Greetings! Per our earlier correspondence, we planned to get this newsletter

out to you last fall, which proved to be a very busy semester for all. Hence, this

somewhat delayed publication is a “Happy New Year” newsletter!

Upcoming Geos-Alumni Event: We will hold an alumni

reception during the AAPG Annual Conference and Exhibition in

Houston, Texas. The Trinity reception will be held on Monday,

April 3, 6:00-8:00 p.m., in the Hilton Americas Hotel. We have not

yet been assigned the room name, but will send you that information

later in February; please put the event on your calendars! It will also

be posted on our web site: https://inside.trinity.edu/geosciences

News about the Department since the Fall 2014 GEOS Newsletter:

We celebrated the 50th

anniversary

of the department during a weekend of

activities, Feb. 19-21, 2015. A welcome

reception was held Thursday evening in the

beautiful new atrium of the Center for

Sciences and Innovation (CSI). On Friday

morning we heard from faculty and alumni

about their historical perspectives of the

department. Following lunch, Glenn

Inside this issue: Student News p. 5 Faculty News p. 12 Alumni News: p. 24

Enchanted Rock (photo from Texas Parks and Wildlife)

Joe Seewald (‘72), Jack Downing (‘66), Diane Smith (professor) and Richard Ward

(‘65) at the Thursday evening reception.

2 | P a g e

Kroeger, Diane Smith and Kathy Surpless discussed the department’s current and

future activities. This was followed by tours of Marrs McLean and CSI and a

student research poster session. In the late afternoon, we held the Rock Garden

Dedication in honor of Donald McGannon,

the founder of the department, and had

dinner in the Great Hall. On Saturday, we

embarked on a field trip to “Cave without a

Name” in the Hill Country, following by

lunch and a wine tasting at the Bending

Branch Winery. It was a great celebration

and brought together alumni representing

every decade of the department’s history,

some coming from significant distances,

with current students and current and

emeritus faculty. Photos of the weekend’s

activities can be found at this link.

NEW ENDOWMENT IN DR. FREED’s NAME:

In April 2016, we announced the Robert Lowell Freed Scholarship for

Excellence in the Study of Earth Materials. Many of you generously

contributed to this endowment, which

will provide a rising junior or senior

with funds to support the cost of their

Trinity educational experience,

including research and/or field study

expenses. On April 9, we held a

surprise “reveal” party which drew

about 50 people, including alumni,

current students, faculty, staff, former

Trinity President Ronald Calgaard and

Mrs. Calgaard, and current President

Danny J. Anderson. This link will take

you to a collection of photos from that

event.

Bob Freed on the Fall 2012

Alumni Field Trip.

Don McGannon’s children (Linda, Greg and Mark) and grandchildren at the Rock Garden

Dedication.

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 3

Because of her excellent record of teaching,

scholarship and service to the University, Kathy

Surpless was promoted to the rank of Professor in August 2016. We’re all very proud of Kathy’s

accomplishments and greatly appreciate all that she

has done for our students, the department, and the

University.

In summer of 2015, Richard Silver was

hired as CSI Laboratories and Field Technician,

working mainly for geosciences but also with

biology. Originally

from Nebraska,

Richard earned his

bachelor’s degree in

geology at the

University of Southern Maine and finished at Master’s

degree in geology at Boston College. Richard is a

great resource to the department – he helps faculty in

preparing for classes, labs, and field trips, participates

in our field trips and assists students using field, lab,

and computing equipment. If you’re ever on campus,

please be sure to introduce yourself to and meet

Richard!

Visiting Lecturers: Since our last newsletter was published, the department hosted the following

visiting lecturers. In addition to their presentation, each visitor spent time with our

majors over lunch and/or at a reception, which provides a great opportunity for our

students to visit with them in an informal environment.

Nov. 18, 2014: Dr. Todd Greene (California State University at Chico)

gave a talk on "Deep-water boulder conglomerate deposits in the Upper

Cretaceous Panoche Formation (Cenomanian) of the Great Valley Group,

San Luis Reservoir, central California".

March 23, 2016: Dr. Dave Weinberg (AAPG Visiting Lecturer) gave a

talk on "Geoscience and the hydrofracking debate.”

Richard Silver

Students Sarah Thurman (’16) and Mollie Patzke (’17) with Kathy

Surpless in the field

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Professional Conferences We had a great turn-out of alumni the fall annual 2016

Geological Society of America meeting in Denver. This (somewhat fuzzy) photo

shows most of the folks who attended our alumni gathering.

‘

Ben Surpless is the Program Chair for the upcoming South Central GSA

section meeting to be held March 13-14,2017 in San Antonio. Dan Lehrmann is

the Field Trip Chair. Both Ben and Dan have been very busy with organizing this

conference. For more information about the meeting, see this link.

Other remarks Please keep updating us with your current contact information and what is

new in your lives! The next time you’re in San Antonio, please be sure to come by

the department and visit us.

We remain deeply grateful for your support of the department. Your

contributions help us run excellent field trips, support student research, recognize

student achievements with substantive financial awards, and maintain and update

our collections and equipment. Geosciences alumni are among the most loyal and

generous donors to Trinity University and we sincerely thank you.

Front Row: Rebecca Schauer (‘15), Mollie Patzke (‘17), Bethany Ryzak (‘18), Sarah (Newland) Pearce (‘04) Middle: Lindsey Yazbek (‘17), Josh Hernandez (‘17), Lawford Anderson (‘70), Sarah Thorne (‘17), Katie

Todt (‘11), Kathy Surpless, Diane Smith Back row: Jason Frels (‘09), Greg Wimpey (‘91), Ben Surpless, Emily Beverly (‘08), Thomas Tremain (‘17).

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 5

STUDENT NEWS Graduates

December 2014 Dylan Ellett

May 2015 Cara Beasley

Nick Candusso

Travis Dodson

Dylan Droxler

Lydia Jones

Nicola Hill

Grace Mabry

Gregory Mak

Taylor Michel

Kirby Peddicord

Rebecca Schauer

Lauren Schroeter (minor)

Leanne Stepchinsky

Mary Kate Stewart

Megan Stewart (minor)

Matthew Tindall (minor)

December 2015 Clayton Ford

May 2016 Nathaniel Adams

Brooks Alexander

Laine Bradshaw

Gianfranco Filippini

Marcus Giannini

Kirk Gulliver

Lizzy Hartson (minor)

Mark Mlella

Abran Oakes

Tristan Solano

Hadley Swartz

Sarah Thurman

James Uroff

Students on the 2016 Majors’ field trip to Arizona (left to right): Dan Bomer (’17), Isaac Johnson (’17), Brendon Powers (’17), Nate Adams (’16), Graham Stockhausen (’17), Joe Staggs (’17), Mark Muela (’16), Yvette Muniz (’17), Thomas Tremain (’17).

