable lab and research skills that are sure to put us at the top of the stack of college or job applications; we are deepening our understanding of the ecological processes of the bay and broadening the scope of our biological knowledge; and not least of all, we are working with some really amazing people. The scientists managing this project and others in the building are not only impressive in their scientific accomplishments, they are also very supportive of our career goals and often go out of their way to answer questions and give valuable academic and professional advice. All in all, this job gives a powerful jump-start to a successful future career!

Rosa counting and measuring clams using the computer program--much quicker than

by hand!

Allison on the R/V Polaris

Dion getting ready for the mud flats.

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STUDENT UPDATES

Melissa DuBose – Oceanography

My Passion for Plankton My first foray into the utterly fantastical world of microscopic plankton was in Katryn Wiese’s Oceanography Lab class almost five years ago. I wasn’t even a student at the time but I had received a CCSF schedule in the mail and thought it would be interesting to know more about the ocean. Then one day in the lab, I loaded a deep-well slide with water collected from the bay that morning and carefully placed it on the microscope stage. What happened to me next I’ll never forget. Like Alice in Wonderland, I was suddenly and unexpectedly transported through a “rabbit hole” via the microscope into what seemed another dimension

Radiolarian (Lipmanella dictyoceras)

155 microns populated by bizarre and whimsical creatures – some whirling, spiraling or zigzag-ing across the stage, others motionless but fanciful like designer jewelry, a beaded pillow or a Baroque chandelier. I was instantly in their thrall and became obsessed with wanting to name and understand all these amazing creatures I saw. Even the word plankton, from the Greek planktos meaning drifter or wanderer, I found poetic and compelling. Soon I acquired a microscope, a plankton net, and a guide book to marine phytoplankton and invertebrate larvae. As a way of teaching myself to identify plankton, I designed a survey project in which, for a year, I collected weekly water samples from the pier at Crissy Field. I spent many hours trying to classify, identify, and count every living thing I could find in the samples. I made detailed notes of observations such as tide height, temperature, wind, weather, salinity and took many micrographs. By the end of the year I was fairly fluent with SF Bay Area plankton identification. I also had an impressive set of data that I didn’t really understand how to analyze. I had hoped that I would be able to look back on this data and learn something about the ecology of the plankton. I soon realized it was far more complicated than just what organisms were in the water, where, and when! Fortunately, around this time, Katryn put me in touch with some people in the local phytoplankton community. I hadn’t even realized there was such a thing. Eventually, I found myself working at the Romberg Tiburon Center (SFSU’s marine biology labs) where I analyze phytoplankton assemblages of marine and freshwater samples collected for research experiments as well as maintain an algal culture library used to study harmful algal blooms. In April this year, I presented a poster at a SF Delta science conference (Interagency Ecological Program) on temperature as a driver of harmful cyanobacterial blooms in the Delta, with results based in part on my findings. Starting in May I will be helping the Exploratorium identify phytoplankton for exhibits at their new facility opening next spring. Before beginning on this path, I never imagined myself as participating, even in a small way, in the realm of scientific inquiry. When visiting museums or watching documentaries I thought of the people who study or perform scientific research as different from me. And my professors seemed like rock stars. But I’ve learned from them and from my own experience that it is possible for a “regular” person with a passion to make a contribution, too.

Melissa – throwing plankton net photo by Jack Sutton 2010

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FACULTY FOR SUMMER 2011, FALL 2011 & SPRING 2012

Full time:

Carla Grandy (Geography and Oceanography) Darrel Hess (Geography) Chris Lewis (Geology and Physical Science) Katryn Wiese (Geology and Oceanography, Department Chair)

Part time:

Duane DeVecchio (Geology lecture and lab) Ian Duncan (Physical Geography lecture and lab) Kristin Keenan (Oceanography lecture and lab Jim Kuwabara (Oceanography) Chris Lewis (Geology) Joyce Lucas-Clark (Paleontology and Geology) Russell McArthur (summer Geology lecture) Elizabeth Proctor (GIS) Wanda Simpson-Bazcek (Geology of Gems) Sean Stasio (GIS – joint with Engineering) Gordon Ye (GIS – joint with Engineering)

FACULTY UPDATES

Chris Lewis – Geology and Physical Science

This has been a busy semester for me, teaching for two departments at three campuses and piloting a new course, environmental geology. This course focuses on the human side of geology, including natural hazards, climate change and natural resources. I’ve enjoyed developing and teaching this class because the material is exciting and it gives me a chance to revisit some of my research experience in economic geology and sustainable agriculture. This summer, I will be attending a workshop on best practices for teaching environmental geology, held in Bozeman Montana. The workshop already looks great and will help me make this course more challenging, relevant and exciting for the Fall. In July, I’ll be teaching one of our field courses: The San Andreas Fault System. In addition to teaching at the college, I found time to tour an off shore oil platform near Santa Barbara. Seeing a working oil platform improved my understanding of the benefits and risks associated with offshore oil production, and riding in a helicopter wasn’t so bad either! Last, but not least, I’ve found a little time to help establish a new ceramics studio in the Bay View. I find ceramics a relaxing way to combine my interest in Earth materials and processes with my creative/artistic side. Check us out at sfclayworks.com!

