20032005

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

2005-2006 – SO FAR SO GOOD, BUT

WHAT NEXT?

Have you seen the text fromPresident Mote’s State of the Campus2006 address last September? It has thesame title. No, I’m not going toplagiarize the President’s text, but I amgoing to follow a similar theme.

We continue to search for geophysicsfaculty to complement our strength ingeochemistry (more below), and wehave an exciting field of strongcandidates, many of whom would makewelcome additions to our Department.Departments either evolve or stagnate– there is no “status quo” in theacademic world, if you’re standing stilleveryone else is passing you! So, this isa good point in the Department’sevolution to review our progress so farand to see where we are going.

Sash (Saswata Hier-Majumder)has now joined our faculty after his post-doctoral time at Yale University, whichmeans that we are now offeringGeophysics as part of our UndergraduateProgram for the first time in severalyears, and Andy Campbell hasestablished the Laboratory for MineralPhysics. We welcome Dan Lathrop(Professor of Physics and Director ofthe Institute for Research in Electronicsand Applied Physics) as an AffiliateProfessor in our Department andYingwei Fei (Senior staff member,Geophysical Laboratory) as an AdjunctProfessor (see their profiles on page 6).

My brief when I was hired in 1990was to build a great department, usingas stepping stones the foundations laid

by Luke Chang in the 1980s and GaltSiegrist in the 1970s (see FACULTY

HIGHLIGHT on p. 8 of this GeoGram). Agreat department is made up of goodpeople who excel—faculty, students andstaff—supported by cutting-edgefacilities and infrastructure.

Taking my lead from the President’saddress, a dispassionate view of whatthe Department has achieved is that it’s

at its historical best! However, muchmore remains to be done.

We have a great faculty, several ofwhom are among the most prominentmembers in their respective fields. Theprominence of our faculty is highlightedfirst by the Bowen Award of theVolcanology, Geochemistry andPetrology Section of the American

Geophysical Union for 2006 to RobertaRudnick and second by several attemptsto recruit faculty into leadership positionsof research institutes here and abroadduring the 2006 calendar year.

We have wonderful students,exemplified by Kate Burgy winning theJ. R. Dorfman Prize for UndergraduateResearch in Spring 2006, and AndyMasterson (see SENIOR THESIS PROGRAM

on p. 10) being chosen as the CMPSgraduation speaker. It is a pleasure toacknowledge that an alum from ourGraduate Program, Gary Solar, receivedthe 2006 Biggs Award for Excellence inEarth Science Teaching at this year’sAnnual Meeting of the GeologicalSociety of America. And we have adedicated professional staff to keep theplace running!

Our facilities are improving despitethe antiquity of the buildings. We areinvesting more than $1M to enhance ourfacilities in Geochemistry, which willresult in improved temperature controlin the Gas Flow Mass SpectrometryLaboratory, improved rock-cutting andmineral separation facilities, and adoubling in the size of the CleanLaboratory to 1000 square feet in supportof our work in Isotope Geochemistry.Oh, and Rich Walker is buying a newThermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer— a ThermoElectron Triton, our tenthmass spectrometer of some kind—usingfunds from the National ScienceFoundation, NASA and the College. Inthe Geology Building, some of theinfrastructure is being replacedthroughout, and we are taking advantageof this opportunity to improve theambiance in our teaching laboratorieswith new ceilings and a coat of paint.

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Our specialty in Geochemistrywas ranked by U.S. News and

World Report as 10th among allU.S. universities, and 4th among

public institutions.

“...a dispassionate view ofwhat the Department hasachieved is that it’s at itshistorical best!”

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2006

An essential step in the developmentof any great department is its ability toform partnerships to enhance its impact.We are working closely with ourcolleagues in the Department ofAstronomy and others in the region todevelop a Center for PlanetaryOrigins. This strategic move willposition us at the forefront of researchon solar system materials and the vexingquestion of how planets are formed.

OK, that’s all descriptive, but whatdo the national and internationalcommunities think about us? Ourdepartment is an international star. It isone of the top programs in the world anda premier center for fundamentalresearch in Geochemistry. How can Iassert such a claim?

One of the highlights of the year wasthe Annual U.S. News and World ReportRankings, in which our GeochemistryProgram ranked 10th among alluniversities in the Nation and 4th amongpublic universities. In addition, theGeosciences at UMd is ranked 18th

worldwide based on a citations analysisby the Institute for Scientific Informationover the last decade using total cites;based on cites per paper we rank 13th

worldwide, which perhaps is a betterreflection of our quality. In fact, if weremove huge government organizationssuch as NASA, NOAA and the RussianAcademy of Sciences from the list, werank 8th among all U.S. universities and11th among all universities worldwide!This is huge for us. It is what PresidentMote has referred to as “value added”— as we get better so your degree fromUMd becomes that much morerespected. This Department really isvery good!