Current Majors and Minors: Daniel Bomer

Luke Burdiss

Ashton Crues

Connor Dunn

Joshua Hernandez

Isaac Johnson

Caroline Kelleher

Mark Kulas

Denton Lambert

Adrien Lehmann

Lisa Ma

Hannah Mathy

Yvette Muniz

John Navin (minor)

Zachary Oretzky

Mollie Patzke

Brendan Powers

Claire Rettenmaier

Bethany Rysak

Odalys Salinas

Samuel Simoneau

Joseph Staggs (minor)

Graham Stockhausen

Sarah Thorne

Thomas Tremain

Sean Watson (minor)

Lindsey Yazbek

Members of Delta Xi Chapter, Sigma Gamma Epsilon

Class of 2015 Lydia Jones

Greg Mak

Mark Mlella

Kirby Peddicord

Rebecca Schauer

Leanne Stepchinski

Class of 2016 Nate Adams

Brooks Alexander

Ashton Crues

Kirk Gulliver

Mark Mlella

Hadley Swartz

Sarah Thurman

James Uroff

Student Awards and Honors

Departmental Awards:

Outstanding Senior Student and Tinker Family Geosciences Award: 2015: Leanne Stepchinski

2016: Sarah Thurman

Ed Roy Outstanding Research in Geosciences Award 2015: Mary Kate Stewart

Nicola Hill

Rebecca Schauer

2016: Kirk Gulliver

Robert Lowell Freed Scholarship: 2016: Lindsey Yazbek

Sigma Gamma Epsilon W.A. Tarr Award: 2015: Leanne Stepchinski

2016: Hadley Swartz

Edwin Eckert Scholarships in Geology: 2015: James Uroff

Lindsey Yazbek

Sarah Thurman

2016: Lindsey Yazbek

Caroline Kelleher (2016)

Sarah Thorne (2016)

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 7

Trinity University Awards

Hixon Environmental Studies Internship: 2015: Lindsey Yazbek (2015)

FASTER Grant Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship 2015: Sam Simoneau (2015)

Mach Family Research Fellowship 2016: Lindsey Yazbek (2016)

External Awards

Southwest Gem and Mineral Society Scholarships: 2015: Caroline Kelleher

Mollie Patzke

Sarah Thorne

2016: Mollie Patzke

Sam Simoneau

Yvette Muniz

South Texas Geological Society Chair’s Award 2015: Gregory Mak

2016: Mark Mlella

South Texas Geological Society Harold D. Herndon Geological Scholarship 2015: Kirby Peddicord

2016: Jim Uroff

Undergraduate Research:

Many of our students conduct research, working closely with a faculty member.

Listed below are items completed by our students since our last newsletter: senior

theses, published abstracts of presentations made by our students at professional

conferences, and publications in peer-reviewed journals that include student

authors.

2015 Theses:

Leanne Stepchincki, Controls on carbonate factory type (abiotic microbial,

skeletal) on the Hongyan margin of the Yangtze platform, south China.

(Advisor: Dan Lehrmann)

Kirk Gulliver, Provenance study of Cretaceous inliers in eastern Oregon:

determining the extent of the Ochoco Basin and the implications for

Cordilleran paleogeography. (Advisor: Kathy Surpless)

8 | P a g e

2016 Theses:

Mollie Patzke, Characterizing the Hazard

Creek Complex of the western Idaho Shear

Zone: analysis of a mixing Cretaceous arc

source. (Advisor: Kathy Surpless)

Brendan Powers, Late Pleistocene glacial

history and evaluation of the San Juan

Fault, southwestern Vancouver Island,

British Columbia. (Advisor: Tom

Gardner)

Publications of Meeting Abstracts involving

students [Student authors are denoted by

boldface]

Adams, N., Li, X., Stepchinski, L., Lehrmann, D.,

Yu, M., Minzoni, M., and Payne, J., 2016, Change

in seawater redox and carbonate saturation state; a

mechanism for basin-wide shifts in carbonate

platform architecture and carbonate factories: examples from the Permian Triassic

Nanpanjiang Basin, south China: AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Calgary,

Alberta, Canada, June 19-22.

Adams, N., Li, X., Stepchinski, L., Yu M., Lehrmann, D., Minzoni, M., and Payne, J., 2016,

Change in seawater redox and carbonate saturation state: a mechanism for basin-wide

shifts in carbonate platform architecture and carbonate factories; examples from the

Permian-Triassic Nanpanjiang Basin, south China: Geological Society of America

Abstracts with Programs: v. 48, no. 1, Session No. 14, Booth #10.

Alexander, B., Hernandez, J., and Surpless, K.D., 2016, Examining the episodic evolution

of the Sierra Nevada Arc through Th/U Ratios in Great Valley Group detrital zircon:

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, vol. 48, no. 4, Session $17,

Booth #26.

Callebert, W., Housen, B., Surpless, K.D., Patztke, M., Thurman, S., and Gulliver, K.,

2016, Assessment of inclination shallowing in the Ochoco Basin, Mitchell Inlier, central

Oregon: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, vol. 48, no. 6, Session

No. 29, Booth #27.

Crues, A., and Surpless, B., 2015, Using 3D digital models to perform outcrop-based strain

analysis: a case study from the Stillwell anticline, west Texas: Geological Society of

America Abstracts with Programs, v. 47, no. 7, p. 150.

Droxler, D., Khanna, P., Lehrmann, D.J., and Droxler, A.W., 2015, Comparative analysis of

microbial carbonate fabrics at various scales within the architecture of a large microbial

reef mound; Cambrian, Wilberns Formation, Mason County, TX: Geological Society of

America Abstracts with Programs, v. 47, no. 1, p. 16.

Brendan Powers (’17) describing the stratigraphy and measuring

faults in a glacial kame terrace near Port Renfrew, British Columbia.

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 9

Gulliver, K., Patzke, M., Thurman, S., Surpless, K.D., Housen, B., Fisher, C., and

Vervoort, J., 2016, Provenance analysis of Cretaceous inliers of Eastern Oregon:

assessing the extent of the Ochoco Basin and implications for Cordilleran

paleogeography: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 48, no. 4,

Session No. 17, Booth #52.

Hernandez, J.R., Rysak, B.G., Surpless, K.D., Barth, A.P., and Wooden, J.L., 2016, Great

Valley Group detrital zircon trace element signatures: a partial record of Sierra Nevada

arc magmatism: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 48, no. 7,

Session No. 267, Booth #458.

Kelleher, C., Lhemann, A., and Lehrmann, D. J., 2015, Sedimentology, depositional

environments and cyclicity of microbial bearing strata of the Cambrian Point Peak

Member of the Wilberns Fm., exposed along the Llano River and Mill Creek, Mason

County, TX: University of Texas at San Antonio, College of Science conference, Oct 9,

2015.

Kelleher, C., Lhemann, A., Swartz, H., Yazbek, L., Mercado, L., Lehrmann, D., Hopson,

H., Khanna, P., and Droxler, A., 2016, Sedimentology and depositional environments of

cyclic microbial bearing strata of the Cambrian Point Peak Member of the Wilberns Fm.,

exposed along Mill Creek, the Llano River, and James River, Mason County, TX:

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. v. 48, no. 1, Session No. 14,

Booth #9.

Kubik, B., Hopson, H., Pasquale Da Cruz Trotta, R., Droxler, A.W., Khanna, P., Fessahaie,

M., Lehrmann, D.J., Harris,, P.M., and Singh, P., 2015, Inter-herm grainstone

accumulation in an Upper Cambrian microbial reef complex and its subsequent sediment

burial (James River, Mason County, Texas): Geological Society of America Abstracts

with Program, v. 47, no. 7, p. 304.

Mabry, G., Yazbek, L., Ford, C., Lehrmann, D., Khanna, P., Hopson, H., Fessahaie, M.,

and Droxler, A., 2015, Sedimentology and depositional environments of cyclic nicrobial

bearing strata of the Cambrian Point Peak Member of the Wilberns Formation, exposed

along the Llano River and Mill Creek, Mason County, TX: AAPG Annual Convention

and Exhibition, Denver, Colorado, May 31-June 3.

Mabry, G., Yazbek, L., Ford, C., Lehrmann, D.J., Khanna, P., Hopson, H., Fessahaie, M.,

and Droxler, A.W., 2015, Sedimentology and depositional environments of cyclic

microbial bearing strata of the Cambrian Point Peak Member of the Wilberns Fm.,

exposed along the Llano River and Mill Creek, Mason County, TX: Geological Society

of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 47, no. 1, p. 18.