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FACULTY UPDATES

Kristin Keenan -- Oceanography

Fall of 2011 was my first standard semester teaching at City College, having taught summer school the previous summer. In both instances I taught Oceanography lecture and lab and found that teaching was everything that I had hoped it would be. The students were engaging and intelligent and teaching a class such as Oceanography with the San Francisco Bay Area as a backdrop really helped emphasize the concepts we were covering. The area also lent itself well to field trips and we visited Ocean Beach, the tide pools at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, and the Aquarium by the Bay at Pier 39. Final exams were given in December and grades were turned in before the holidays. Before the end of the semester I wrote letters of recommendation for graduate school, for one of my students, Neil Tangri, and he recently informed me that he will be attending Stanford in the Fall for his Ph.D. Spring semester of 2012 I have had off, due to a new addition in my life. Mica Rose Keenan was born on February 18, 2012. She is healthy and happy and doing so well! For now I am home taking care of Mica, but I look forward to teaching again in the upcoming semesters!

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FACULTY UPDATES

Duane DeVecchio – Geology It sure is great to be back in San Francisco! I graduated from San Francisco State University with my Bachelors degree in geology in 2000. From San Francisco, I went on to Idaho State University to complete my Masters degree after having fallen in love with Idaho where I completed a summer geology field course a year earlier. It was there that I discovered my passion for teaching and decided to pursue an academic career in geology, and went on to obtain a Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As my first semester of teaching at CCSF draws to a close, I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to teach at the community college level. Having completed much of my undergraduate general education requirements at a community college myself, I have first hand experience with the vital role that community college faculty play in the lives of their students. In fact, if it were not for the academic inspiration that I received from an enthusiastic community college geology professor, I may never have transferred to SFSU to complete my college education. It feels good to give back to

the system that gave me so much, but the experience is far from one-sided. Not only have I thoroughly enjoyed working with CCSF students over the past semester, I have learned a significant amount about being an exceptional teacher from the Earth Sciences faculty and the well-designed high-level curricula that defines this department. In addition to helping set up the classroom at the new Chinatown campus, where I will be teaching in the Fall, I plan to spend much of my summer in the field conducting research: either in the Western Transverse Ranges of Southern California where I have ongoing research or investigating new field sites here in the Bay Area. My current research integrates field mapping, Quaternary geochronology, and GIS-based topographic analysis to quantify the effects of climate and tectonics on the evolution of the landscape.

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FACULTY UPDATES

Carlos Jennings – Geography Intern

I feel very fortunate to have been selected for the Faculty Diversity Internship Program (FDIP) for 2011-12 in the Earth Sciences Department. The purpose of the FDIP program is to identify and assist members of underrepresented groups who are interested in a career as CCSF faculty. My faculty mentor in the Fall was Darrel Hess and I was able to observe his 11:00 Physical Geography class. I suspect after a few years of slogging away in graduate school it is not too uncommon to question why you wanted to sign up for so much work, but after watching Darrel teach geography with such enthusiasm and knowledge, I was reminded why: Because Geography is fun! Geography is interesting and reminds you that we are always “somewhere” and that we are intimately connected and dependent on the natural and cultural environments in which we live. This Spring I have had the honor to work with Carla Grandy in the Physical Geography lab on Monday afternoons. I am Carla’s assistant and help set up the weekly exercises and answer questions. I really enjoy talking to the students and helping them understand geographic and spatial concepts. I am excited to be continuing my internship and getting the opportunity to take on more responsibility in one of Carla’s labs in Fall 2012! I am very impressed by the caliber of students at City College. I too am a product of a community college. I went to San Antonio College for two years after high school to complete my basics. I transferred to the University of Texas at San Antonio where I got a BA in English Literature. I had several teachers at San Antonio College who had a tremendous impact on me and to whom I feel immeasurable gratitude. There is usually a smaller