Why is this so significant?Apart from the enhancedvisibility that our programinevitably receives by achievinga high ranking, and as PresidentMote has argued for thecampus, it changes theexpectations that everyone has— on Campus and off — aboutour department. We expect,the University expects, andmany of our peers expect us tomaintain and improve ourreputation and our ranking. Thisis the difficult part — getting aranking in the first place is onething, keeping it is quiteanother! To borrow fromPresident Mote, in his addresshe quotes Henry Ford as saying “If youthink you can, or if you think you can’t,you’re right.” Well, we thought wecould, we were right, and we willmaintain this level of achievement. Morethan that, we will get even better.

As a consequence of our strength ingeochemistry, and now our growth intogeophysics, our Department offersextraordinary career opportunities foryoung scientists. And as you know, ourgraduates are extremely successful —most of our graduates over the pastthirty years remain engaged in full-timecareers in the geosciences.

Our role in the flagship campus of theState university system is to conductresearch at the highest level, one thatleads to international acclaim, to take aleadership role in defining new directionsin geochemistry and geophysics, and toprovide absolutely the best opportunitiesin education in the geosciences. Our

faculty and students are working at theedge of discovery in some of the mostexciting research activities in the world,ranging from investigating the origin ofplanetary systems to the conditionsattending the emergence of life on Earth.We take our role as an internationalleader seriously and want ourprospective students to join with us inpioneering research that generates newknowledge about how the Earth andplanets work while addressing theserious challenges that confront society.This is the benefit of a high qualityfaculty as it translates into high qualityeducation.

In addition to our contributions toscience education across the Campus,we maintain our presence in the HonorsProgram and are committed fully tosupporting the Earth, Life and TimeProgram within College Park Scholars.I would be remiss not to mention thatthe Earth, Life and Time Program iswidely regarded as the best among thedozen or so programs in College ParkScholars. Additionally, we have a groupof faculty developing a new “marquee

“We are working closelywith our colleagues ... to

develop a Center forPlanetary Origins.”

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“Our department is aninternational star. It is one ofthe top programs in the worldand a premier center forfundamental research inGeochemistry.”

Mike Brown looking for answerswhile leading an internationalfield trip after the Granulites &Granulites 2006 conference in

Brasilia, Brazil.

course” designed to convey theexcitement of science to Liberal Artsstudents.

Life is cyclic in a State university and,once again, we are in the election seasonand we now have a change of Governorin the State of Maryland. As a Campus,our budget has recovered to the samelevel in dollars that we received fouryears ago. It is difficult to maintainupward motion as we strive forexcellence as the level of State supportdeclines in real dollars. This is whereyour contributions in support of ourprograms can make the difference. Wecan only achieve greatness together!

Our mission is to transform livesthrough exceptional educationalopportunities and to change the worldthrough knowledge of the highest order.As a fast rising department, we havedemonstrated the will and ability tosucceed. Every year alumni, faculty,friends and corporations createopportunities for students and furtherresearch activities by providingdonations, matching gifts, planned gifts,memorial gifts, gifts-in-kind anddonations of stock. Your philanthropicinvestments will provide support to fundstudent scholarships, recruit and retaintop faculty, enhance laboratory facilitiesand reinforce excellence and innovationin our academic programs. Your supportwill help make our department truly greatwith global reach and impact. Thedepartment will help you design a gift orgiving program that fits with yourinterests. For more information, e-mail(rosalind@geol.umd.edu) or callRosalind Pinkard at 301-405-4065.

Michael BrownOctober 2006

METHODOLOGY

Rankings of doctoral programsin the sciences are based on theresults of surveys sent to academ-ics in each discipline during the fallof 2005. The questionnaires askedindividuals to rate the quality of theprogram at each institution on a 5-point scale. The universe ofschools surveyed consisted ofthose that awarded at least five

doctoral degrees. Question-naires were sent to the depart-ment heads and directors ofgraduate studies. The responserate for the earth sciences was52%. Specialty rankings arebased on nominations by depart-ment heads and directors ofgraduate studies at peer schoolsfrom the list of schools surveyed.These respondents ranked up to10 programs in each area.