Marshall, J., Barnhart, A., Butcher, A., Freimuth, C., Khaw. F., Lafrombroise, E., Landeros,

M., Morrish, S., Olson, E., Ritzinger, B., Stewart, D., Utick, J., Wellington, K.,

Wenceslao, L., Gardner, T., Harbor, D., and Osborn, S., 2015, Beachrock horizons of the

Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica: geomorphology, petrology, and neotectonic significance

Proceedings of the Coastal Sediments Conference, San Diego, California, May 11-15.

Mathy, H., Surpless, B., and Simoneau, S., 2016, Testing models of en enchelon normal

fault evolution using 3D computer modeling: Geological Society of America, Abstracts

with Programs, v. 48, no. 7, doi: 10.1130/abs/2016AM-281667.

10 | P a g e

Muñiz, Y., and Plenge, M.F., 2015: Biogeochemical characterization of a gasoline

contaminated aquifer: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 47,

no. 7, p. 296.

Muñiz, Y., Masiello, C.A., Pyle, L.A., 2016, The evolution of black carbon physicochemical

properties in soils: Fall meeting, American Geophysical Union, December 12-16, San

Francisco, CA.

Patzke, M., Johnson, J., Tremain, T., and Surpless, K.D., 2016, Testing models of post-

Cretaceous terrane translation using mudrock geochemistry of the Ochoco basin, central

Oregon: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 48, no. 7, Session

No. 267, Booth #469.

Patzke, M., Thurman, S., Gulliver, K., Surpless, K.D., Housen, B., Fisher, C., and

Vervoort, J., 2016, Provenance analysis of conglomerate cobbles and associated

sandstone in the Mitchell Inlier, Central Oregon: Geological Society of America,

Abstracts with Programs, v. 48, no. 4, Session No. 17, Booth #51.

Simoneau, S., Yazbek, L., and Plenge, M.F., 2015, The impacts of recycled water irrigation

in San Antonio, TX: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 47, no.

7, p. 296.

Simoneau, S., Surpless, B., and Mathy, H., 2016, The evolution of subsidiary fracture

networks in segmented normal fault systems: Geological Society of America, Abstracts

with Programs, v. 48, no. 7, doi: 10.1130/abs/2016AM-281707.

Solano, T., and Gardner T., 2015, Knickpoint development and migration in the north

Canterbury fold and thrust belt, South Island, New Zealand: Undergraduate Virtual

Poster Showcase, American Geophysical Union Meeting, San Francisco, California:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV38HDv_diU

Stepchinski, L. Xiaowei, L., Lehrmann, D.J., Payne, J.L., Purcell, N., and Minzoni, M.,

2015, Controls on carbonate factories in the transition from ramp to reef-rimmed

platform in the Hongyan section of the Triassic Yangtze Platform: preliminary results:

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 47, no. 1, p. 16.

Stepchinski, L., Li X., Lehrmann, D., Payne, J., Purcell, N., and Minzoni, M., 2015,

Controls on carbonate factories in the transition from ramp to reef-rimmed platform in

the Hongyan section of the Triassic Yangtze platform: preliminary Results: AAPG

Annual Convention and Exhibition, Denver, Colorado, May 31-June 3.

Stewart, M.K., and Gardner, T., 2015, Uplift rate of marine terraces and anticlinal growth

along the North Canterbury fold and thrust belt, New Zealand: American Geophysical

Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 14-18, T33D-2968.

Surpless, B., Mlella, M., and Wigginton, S., 2016, Challenges in predicting fracture network

evolution and fluid flow pathways in layered limestone fold systems: Geological Society

of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 10, no. 1, doi: 10.130/abs/2016C-273330.

Surpless, B., and Dunn, C., 2015, The localization of shear strain within a contractional

fault-propagation fold system: a case study from the Stillwell anticline, west Texas:

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 47, no. 7, p. 719.

Swartz, H., Kelleher, C., Lhemann, A., Lehrmann, D., Suarez, M., Hopson, H., Khanna,

P., and Droxler, A., 2016, Stable isotope and elemental geochemistry from 1-D profiles

are a useful tool for revealing 3-D phasing architecture of Upper Cambrian microbial reef

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 11

complexes, Wilberns Formation, Mason County, TX: Geological Society of America

Abstracts with Programs. v. 48, no. 1, p. 12-11.

Swartz, H., Kelleher, C., Lhemann, A., Lehrmann, D., Suarez, M., Hopson, H., Khanna,

P., and Droxler, A., 2016, Stable isotope and elemental geochemistry from 1-D profiles

are a useful tool for revealing 3-D phasing architecture of Upper Cambrian microbial reef

complexes, Wilberns Formation, Mason County, Texas: AAPG Annual Convention and

Exhibition, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 19-22.

Thorne, S., and Surpless, B., 2015, Using stream channel profiles to assess fault slip rate

variability and to evaluate fault segmentation: a case study from the Wassuk Range

normal fault, Western Nevada: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs,

v. 4, no. 7, p. 150.

Thorne, S., Liu, D., Hartson, E., Lehrmann, D.J., and Yu, M., 2016, Upper Permian reef

and shelf facies of the southern margin of the Yangtze Platform, south China provide

insight into reef ecology and environments immediately prior to the end-Permian mass

extinction: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v., 48, no. 7, doi:

10.1130/abs/2016AM-284157.

Wigginton, S.S., Ferrill, D.A., Morris, A.P., Smart, K., McGillinis, R.N., and Lehrmann,

D.J., 2016, Thrust fault nucleation and propagation and the importance of footwall

synclines: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 48, no. 7, doi:

10.1130/abs/2016AM-282050.

Publications in Peer-Reviewed Journals involving students: Ferrill, D., Morris, A.P., Wigginton, S.W., Smart, K.J., McGinnis, R.N., and Lehrmann,

D.J., 2016, Deciphering thrust fault nucleation and propagation and the importance of

footwall synclines: Journal of Structural Geology, v. 85, p. 1-11.

Ferrill, D.A., McGinnis, R.N., Morris, A.P., Smart, K.J., Sickmann, Z. T., Bentz, M.,

Lehrmann, D., and Evans, M.A., 2014, Control of mechanical stratigraphy on bed-

restricted jointing and normal faulting; Eagle Ford Formation, south-central Texas,

U.S.A: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 98, p. 2477-2506.

Lehrmann, D.J., Stepchinski, L., Altiner, D., Orchard, M., Montgomery, P., Enos, P.,

Ellwood, B., Bowring, S., Ramezani, J., Wang, H., Wei, J., Yu, M., Griffiths, J., Minzoni,

M., Schaal, E., Li, X., Meyer, K., and Payne, J., 2015, An integrated biostratigraphy

(conodonts and foraminifers) and chronostratigraphy (paleomagnetic reversals, magnetic

susceptibility, elemental chemistry, carbon isotopes and geochronology) for the Permian-

Upper Triassic strata of Guandao section, Nanpanjiang Basin, south China: Journal of

Asian Earth Sciences, v. 108, p. 117-135.

Lehrmann, D.J., Bentz, J.M, Wood, T., Goers, A., Dhillon, R., Akin, S., Li, X., Kelley,

B.M., Meyer, K.M., Schaal, E.K., Payne, J.L., Suarez, M.B., Yu, M., Qin, Y., Li, R.,

Minzoni, M., and Henderson, C., 2015, Environmental controls on the genesis of marine

microbialites and dissolution surface associated with the end-Permian mass extinction:

new sections and observations from the Nanpanjiang Basin, South China: Palaios, v. 30,

p. 529-552.

Lehrmann, D.J., Chaikin, D.H., Enos, P., Minzoni, M., Payne, J., Yu, M., Richter, P., Goers,

A., Wood, T., Kelley, B., Li, X., Qin, Y., Liu, L., and Lu, G., 2016,, Basin filling

12 | P a g e

patterns of Triassic turbidites in the Nanpanjiang Basin of South China: implications for

tectonics and impacts on carbonate platform evolution: Basin Research, v. 27, p. 587-

612.