Students on Hayard Fault Field Trip – Geog 1L – Spring 2012

class-size and more interaction between teachers and students at a community college that I believe has a direct positive influence on the educational experience that can last a lifetime. I am also a graduate student in the Geography and Environmental Studies program at San Francisco State University. My thesis is titled “Estimating fine particulate matter (PM2.5) using MODIS and meteorological measurements” and I hope to complete and defend it this Fall. I have always been a geography geek and have loved pouring over maps since I was a kid. But no one told me you could get a degree in it! Some of the classes I’ve enjoyed are cartography, water resources, geography of soils, urban studies, hazard vulnerability, climatology, and remote sensing. Some of the most rewarding educational experiences came from field trips. We traveled to Oroville and Shasta dams to see our state’s massive hydro-engineering projects firsthand, and to visit various stakeholders along the way; including a duck preserve, a rice farm, and a fish hatchery. Another memorable trip was to southern California to look at the effects of landslides. We stopped at the small beach community of La Conchita, the sight of a tragic landslide that killed ten people in 2005. Standing where people lost their lives was a tragic and poignant reminder of the importance of understanding how natural forces shape and affect our lives. I love all things Geography and I am very much looking forward to continuing my internship next year. See you in the lab!

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FACULTY UPDATES

Jim Kuwabara -- Oceanography Soon to enter its fifth decade, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT)-U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Cooperative Summer Field Training Program is the longest continuously running internship program in the earth sciences. Over the past forty-six years, more than 2000 students have participated in this program with an impressive number of these individuals becoming full-time employees of the USGS. Photos below include a diurnal nutrient flux study that was done by my NAGT Intern last summer. CCSF students may find it interesting because it highlights an opportunity offered jointly each year by the USGS and NAGT. We recently received a U.S. Patent (No. 8,051,727 B1) for the porewater profiler that we have used in settings such as Upper Klamath. A pore-water sampler collects pore-water samples at desired depths above and below a sediment-water interface.

LOWER IMAGE: USGS/NAGT Summer Intern, Krista Garrett (left), works with USGS

scientist, Sara Piotter (right), from the Western Ecological Research Center, to measure diurnal fluctuations in nutrient and water transport

through a eutrophic salt pond designated A3W. The pond is among many in the Alviso pond complex undergoing restoration as a wetland and avian-migratory habitat. The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project

(http://www.southbayrestoration.org/Project_Description.html), administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, involves a number of

research partners including Jim Kuwabara of the National Research Program, within the Water Mission Area of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Pore-water samplers on

Upper Klamath Lake.

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FACULTY UPDATES

Carla Grandy – Geography and Oceanography and Environmental Geology It has been another busy and rewarding year for me both personally and professionally. On the home front, I have been busy with our new little family member – Cyrus Arthur Grandy. Cyrus was born in June – only 3 days after his sister Caroline’s second birthday. He is a super happy little guy, almost always smiling and laughing and eats as much as a grown man!. He keeps us all on our feet as he is very mobile and into everything. With a 2-year old around the house there is plenty to get into. Caroline is doing really well and getting bigger all the time. She will be 3 in June. She loves to play outside and do gardening and composting (she likes the worms…). She also loves the beach and rocks – I think that may come from listening to me lecture while I was pregnant with her! Our family had a couple good trips in the last year: London in September and Hawai’i for Christmas. Our trip to London was a pretty quiet trip since Cyrus was just 3 months old at the time. Jeff’s parents live there and we spent most of our time lounging in their lovely English garden and going to feed the swans that reside in the neighboring canals. Caroline really enjoyed riding the double-decker buses and seeing the neighborhood foxes. Jeff and I enjoyed shopping and dining out while the grandparents watched the kids! Our Christmas trip to Hawai’i was a welcome break from the shortening days at home. We rented a house on the Kailua Coast of O’ahu (just down the beach from the Obamas) and enjoyed swimming and warm weather. Though on partial leave for the 2011/12 school year, I have been quite busy teaching two new classes: Climate Change, a one unit course in the Fall and the 3-unit Environmental Geology with an accompanying lab in the Spring. You can read more about those in a separate section of the newsletter, but they have both been a lot of fun to teach and have drawn a really great mix of students. I have learned a lot teaching them and am looking forward to teaching them both again in the future.

Cyrus

Cyrus, Carla, and Caroline

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FACULTY UPDATES

Katryn Wiese – Geology and Oceanography This past year, I’ve been involved in way too many projects, and my vacation/adventures are sadly in arrears. Fortunately, in August, my partner Pearl and I were able to take a month-long road trip to Northern British Columbia. Canoeing, kayaking, backpacking, and hiking. It was a lovely rest before a tough year. I can only hope I will have similar opportunities for fun and rest this summer. And the same wishes to all of you – a happy, healthy restful summer. Enjoy!