GEOGRAM 2004-2006

editor, designer, feature writer,and photographer

Assoc. Prof. A. Jay Kaufman

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS

The 2006 Geology DistinguishedAlumnus was Professor Mark D.Feigenson of Rutgers, TheState University of NewJersey. Mark received a BSwith honors from theUniversity of Maryland in1974. Originally a physicsmajor, he switched togeology after taking anintroductory course fromProfessor Galt Siegrist. Hewrote his senior thesis on theWoodstock quartzmonzonite, with JerryWeidner as advisor. Markthen went on for a Master’sdegree at GeorgeWashington, working in theDominican Republic withJohn Lewis. While atGWU, he began acollaboration with scientists from theCarnegie Institution’s Department ofTerrestrial Magnetism (DTM) where hewas introduced to isotope geochemistry.Mark then received a Phelps-Dodgeaward to study at Princeton for hisPh.D., where he split his time workingon magma physics with Frank Speraand mantle geochemistry with AlHofmann, back at DTM.

His dissertation research involved thegeochemistry of Hawaiian volcanicrocks, and he demonstrated that thedegree of mantle melting decreases

sharply as a given volcano moves offthe hot spot. This work was one of thestimuli that resulted in the HawaiiScientific Drilling Project.

Prof. Mark D. Feigenson (center)receiving the 2006 Distinguished

Alumnus Award at the CMPSAcademic Festival with Dean

Steve Halperin (left) and ChairMichael Brown (right)

DISTINGUISHED LECTURER

On February 3rd the College ofComputer, Math & Physical Sciencesalong with the Department of Geologypresented a special workshop by Dr.Barbara Ransom (Marine Geology andGeochemistry program director at theNational Science Foundation) addressingthe successful preparation of grantproposals. The workshop was initiatedby Assoc. Professor Jay Kaufman insupport of our junior faculty, but wastailored to a more diverse audience andattended by over 50 scientists andadministrators across the college.

Dr. Ransom’s entertaining presentationtitled “Fund Your Science!!!” included

insights on the expectations of writers,the distribution of ranked proposals, andwho gets funded. She provided commonreasons for both high and low ratings,and laid out a strategic program forsuccess.

In her talk, considerable time wasdevoted to the creation of testablehypotheses, and tips on writing.According to Dr. Ransom, turgid proseis an enemy of clarity (and funding).

After the two hour presentation andlunch with Assoc. Dean Ron Lipsman,Chair Mike Brown, and others, Barbarawas given a short tour of theGeochemical Laboratories, and then met

with our junior faculty for a moreinformal discussion of funding strategiesand resources. We greatly appreciatedDr. Ransom’s outreach efforts to thedepartment and college.

Dr. Barbara Ransom, NSF

With Hofmann, he extended theprocedure known as geochemicalinverse modeling, and used thetechnique to constrain geophysicalmodels of melt production.

In 1982, Mark startedteaching at RutgersUniversity, and began a longcollaboration with MikeCarr, working on CentralAmerican volcanology. Overthe years, they have studiedthe geochemistry ofvolcanoes from Guatemalato Panama, and showedhow the changing dip of thesubducted plate controls thechemical variations in thelavas along the arc. Mostrecently, Mark used Pbisotopes of the lavas todemonstrate that thevolcanoes of central Costa

Rica are distinct from the rest of the arc,and are tapping remnants of theGalapagos hot spot. This result impliesthat the Caribbean Plate originallyformed in the Pacific Ocean basin wastransported to its current location overthe past 100 million years.

For more information about Mark, checkout his website at http://geology.rutgers.edu/feigenson.shtml

ALUMNI NEWS & VIEWS

Department of Geology alumnusRussell Meyer '99 entered the Fearthe Turtle Sculpture Scavenger Huntfor one simple reason - he wanted towin one of the turtle sculptures. Ofcourse so did his wife, Stephanie. Sothey spent three full weekends this pastSeptember running around the regiongetting their pictures taken with all 50of the nifty turtles. A little friendly com-petition never hurts anything! In fact,Terp fans turned out in droves (106people in all were eligible for the grandprize based on getting their picture withall 50 turtles) to enter the scavengerhunt contest.

A drawing was held the week ofOctober 2 to determine which of the106 entries would win the grand prize.The first name out was Russell Meyer- who will get to take home "Mary-land My Maryland" - a sculpture by

artists Barbara and William Gordon. Itwas sponsored by the University ofMaryland's Student Government Asso-ciation, and was displayed in front of theStamp Student Union on campus. Theturtle now sits proudly on his back deck,but he is planning on landscaping his backyard around the sculpture.