Lehrmann, D.J., Bentz, J.M., Wood, T., Goers, A., Dhillon, R., Akin, S., Li, X., Kelley,

B.M., Meyer, K.M., Schaal, E.K., Payne, J.L., Suarez, M.B., Yu, M., Qin, Y., Li, R.,

Minzoni, M., and Henderson, C., 2016, Reply: Permian-Triassic microbialite and

dissolution surface environmental controls on the genesis of marine microbioliates and

dissolution surface associated with the end-Permian mass extinction; new sections and

observations from the Nanpanjiang Basin, south China: Paleios, v. 31, p. 118-121.

Minzoni, M., Lehrmann, D.J., Dezoeten, E., Enos, P., Montgomery, P., Berry, A., Qin, Y.,

Yu, M., Ellwood, B., and Payne, J., 2015, Drowning of the Triassic Yangtze platform,

south China, by tectonic subsidence into toxic deep waters of an anoxic basin: Journal of

Sedimentary Research, v. 85, p. 419-444.

Surpless, B.E., Hill, N., and Beasley, C., 2015, The unusual 3D interplay of basement fault

reactivation and fault-propagation-fold development; a case study of the Laramide-age

Stillwell anticline, west Texas (USA): Journal of Structural Geology, v. 79, p. 42–56.

FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

Bob Freed (Emeritus)

An endowed Geosciences scholarship in my name! What a wonderful honor.

I want to thank all alumni involved in the effort, as well as the Department and

University community. I enjoyed seeing many of you at the surprise (to me!)

unveiling in April. When I walked into the reception room, people were looking at

me and applauding. I was confused and did not know what was happening. I

remember asking Diane Smith “What the (redacted) is going on?” She just pointed

to a banner across the room announcing the scholarship. Wow.

A Big Hello to all—especially those from the 20th Century! It’s now been 17

years since I retired from Trinity. I’m still affiliated, since 2005, with Our Lady of

the Lake University here in San Antonio as an adjunct in their Center for Science

and Mathematics Education. This summer, I taught a graduate earth science class

for 23 elementary and middle-school teachers to help prepare them for passing

state certification exams in science. I’m sure Ed Roy would pat me on the back,

and say “well done.” I miss him.

Miki and I enjoy doing day trips to the Hill Country, and the occasional trip to

the coast. Erin plans to finish her Ph.D. degree in cognitive psychology at

University of California, Davis this December. This fall semester she will teach

two classes at Sacramento State University. Both of my parents were teachers,

Miki and I were both teachers, and now Erin is finding that she enjoys teaching.

Karen is back home with us and still doing Taekwondo.

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 13

I enjoyed seeing folks at the 50th

reunion in 2015. It was fun to relate

episodes from the early years of the Department. I again thank you all for sharing

an important part of your lives with me during my years at Trinity. I treasure the

memories of those years.

Walt Coppinger (Emeritus)

Greetings from Montana!

Roberta and I are still alive and well in Whitehall and enjoying the country

lifestyle as much as ever. The changing seasons and accompanying scenery and

vistas continue to entertain us, and we have yet to visit all of the local and regional

geological points of interest. A lot of exploration remains. As I wrote this note

over the past week, there was little to see in terms of vistas. We are in a deep

period of regional drought, and August and September are the peak months of fire

season. We have fires ranging from small to huge burning within 100 miles on all

sides. We are not threatened, but we are overwhelmed by smoke and ash. It may

last until the first snow falls. We know the mountains are still out there…

somewhere.

We are both enjoying good health at this time. We are able to get around

pretty well, although the years of scrambling up and down hills and mountains

have taken a toll on my legs and my wind (the marks of an older geologist…). If

we push, we can still do most off the things that we set out to do.

Our families are all doing well. Our children and their families are wide-

spread across the country. We have stabilized at five grandchildren, ranging in age

from 13 years old to 6 years old.

Denise (oldest daughter) lives

near Orlando; Justine (middle)

has returned to Texas and lives

near Austin; and Daniel resides in

Seattle. Together, they dictate

our major travel schedule each

year. They all love to visit us in

Montana.

This was a special year for

Roberta and me. We celebrated

our Golden Wedding Anniversary

– 50 wonderful years of love and

friendship and good times, on

Saturday, August 13, 2016. We

celebrated with a small group of

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family, local friends and neighbors, and a few of our best friends from graduate

school. It was a very enjoyable evening. The hit of the party was a special Geode

Cake ordered by Justine and family. It was made with one side cut out to show an

amethyst/milky quartz crystal-lined geode (rock candy xls). The cake was

excellent with huckleberry-cream icing between layers. Very creative – and,

delicious. Pictures don’t do it justice.

We hope that this note finds you and all of your loved ones in good health,

prospering in your careers, and enjoying life. Please drop a note to

wcopping@trinity.edu if you are so inclined. We would enjoy hearing from you.

Glenn Kroeger

Since our last newsletter, in addition to getting two years older, I wrapped up

my term on the UCC last spring with the new Pathways curriculum up and

running. All told, I spent over 4 years working on the new curriculum. Lest you

worry about what I am doing with all my new “free” time, I am serving as interim

chair of the department this year while also teaching a course overload. The role

of department chair is particularly busy this year. With the new administration of

President Anderson and Vice-President Jones have come new activities and

workshops for chairs and a new multi-year budgeting cycle. Chairing the search

for a new Herndon professor and spearheading the reorganization of the

administrative support office that we share with the other STEM departments

round out my administrative activities. Fortunately, I will be paroled from

administration in June and promise no recidivism.

I continue to teach Dynamic Earth, Tectonics and GIS and Remote Sensing,

the latter every year now to satisfy the demand from geosciences, biology and

environmental studies students. I am excited to teach applied geophysics this

coming spring to a class of 16 students, over a third of whom are math and physics

majors. I am also working on several instructional projects including finishing the

computer system for our augmented reality sandbox, porting the software that

drives our hallway earthquake display to a Raspberry Pi microcomputer, and

building a seismic land-streamer for doing reflection and surface wave surveys. I

am also involved in a Texas Regional Collaborative funded project with the

Region 20 Educational Service Center to improve Earth science education in the

San Antonio area. We have a cohort of approximately 30 lead teachers and are

working on educational materials for teaching top-down, cold driven convection

concepts for both ocean circulation and plate tectonics. We are also working on

building about 250 teaching sets of rock specimens. The focus is on a carefully

selected set of rocks that demonstrate key concepts. If you have several hundred

pounds of high-quality mica schist or gneiss, give me a call!

GEONEWS FALL 2016

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During my academic leave in fall 2015 I continued developing the gravity

software that Aaron Price (2014) developed in his senior project and applied it to

the gravity data that I acquired in Canyonlands National Park between 2004 and

2014. The results suggest a surprising amount of salt diapirism beneath the graben

floors. I also continue to develop and distribute my visualization and analysis

program, SeismicCanvas. Funding was interrupted in the summer of 2016 by the

delay of the NASA InSight mission to Mars, but I am hopeful that it will become

available now that the mission is officially rescheduled. SeismicCanvas has also

been chosen as the seismic and signal processing software for modules in the

EDDIE (Environmental Data-Driven Inquiry & Exploration) Project funded by

NSF. I also have a couple of new software projects in preliminary stages awaiting

my parole from administrative duties.

Karen continues teaching special education at Reagan High School. Jennifer

is in her sophomore year at Rice University and is in the troughs of choosing a

major. She has become active in student government and will be working for the

Rice Office of Academic Advising leading over 200 student PAAs (peer academic

advisors) during 2017. She is planning to study abroad (probably Denmark) in the

spring of 2018.

Tom Gardner

Let’s see, where did I leave off in the last newsletter? That’s right I was

telling you about my travels to New Zealand and the research I was doing with

Mary Kate Stewart and Tristan Solano. They figured out how fast anticlines are

growing and the knickpoints are retreating in the North Canterbury Fold and

Thrust Belt. Great research.