Me and my Dad, celebrating his 70th birthday on a

backcountry canoe trip.

Therapod dinosaur tracks, riverside, Northern B.C.

Mt. Robson, Canadian Rockies

Chrysotile asbestos from Cassiar – Northern B.C.

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FACULTY UPDATES

Darrel Hess — Geography Another great year has come and gone. After school was out last spring, Nora and I headed off for a vacation in Maui. We spent several days scuba diving from boats around Lanai and Maui, where Nora spotted this Frogfish—one of the strangest-looking of all fishes in Hawaii. We also did lots of skin diving offshore from our hotel, and were greeted each time by a school of curious Spotted Eagle Rays. When I went out skin diving one night, I even came across a Magnificent Snake Eel—a secretive fish that at first glance looks like a sea snake (but unlike sea snakes, is not poisonous!). All and all, it was the best diving vacation we’ve had in years. Later in the summer, I took off for my annual solo backpacking trip in the Sierra. My journey included spending a perfect evening alone on top of the Dana Plateau just outside Yosemite National Park, where I enjoyed a planetarium-like sky on a moonless night. In the fall and early winter, I made several trips down to southern California to take photographs for some of the field guides for my California Edition textbook. I also took advantage of the unusually dry winter to drive over Tioga Pass a few days before the end of 2011. The most dramatic sight was Tenaya Lake—frozen solid. Normally only seen by adventurous backcountry skiers in winter, scores of visitors had driven up to the lake on a mild and sunny day to skate or walk around the lake. A few weeks later, Nora and I took a long weekend to drive up to Redwood National and State Parks for a few days in the Redwoods. I made my annual trip to Death Valley over Presidents’ Day weekend in February. It was a bit too early to see more than just a few wildflowers, but I did hike to some places I’d never visited before. I took an all-day trek across the northern basin floor into Bighorn Gorge—a secluded winding canyon in the northern Panamint Range. And, as I do every year, I stopped by the open saltwater pool in Devils Golf Course to take a few more photographs—including this goofy self-portrait taken by holding my underwater camera below the surface of the pool (the white flakes you see in the photograph are salt crystals floating on the surface of the pool). Over spring break, Nora and I visited her family on the East Coast. After seeing her mom in Connecticut, we rented a car and drove south to spend time with her sister in rural Maryland. While we were canoeing on the Choptank River one quiet evening, we were treated to the sight of a newly-arrived nesting pair of Bald Eagles flying around us. After having about a year off from working on my textbook, I’m back in front of the computer writing the manuscript for its 11th edition. The revision process for McKnight’s Physical Geography, the Third California Edition of the book, as well as my Physical Geography Laboratory Manual, will consume nearly all of my free time for the next year—although Nora promises to pull me away for at least a few short vacations.

Have a safe and rewarding summer break everyone!

Self-portrait with my underwater camera looking up from the saltwater pool in

Devils Golf Course, Death Valley National Park, in February 2012.

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Skaters on Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park in December 2011.

Frogfish photographed off Maui, Hawaii, in July 1011.

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ALUMNI UPDATES

Adrienne Long – Geochemistry

My passion for geology started with my Introduction to Geology class. Over the next three years I proceeded to take every Earth Science course available at City College of San Francisco, subsequently mentoring Geology, Geography and Oceanography. While enrolled at CCSF I was afforded the unique opportunity to work with talented professors at San Francisco State University and brilliant local high school instructors for SF ROCKS*, a program that aims to improve the quality of science education for underrepresented middle school students. I transferred from CCSF to University of California Santa Cruz where I graduated with a BS in Geology. My undergraduate thesis was on the topic of subduction-zone diamonds, a controversial and fascinating subject that required extensive field work in the Plumas National Forest area, as well as the making and analysis of numerous thin sections. I used standard microscopy techniques as well as FTIR (Fourier Transform Infra-Red) Spectroscopy to analyze my slides for diamond indicator minerals. After UCSC, it was on to Cornell University for my Masters Degree in Geochemistry with a focus on geophysical modeling under Jason Phipps-Morgan. I gave a poster presentation at the Gordon Research Conference for the Geochemistry of Mineral Deposits session in Barga Italy, and was afterwards invited to Bonn University in Bonn, Germany to further discuss our “top-down” kimberlite eruption model. While in Europe, I did all the field work for chapter one of my Masters thesis in the beautiful Eifel region of Germany where I gathered in situ xenolith samples from Meerfelder Maar and Pulvermaar. I analyzed these samples via FTIR Spectroscopy to ascertain the water content of olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and spinel in my samples. These data were then used to estimate total water content of the mantle below Germany’s Eifel region. Chapter two of my Masters thesis is a pressure-temperature-time dependent mathematical model of the mantle geotherm below the Slave Craton in Canada. Since graduating from Cornell, I have worked in civil engineering, analyzing soil samples for construction projects. My infatuation with education has won out over my desire to work in industry however, and this fall, I will be enrolling at State University of New York New Paltz to become a certified Earth Science high school instructor. CCSF offered me a warm and inspiring atmosphere in which to hone my integral knowledge of science. This comfortable learning environment kick-started my successful academic career. I would not be where I am today were it not for the encouragement of my instructors at CCSF and I am eternally grateful their continuing support.