This past semester, Spring 2016, I spend on leave in Melbourne, Australia as a

visiting faculty member at La Trobe University working with a colleague, Dr. John

Webb. Ya’ gotta love hanging out “down under”. I did extensive field work in

Tasmania looking at some active faulting on the northwest coast. Seems like there

were some decent size Holocene earthquakes that cause surface rupture and

liquefaction. And we always thought that was a relatively stable continent. So

much for that idea. I’ll be presenting some of that research at the GSA in

September and John will present some at AGU in December.

When I returned to the US I had a month off and then departed for a month-

long summer research project with the Keck Geology Consortium. Some of you

will remember those projects fondly. I went to Vancouver Island in British

Columbia to work on an active tectonic project with 4 students and another faculty

member from the University of Victoria. One of those students, Brendan Powers,

is from Trinity. Brendan is looking at Last Glacial Maximum kame deposits that

16 | P a g e

were deposited across one of those “active” faults. He’s got a very interesting

project trying to distinguish glacial deformation from actual tectonic movements.

But alas, that was my last hurray. I’m going to retire in August, 2017. Yep,

it’s all over. I’ll teach Hydrology in the Spring Semester and Major’s Field Trip to

Big Bend and then it’s the end. I’ve been teaching at the university level since

1979 and I’m moving on, maybe to Seattle. My wife, Susan, is from that area and

would like to go back. She plans to retire next year as well. We’ll see how this

develops over the next several months. Real estate is rather expensive up there.

One big project I plan to work on in retirement is my genealogy. I will be starting

from scratch, so it will be a big project, but will most likely get me to some

interesting places.

Family life continues to go well. Our oldest son, Nathan, is still close by in

San Antonio at Panera Bread and HEB. Blair, our youngest son, is still in New

York working for 2U (http://2u.com/).

So remember, I am still around for another semester, so stop by for a chat, a

margarita, or a beer when you are in town.

Dan Lehrmann

Greetings to all! My teaching and research continue to go full charge at

Trinity! I continue to teach Paleontology, Basin Analysis and an introductory

course called History and Evolution of Life. With the development of Trinity’s

new pathways curriculum, I helped create a new “interdisciplinary cluster” of

courses titled “Ecological Civilization in Asia” with a multidisciplinary emphasis

on the unique environmental, political and socioeconomic challenges that the

world’s largest populations face as the develop rapidly. For this cluster I also am

offering a new course titled Geology Resources and Environments of China, and

this summer I plan to offer my study abroad program Field Geology in China.

I’m continuing work in south China focused on basin analysis, carbonate

platform evolution and the end-Permian mass extinction. Trinity students

accompanied me for field seasons in China during winter break and in the summer.

After returning from fieldwork this summer I had the pleasure of having three

visiting Chinese students working in my lab with Trinity students. Our students

did an excellent job collaborating and will present results from their projects at the

south central GSA in San Antonio and the AAPG meeting in Houston this spring.

I have also been busy with Trinity students conducting field and lab work on

the large Cambrian microbial reef complexes along the Llano River near Mason,

TX. In spring I will lead pre-meeting field trips to kayak down the Llano River

and examine the Cambrian reefs for the South-Central GSA and the AAPG.

Trinity students will co-lead the trips and present results of their research at field

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 17

stops. Over the last year I’ve also been involved in sedimentological and

stratigraphic studies of dinosaur track sites in local Cretaceous strata.

My wife Mei and I have had a big change, now becoming “empty nesters” as

our daughters Asmara and Dinda are both in college…. at Trinity University!

Although I try my best to stay out of my daughters’ way at the university, they

frequently stop by my office to say hi. Dinda is an artist and Asmara is interested

in geoscience. My wife Mei continues to enjoy working as a librarian at Clear

Springs Elementary School in San Antonio.

Wishing you all a healthy, happy and productive year. Please come join

Trinity Geoscience faculty, students, and alumni this spring at the South-Central

GSA in San Antonio and the AAPG in Houston.

Diane Smith

Greetings to all!

You may remember that we

dedicated the Geosciences Rock

Garden at the 50th

anniversary

celebration in February 2015. Every

couple of months, we have a Rock

Garden Work Day… students,

faculty, and staff come out to blow

leaves, pull out oak tree rootlets, and

just tidy it up. Then, all the workers

are treated to dinner and

refreshments at Tycoon Flats or

similar venues. It’s a lot of fun and the garden looks great!

I stepped out of being departmental chair in mid-August and gladly handed

over those responsibilities to Glenn! But other service activities keep me on my

toes. I am Chair of Trinity’s Faculty Senate, a position I will hold until spring

2018. A year ago, I became Member-at-Large (a three-year term) on the Executive

Committee of the American Geosciences Institute. Scott Tinker (’82) was AGI’s

President that year, so Trinity had a strong presence at AGI! After these service

commitments are completed, I will take on no more… time to “pass the torch” to

other colleagues!

I still teach volcanology and earth materials and continue to greatly enjoy

those courses. On the scholarship front, I’ve been working on a couple of

manuscripts that my colleagues and I hope to submit and get published this year.

One is with former student Adrian Wackett (’14) on intrusive rocks in Alaska that

he studied for his senior thesis. The other is a project with my old Ph.D. advisor,

18 | P a g e

Bill Leeman. Bill and I are re-examining mafic lavas from the north flank of Mt.

St. Helens that we collected in 1978 that were subsequently destroyed by the 1980

eruption. I’ve been looking at the lavas using an SEM with EDS capabilities that

Trinity acquired three years ago through a grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation.

This instrument produces very high quality mineral chemical analyses in a

relatively short period of time… the technology has changed so much over the last

30 years! The olivine phenocrysts in these basalts exhibit very odd chemistries and

textures that have convinced us that even these “mafic” magmas mixed or

intermingled with more silicic magmas.

My family is doing well. Carrie (now 26) continues her work as a software

engineer in Austin. She has a great job – they sent her to Tokyo for three months

last year to train employees in that office – which she loved! She told us “it’s like

winning the lottery.” Joanna is a senior at Rice and has identified biostatistics as

the field she wants to pursue, so she is currently going through the process of

applying to graduate school. Chip is fine and semi-retired. He does some

computer consulting, will teach a computer science course at Trinity this spring,

and spends a lot of time gardening, tending to the house, and cooking for the two

of us (which I appreciate!).

Stay in touch and I hope to see you at future alumni gatherings… and let us

know when you’re visiting San Antonio! We’d love to have you drop by and

check out the department – it’s probably different from when you were a student

but the “personality” of the department remains unchanged. We work hard but

also take time to celebrate the successes and achievements of our students and

colleagues. Hope 2017 is a great year for you and yours!

Kathy Surpless

It’s been a busy, fun, and fast couple of years! I’m teaching Earth History

again this fall, which is always one of my favorite classes to teach (even after 12

years!), and as part of Trinity’s Pathways curriculum, I’ve been teaching a first-

year experience course called “What We Know That Just Ain’t So” with several

other faculty. As you might guess from the title, this course explores flawed

reasoning and helps students develop their critical thinking skills to avoid the

pitfalls that lead to false conclusions. Although the topic is well outside my own

expertise, the course has been fascinating to teach with colleagues from Physics,

Biology, Psychology, Neuroscience, and English. I’ve expanded my research focus

as well, both topically and geographically. I am still using sandstone provenance to

chase down tectonic changes in the U.S. Cordillera, and my search for sediment

sources has taken me in a couple new directions. I’ve had three students working

with me on a project using detrital zircon trace element geochemistry to better

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 19

understand magmatism in

the Sierra Nevada, and

another five students over

two years working with me

in Oregon and Idaho to

chase down possible

provenance links. This fall,

we’ll collect U-Pb and Lu-

Hf data from zircon we

separated from

orthogneisses in the Western

Idaho Shear Zone – a far cry

from sedimentary rocks, but

perhaps a source of detrital

zircon in Oregon? We’ll be

presenting preliminary

results from both projects at the Annual GSA meeting in Denver this fall. I’m also

happy to report that I have shortened my job title starting this year, having been

promoted from Associate Professor to Professor. The Surpless family continues to

thrive in San Antonio, and our girls are growing fast. This year is our last with

both girls at Northwood Elementary (2nd

and 5th

grade) – next year it’s on to

middle school for Kayla. Best wishes to you all for an excellent year!

Ben Surpless

How the years fly by!

Since my last newsletter entry, teaching, research, and advising have filled my

days, and I’ve been thankful for all of the interactions I continue to have with

faculty, students, and alums of the Trinity Geosciences program. On the research

front, I’ve worked closely with a number of Trinity students to investigate the

evolution of fracture networks and fluid-flow dynamics in a Laramide-age fault-

propagation fold system in west Texas, and we’ve continued to investigate the

evolution of a major, segmented normal fault system in western Nevada. At both

localities, I’ve published papers with students and other faculty, with the initial

results of the west Texas research now published in the Journal of Structural

Geology (with Sarah Wigginton, ’14 and Rebecca Schauer, ’15) and the western

Nevada research published in the Geological Society of America Bulletin (with

Glenn Kroeger, here at Trinity). Students and I have continued to present our

research at GSA national meetings at Vancouver, British Columbia, and Baltimore,

Maryland, and at south-central section GSA meetings in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and

Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This past summer, I worked with two students to

Mollie Patzke (’17), Thomas Tremain (’17), and Isaac Johnson

(’17) in the field working with Kathy Surpless on sediment source

provenance studies.

20 | P a g e

investigate new research problems in southern Utah near the eastern margin of the

Basin and Range province, where the Sevier fault zone exposes spectacular faults,

folds, and joint systems in the beautiful Navajo sandstone. I plan to submit a new

NSF grant proposal for this research during this academic year.

I continue to enjoy teaching Structural Geology, Earth’s Environmental

Systems, and Global Climate Change, a new Geosciences course investigating the

scientific evidence for climate change across all time scales. It’s always fun being

there to see students engage in coursework in the lab, in the field, and in the

classroom. For me, it’s the best part of teaching at a place like Trinity.

Kathy, the girls, and I enjoyed our family vacation to California and to

northern Wisconsin this summer. In California, we visited family and camped in

Yosemite National Park, and in Wisconsin, we stayed with family in a cabin on a

lake, spending hours walking, swimming, and relaxing in the Northwoods.

Camping in the shadows of El Capitan and Half Dome was amazing, and in

Wisconsin, the bald eagles, loons, and otters entertained us all. The girls are

already talking about next summer’s adventure!

I hope that we’ll see many of you at meetings across the country or here at

Trinity! We’ll be hosting the South-Central Section of the Geological Society of

America meeting here in San Antonio - if you’d like to participate in some way,

please let me know. I hope all is well!

Les Bleamaster (CSI Facilities Manager)

WooHoo!!! The Princeton Review ranked Trinity second among its peers for

having “Best Science Lab Facilities” -- http://www.princetonreview.com/college-

rankings?rankings=best-science-lab-facilities. It is really a joy to come to work

each day and see the incredible research being done by our faculty and

undergraduates in all the STEM departments.

While most of my time these days is taken up with CSI business, I was able to

get my feet back in the classroom last fall (teaching Planetary Geology is a true

labor of love). The students convinced me that a field trip was in order, so while

Mars and Venus were cost prohibitive, we did manage to get over to Houston to

visit Johnson Space Center. Mike Foreman, retired astronaut whose son graduated

from Trinity, met us at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab. We saw meteorites from the

Moon and Mars as well as the Apollo lunar sample clean room. We also visited

the Virtual Reality Lab – thank you Dr. Zack Crues, father of TU geosciences

major Ashton Crues - and walked the floor of Building 9 where the latest robots

and exploration vehicles get tested. We all geeked out! Me more than most.

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 21

Jana (Biology, ’98) and boys

are doing very well. Jana is now

a pediatric nurse and shift

supervisor at North Central

Baptist Hospital – she also

remains on staff at University

Hospital, south Texas’ only Level

One trauma center. Caden is a

sophomore at Hardin-Simmons

University studying History

Education. As a freshman, last

year he founded and was voted

president of HSU’s newest

fraternity - Beta Delta Sigma.

Sean is wrapping up high school

and working as a lifeguard. Bode

is a freshman at MacArthur and

really looking forward to the

upcoming soccer season.

Take care, Les

Megan Plenge (Visiting Assistant Professor)

Hello all! I’m now in my third and last year at Trinity, and love being part

of the Trinity Geosciences community. During my time here, I’ve taught two

upper division courses, Aqueous Geochemistry and Geomicrobiology, and three

introductory courses, Oceanography, Environmental Geology, and the new

iteration of Environmental Geology, Earth’s Environmental Systems. In my upper

division courses, student prepare for future geoscience careers through discussion

of current research and analyzing data through computer modelling, including the

USGS geochemical modelling program PhreeqC. My introductory courses

combine lecture with a substantial number of in-class activities and discussion,

with the aim of piquing students’ interest in geosciences, encouraging new majors,

and promoting scientific literacy for the non-majors. We still go on the field trip to

Port Aransas as part of the Oceanography, and caught a 50-pound sea turtle on our

last cruise!

Students on the Johnson Space Center field trip led

by Les Bleamaster.

22 | P a g e

During the summer of 2015, I worked with three students on two different

projects. Lindsey Yazbek and Sam Simoneau worked on an environmental project

combining water and soil chemistry data with microbial community analysis to

look at the impacts of recycled water irrigation on chemical partitioning and

indigenous subsurface microbial communities. Initial chemistry results suggest

that soil leaching decreases when recycled water is used for irrigation. Yvette

Muñiz worked on a project in

conjunction with Trinity alum

David Shiels, who graciously

hosted us at his home during field

work, and taught Yvette methods

for sampling well water. We

sampled water at several wells in an

industrial site that was

contaminated with gasoline in the

1980s, and took sediment cores for

microbial community analysis.

Chemistry data supports

microbially-mediated degradation

of hydrocarbons. All three students

presented their research at the 2015

GSA meeting in Baltimore.

This summer my phylogenetic data for both projects were processed, and I am

excited to analyze the microbial community composition. My efforts have been

(happily) delayed by the addition of another member to my family, baby Vera, who

was born in May. Two-year old Ramona is very excited to fill her new role as big

sister, and is already doing big sister things like reading to the baby, pinching her

cheeks, and claiming the baby is hitting her while they’re both strapped into car

seats in the back of the car.

Richard Silver (CSI Laboratories and Field Technician)

Hello all, I have recently completed my first year at Trinity University,

working as a Lab and Field Technician for the Center for the Sciences and

Innovation (CSI) – Geosciences Department. I have found Trinity University to be

a very friendly work environment; everyone in CSI and the Geosciences

Department has been most welcoming.

Thus far, my support for Geosciences lab courses has consisted of

preparing rock and mineral samples, laying out fossils and maps; setting up

microscopes and thin sections; assisting in microscope inventory, preventative

David Shiels (‘82), Yvette Muniz (‘17) and Megan

Plenge (Visiting Assistant Professor with drilling

apparatus used for sampling sediment cores.

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 23

maintenance, and thin section preparation; and preparing physical models for

laboratory demonstrations, including: a Caldera Demonstration Model, Sandbox

Fault Model, and sandpaper Earthquake Models.