Waterfall in High Falls NY, northeast ridge of the Shawnagunk Mountains and Labeling strata at Meerfeleder Maar in the Eifel region of Germany

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ALUMNI UPDATES

David Houchins – Geology

Currently I am a UC Davis geology major who transferred from CCSF in the Fall of 2010 and will be a 5th year senior next year. This coming quarter I will have the opportunity to begin work with the Cooper Research Group in the UC Davis Geology Department. Kari Cooper does research on Uranium-series-disequilibria dating of igneous rock to constrain the timescales of magma evolution from melt generation and transport to storage and crystallization. I will be learning the separation chemistry techniques for isolating uranium and thorium from bulk rock samples and analyzing those samples on one of the department's mass spectrometers. If I am lucky, I will be able to do some in situ analysis of some individual zircon grains on Stanford's SHRIMP-RG ( ion microprobe), which is some very cool stuff. My work with Prof. Cooper will culminate in a senior thesis to be completed next year. I am also involved with the 2012 UC Davis Geology Department's team participating in the National Geothermal Student Competition. This year the contest is focused on the Snake River Plain in Idaho, and, considering last year's team from UC Davis won, we have big shoes to fill. The competition is based on evaluating the Snake River Plain for geothermal energy potential. The department is trying to put together a geothermal energy program and the California Geothermal Energy Collaborative is moving into our building this year. I'm in the department's first geothermal class this quarter and we just had a field trip to the Geysers. It is very awesome up there and would be a great place for a CCSF geo club field trip if the interest was there. They are doing some enhanced geothermal and seem anxious to do a lot of PR on how safe it is, especially since people seem to think it is exactly like fracking. They are creating micro fractures just not under pressure and without the fracking fluids. We got a tour of one of the plants and the grounds, which are very beautiful. It was a clear day and we could see a snow covered Mt Lassen in the distance. Part of the trip also included a stop at some fumeroles and boiling mud pots. It would be a great place for hiking, but unfortunately the whole complex is closed to the public. I also want to put in a plug for UC Davis picnic day. Picnic day is Davis' open campus day and the geology department traditionally opens its doors and lets the public in for tours. There are usually some lectures during the day and visitors can tour the facilities in the department. So if you currently have some students who are interested in majoring in geology please encourage them to pay us a visit.

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ALUMNI UPDATES

Wing Yee Lee – Geology I transferred to UC Berkeley last fall as geology major. At first I thought I only had to work a little harder to get good grades. Soon after taking Geomorphology I knew I was completely wrong. Not only was the class extremely intense, all my classmates seemed to know each other very well that they would study together. The first field trip took place in Lake Tahoe. We spent three days and two nights there but of the two nights I was sleeping in the vehicle while most students stayed in the tents with their friends. Six weeks after school started, I was thinking of some silly things. I wanted to drop out because I didn’t think I would ever fit into the department. Not only did I not have any friends, my grades were dropping dramatically at the same time. Fortunately my friends who transferred with me comforted me and suggested me to stay for another semester. I am glad I listened to her. This spring I enrolled in a field trip course. We traveled to Grand Canyon earlier in March and that was when I started to make friends. That was the first time I ever talked to people in my department. All of us had a great time in Arizona and soon after we came back I started to hang out with them. I joined the Geology club and became a Field Trip Coordinator. I also enrolled in a Field Mapping course and the instructor was Russell McArthur, a transfer geology student from CCSF to UC Berkeley few years ago and now a lecturer at UC Berkeley. Looking back at last semester I am grateful that I did not give up. I now have many friends in the department and I would stay in the student’s center after class just to chat with them. This summer we are going to Italy for an advanced field mapping class and I really look forward to it!

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ALUMNI UPDATES

Andrew Delgreco – Geology I am going into my third season as an interpretive park ranger at Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument (a job I fully credit getting due to my background with CCSF Earth Sciences and being a lab aide!), giving eruptions talks to the public and guided hikes into ancient lava tubes. Opportunities in the CCSF Earth Sciences department jump-started my career, and I am grateful for those opportunities.