Recently I have been involved with modifying the sandpaper Earthquake

Models; a reel, and in some cases a motor, has recently been added to the model

to better demonstrate the accumulation of stress associated with stick-slip fault

activity. Modifications have also been made to the Gemini Table in one of our

research labs; the table has recently been fastened to the floor to provide more

accurate separation of materials during shaking cycles. New hoses, recovery

containers, and sediment traps will also be added to the system prior to next

summer’s research activities. I have also been involved in the development of an

Augmented Reality Sandbox, which is near completion. The sandbox will allow

students to better understand topography, water flow, and contour lines. The

system utilizes a Kinect 3D camera and a projector to display a colored elevation

map with contour lines on the surface of the sand.

My responsibilities with the Geosciences Department have also consisted

of coordinating field vehicle schedules, organizing field equipment, and

overseeing field trip logistics. It has been a wonderful experience assisting the

professors with the students’ academic development on trips to Port Aransas,

Enchanted Rock, Llano Uplift, the Llano River near Mason, Texas, and Majors

Field Trip to the Grand Canyon and Central Arizona areas.

I am a member of the Bexar Grotto, a Chapter of the National Speleological

Society; we are currently conducting karst surveys at Government Canyon State

Natural Area, cave digs and explorations, and providing cave tours in and around

the San Antonio area. I am a member of the South Texas Geological Society, and

currently serving as Newsletter Chair for Alamo Chapter of the Air and Waste

Management Association. My wife Marion and I met as undergraduate students at

the University of Southern Maine; she is currently a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner

serving at various hospitals here in San Antonio.

24 | P a g e

ALUMNI NEWS

1966

Now retired, Jack Downing and his wife migrate to Colorado five months of

the year to escape the Texas heat. This September, they plan to travel to

Saudi Arabia, Israel and Petra.

1969

Harry Cowan retired two years ago after 42 years in the oil and gas industry.

He’s enjoying their grandkids and working on a second novel, a western, of

course!

1972

Thomas Masinter remains the President and Owner of Thomas Masinter Piano

Studio in San Antonio, still making rock music! He serves on the Board of

the San Antonio Music Teachers Association and is active as a teacher,

music director and computer. He makes it out to Big Bend country, every

year, to relive the glory days of geology.

1973

Ves Box has retired as an Adult Services Librarian for the Dallas Public

Library. He has four grown children and spends much of his time traveling

across Texas.

1974

Byrd Larberg is retired and “happy as a clam in a warm Cretaceous sea!”

Richard Sepulvado retired from the energy business on August 1, 2015.

1974, cont.

Kinney Simon is retired and living in San Marcos, Texas. He has three

wonderful grandchildren and conducts Bible Studies at assisted living

facilities, local food banks, the Hay County Jail and his church.

Jackie Cox Ramsey has retired as a petroleum geologist. By the time this

newsletter is published, they will be the grandparents of seven grandchildren

under the age of six! “This is the best of what life has to offer. I'm

thankful.”

Harry “Bud” Holzman is working as a consulting geologist, for Thunder

Exploration. He’s still working in the area of oil exploration but is no longer

working in Iraq but instead staying in Texas.

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 25

1975

Clyde Yancey is Vice President of Exploration for the Uranium Energy

Corporation in Corpus Christi, TX. He is working on the development of

uranium resources in Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and in the

western margins of the Parana Basin in Eastern Paraguay. He’s awaiting

one more boom before he retire. He lives between south Florida and Maine

– “who would have thought I would become an East Coaster?”

1977

John Snedden is a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Texas at

Austin, where he has completed his 5th year, following early retirement from

ExxonMobil in 2011. At UT-Austin, he directs the Gulf Basin Depositional

Synthesis Research Project, which is focused on deep-water oil and gas

exploration. He supervises a number of students including one recent

Trinity graduate.

1978

Steve Slezak is a Senior Sales Engineer for Schlumberger in Houston. He just

sent the last of his three sons off to school at Alabama. “Finally, empty

nesters!” He’s hoping to retire in a couple of years.

Over the past ten years, Scott West has a developed a decent collection of

minerals, primarily Pb-type oxides. Some of the showier ones include

wulfenite, vanadinite, cerussite, anglesite and mimetite from major mines

world-wide. His primary business is insurance, so he has recently started a

specialized niche in insuring high-end mineral collections as well as

coverage for high-end mineral dealers. This summer he made a minor

investment in an exploration program of a copper deposit in western Alaska,

but, unfortunately, Scott won't be able to spend time on location until their

drilling program begins in summer of 2017.

1980

David Noller has been working in Saudi Arabia for the last eight years with

Aramco. During this time he has travelled extensively to Europe, Middle

East and Asia and has seen some great scuba diving sites in the Maldives

and Red Sea. In November he is getting married to a woman from Thailand

who owns a resort there. After he leaves Aramco, he will help her run the

resort.

26 | P a g e

1982

This year, Vivian Gay Gratton changed her legal name to Finn Vivian Gratton

(them/they pronouns). She is enjoying her work as a psychotherapist in the

Santa Cruz and Mountain View, California. Finn gets a backpack trip in

every year, mostly in the southwest – Utah and Arizona – and still

remembers enough geology to get even more enjoyment out of the “Grand

Staircase.”

1983

David Shiels and his wife, Carol, continue to provide geoscience and

engineering consulting services to mostly Texas clients. However, over the

past two years, Shiels Engineering (SE) has expanded to serve other states

including Louisiana, California, South Carolina and Florida. SE has not

opened offices in those states but undertaken projects there. Shiels’ main

focus of work is environmental, health & safety, oil & gas E&P, and water

(surface and groundwater) issues (mostly drainage issues). Carol and David

are currently serving on the National board of directors of the Society of

Independent Professional Earth Scientists (SIPES) and, in August 2016,

David was elected Vice Chairman of National Resources. David is excited

about this role in SIPES and intends to look at natural resources other than

oil and gas so that our community can better understand the tradeoffs

between renewable and non-renewable natural resources. His articles will

appear in the SIPES Quarterly publication. David and Carol's daughter is

currently a high school teacher in Waco and is working on her Master’s

Degree in Education at Texas A&M. Their son Andrew just graduated from

UT-San Antonio with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical

Engineering and is employed by Avarint, a CUBRC Company, in San

Antonio. David and Carol help run the family ranch and have increased the

herd, through a replacement heifer program, to 80 mother cows (two herds).

Their goal is to grow the herd to 100 mother cows by 2018.

Jeff Wilt is the EVP and Owner of Alpha Testing, Inc., with offices in Dallas,

Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Business is solid in the geotechnical

world and Alpha now has over 320 employees across the state. Both of their

children have graduated from the University of Arkansas and are working

and Texas. Beth and Jeff are enjoying that “life after” and spend time

traveling and often taking touring motorcycles on extended rides. He finally

made it to the Grand Canyon for an extended visit last year!

GEONEWS FALL 2016

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1983, cont.

Mike Walsh is Assistant Chief for the San Antonio Fire Department. He’s

closing in on retirement from a great career and looking forward to RV’ing

with his wife.

Tom Sims is currently managing supply chain issues for Anadarko Petroleum

Midstream assets and lives in The Woodlands, Texas.

1984

Hector Caram is a Senior Geologist with Alta Mesa Holdings in Houston.

He’s recently been working new territory, the Stack Trend in Oklahoma

Martha (McKnight) Jagucki is a hydrologist with the U.S.G.S. Michigan-

Ohio Water Science Center in Columbus, Ohio. Last summer she was put in

charge of archiving files and data for completed projects at work, which all

had to be done before an office move and the end of the summer! Their two

sons went off to college this fall and so they are empty-nesters. She’s

looking forward to some relaxing travels!

Randy Walters’ main piece of news is that, after 19 years, he still loves

teaching high school science and math in Fort Collins, Colorado. One of his

science classes is Geology and he has found it to be so cool to take students

in the field to see the geology of the Front Range. Though he is eligible for

retirement this year, he’s enjoying it too much to quit now and will probably

hang in there for another five years or so until his wife, Brenda (also a

teacher at his school) retires.

1985

David Harvey says “Hello fellow Trinity alums!” He’s still living and working

in Corpus Christi as a Senior Environmental Engineer for Lyondell Basell

Industries. He’s been with LYB for almost 14 years now. Although his job

title contains the term "Engineer", please don't hold that against him! He’s

still surfing and practicing martial arts. His oldest daughter now attends

U.T. in Austin (hook 'em!). He enjoys hearing from the Trinity family!

Chris Whitten is Senior Vice President for Geosciences with Indigo Minerals

LLC in Houston. His oldest daughter, Alice is a Trinity graduate, and his

younger daughter is a sophomore at Trinity.

1986

VeeAnn (Atnipp) Cross is still working as a marine geologist with the

U.S.G.S. in Wood Hole. She doesn’t have any news to report, except that

she is so sad that she couldn’t make it to the party for Dr. Freed last April.

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1986, cont.

Kelly (Ring) Bender is in her 22nd

year at Arizona State University. She’s

been involved with mission planning and data analysis for the following

NASA missions: Magellan (Venus), Galileo SSI [Solid state imager]

(Jupiter), Mars Global Surveyor TES [thermal emission spectrometer] and

Mars 2001 Odyssey THEMIS [thermal emission imaging system]. She has

spent the past 17 years running instruments at Mars and feels so lucky to

have a job that she loves. Kelly finds it very rewarding to be in charge of

collecting a dataset of infrared and visible images that will support research

for many years to come. Anyone can check out her work at

themis.mars.asu.edu. Kelly’s husband runs his own environmental

consulting company and is a registered geologist with the state of Arizona.

Her 25 year old daughter and her husband will welcome their first child in

November - making Kelly a grandma! Her 21 year old son and his fiancée

are getting married on the day she wrote this bit of news. Both her kids are

photographers, but have day jobs that actually pay the rent. Kelly spends

much of her free time studying/teaching/performing a variety of styles of

belly dance and Indian bollywood. She has travelled to England and

Scotland to teach belly dance - as the dance group she is in is internationally

known. Most recently, she helped film their third dance DVD. Between

Mars and dance, she has very few hours of free time, but when she does, she

sews, mostly custom work for other dancers.

1989

Paul Hughbanks is an archaeologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in

New Orleans. He works in planning projects and keeping the Corps in

compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act, intended to

guarantee that federal funds (used by federal or other governments) are not

used to destroy pieces of past history before first being located and recorded

to the full extent possible. He also aids other fields of study during the

Planning Process with similar laws and regulations that are intended to

protect our history and the pre-history of the USA even while necessary

infrastructure projects are built.

1991

Mark Tinker lives in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and is the CEO for Quantum

Technology Sciences, Inc. They have three children, 14, 10 and 9 years old.

GEONEWS FALL 2016

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1994

Chris Blakely has been working from home as a Senior Solutions Engineer for

GISinc in Miami for almost nine years. They have three children – 8, 5, and

3 years old. He has fond memories of his time in the geoscience program at

Trinity!

1997

Iska (Rushing) Wire is the Senior Director of Talent Management and

Director of Development at Rice University in Houston. She stopped by the

Trinity campus this past summer while on a family vacation… fingers

crossed for some more TU Tigers in the family!

1999

Sarah (Newland) Pearce’s husband, Justin, recently accepted a position in the

Risk Management Center of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, assessment

dam and levee safety for the western U.S. They thus moved to Denver last

July. Sarah grew up in Denver, so it’s “coming home.” She remains

employed with the San Francisco Estuary Institute, but is looking to expand

her network in Colorado, particularly in fluvial geomorphology and wetland

rapid assessment.

2000

After graduating from Trinity, Nathan Franklin worked at Southwest Research

Institute for five years before moving to Freiburg, Germany to do a Master’s

degree in Computer Science. Now, after ten years of living and working in

Germany, Nathan and his wife have moved back to Texas to be closer to

family and to be able to enjoy Tex-Mex everyday! Nathan is working as a

software developer at a research department at UT-Austin.

2002

Jennifer (Sjolin) Wilson works for the Illinois Water Resources Center in

Urbana as a Drinking Water Specialist. Forever with one foot in each of the

two cultures, she continues to work part-time leading outreach efforts related

to drinking water in rural communities, while also running an on-line

education business in the paper-crafting industry. She’s also excited to

begin a new adventure this fall as her daughter’s Daisy Girl Scout leader!

2003

Most of Marina Suarez’ “news” as of late centers around being awarded a

National Science Foundation Career Grant this year. Receipt of this grant (a

five-year, $500,000 award) is a great honor. Marina thanks Prof. Kathy

30 | P a g e

Surpless for helpful discussions and sharing her successful Career grant

proposal. Marina recently returned from a successful field season in Utah,

related to this grant. Joining her were her two graduate students, three

undergraduates and two community college students. They collected

samples from paleosols in the Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation. This

year, Marina goes up for tenure. In other news, her dog Mallie (short for

Malachite) turned 6 this year. She also gained another nephew (Cole

Lawrence Cromley) in December 2015, and, last year, two step nieces (Eva

and Ella Lamb).

Kate (Dixon) Lambert was married on January 1, 2014, and they welcomed

their son later than year on August. He loves the outdoors and has already

traveled to San Antonio (although they didn’t make it to Trinity on that trip).

2005

Meredith Faber is currently working as a development geologist in the

Marcellus Business Unit at Noble Energy in Houston. She’s also co-chair of

the AAPG Young Professionals Special Interest Group and will be serving

as the Judging Chair at the 100th Anniversary AAPG Annual Meeting in

Houston in 2017. They have an exciting program planned – she invites all to

please stop by the Judges’ Read Room and say “Hi!”

2008

Emily Beverly will be finishing up a post-doctoral position at Georgia State

University in January, 2017, and will be starting a new one at the University

of Michigan.

2010

In 2015, Danielle (Foster) Martin and her husband moved to China to teach at

an international school in Shenzhen. She is teaching 5th

grade physical

geography and 9th

grade AP human geography.

2011

This year, Megan D’Errico defended her Ph.D. in geochemistry and graduated

from Stanford University. She is a post-doctoral research specialist at the

San Diego State Research Foundation.

Rebecca Dorsey became engaged in December 2015 to James Wintering and

will be married in 2017. She finished her Presidential Management

Fellowship at the US Department of State in January 2016, during which she

spent 4 months at the United States Trade Representative in the Executive

Office of the President and 3 months at the U.S. Mission to the United

Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in Paris.

GEONEWS FALL 2016

Page | 31

2012

Brett Mays moved to a new company (Arcadis in Houston) in December 2015,

where he is a geologist in charge of managing various groundwater

remediation and soil vapor intrusion projects.

Brant Konetchy is a hydrogeologist at LGB-Guyton Associates in Austin,

Texas and will be marrying a fellow geologist in October 2016.

This fall, Alexa Goers will be continuing her Ph.D. graduate studies at the

University of Kansas.

2014

Sarah Wigginton began her Master’s degree studies at Utah State University in

August. She will be working with Dr. James Evans.

Erich deZoeten is a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Kansas.

Last summer, he obtained a scarce industry internship with Concho

Resources.

2015

Travis Dodson is working on his Master’s degree in hydrogeology at the

University of Western Australia.

After serving as an intern, Leanne Stepchinski was recently brought on as a

full-time staff member of the hydrogeology team in the Geosciences

Department at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

2016

Nate Adams is seeking employment in San Antonio!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GeoNews: A newsletter published by the Trinity University Department of Geosciences.

Compiled and edited by Diane Smith.