A geologist by training, Russell Meyergraduated from Maryland in 1999; he didhis senior thesis, titled “The Effects ofChemical Composition on the OpticalProperties and Cell Parameters in theRiebeckite-Magnesioriebeckite Series”with Prof. Ann Wylie. Following gradu-ation Russell worked in an environmen-tal lab for four years, but he is now em-ployed as a geologist for a Gaithersburg,Maryland engineering firm.

Russell first saw the turtle sculptureslast April during Maryland Day, the

university's annual open house. Heread about the contest in the alumninewsletter and saw a story about iton WUSA TV (Channel 9) in Wash-ington, D.C.

Geology Department alumnusRussell Meyer ‘99 with his

prize turtle

Josh Long ‘04 and Ashley McCleaf‘06 married June 10, 2006 in

Frostburg, Maryland. They are nowboth in graduate school at Northern

Arizona University in Flagstaff.

Please submit your Geology Depart-ment alumni news on-line at http://www.geol.umd.edu/pages/Department/alum.htm

This picture was takenby Galt Siegrist on a1976 field trip to the Sil-urian-Devonian KeyserQuarry in West Virginia.We have only been ableto identify some of thepeople, so let us knowwho else is here.

Front row (l to r): TomGore (blue sweater),Pam Wheeless (denimpigtails), Kim Walbe(holding pylon), Dr. Pe-ter Stifel (hubcaps); sec-ond row: Bob Verta (fa-tigue jacket), AdrianBurke (grey pigtails),John Ossi (plaid shirt);third row: Fritz Meyer(blond hair); on cab: KenKaman (plaid shirt),Patty Brack, (maroonsweater), MichaelEisner (dark frizzy hair);on winch: FrankChapelle (dark glasses)and Bruce Muirhead.1976 Field Trip to Keyser Quarry,

West Virginia

MEET OUR AJUNCT FACULTY

Daniel Lathrop, Department ofPhysics and Director of IREAP

Dr. Sorena Svea Sorensen receivedher PhD from UCLA in 1984 and thenjoined the staff of the National Museumof Natural History, SmithsonianInstitution. Her research concerns fluid-rock interactions in convergent margins,which she addresses by means of fieldwork and a variety of methods, especiallycathodoluminesence imaging and traceelement and isotope geochemistry.

Currently Sorena is collaborating withGeology Department Profs. SarahPenniston-Dorland and BillMcDonough on lithium isotope andtrace element compositions of jadeiteand eclogite from subduction zones inCentral America and the western USA.

Dr. Sorensen has a secondary interestin mineral chemistry, and is an authorityon rare-earth-element-rich epidoteminerals and jadeitite, the gem varietyof jade. During the past 10 years, shehas received research support from the

Sprague and Becker Funds of theSmithsonian Institution, the Departmentof Energy, and the National ScienceFoundation. During her career, Sorenahas conducted field programs in

California, Nevada, Washington State,the Dominican Republic, Venezuela,Burma, and Guatemala.

Dr. Sorensen has been an editor forJournal of Petrology and Journal ofMetamorphic Geology. She likewiseserved as a Distinguished Lecturer andCouncilor of the Mineralogical Societyof America, and is a fellow of both MSAand the Geological Society of America.She has served as President of theGeological Society of Washington, andChair of the National Museum of NaturalHistory’s Senate of Scientists. Since1988, Dr. Sorensen has served as theCurator-In-Charge of the Smithsonian’sRock and Ore Collections, and has beena past curator of the Janet AnnenbergHooker Hall of Geology, Gems andMinerals. More information on Dr. Sorensen’sresearch can be found at http://www.mine ra l s . s i . edu / r e sea rch /summary/sorensen.htm

Sorena Sorensen, SmithsonianInstitution, at the Shwedagon

Pagoda, Burma praying for goodluck in the jade mines

Daniel Lathrop is a Professor in theDepartment of Physics and Director ofthe Institute for Research in Electronicsand Applied Physics (IREAP) at theUniversity of Maryland. Dr. Lathropreceived his Ph.D. in Physics from theUniversity of Texas at Austin in 1991,

and then began a post-doctoralfellowship at Yale University. From 1994to 1997 he was an Asst. Prof. at EmoryUniversity and then joined the Universityof Maryland in 1997.

His current research interests includemagneto-rotational instability, magneto-turbulence and dynamos, and strongly

non-linear surface waves.His recent work with liquidsodium models promises tohave groundbreaking resultswhich could change ourview of the Earth’s outercore.

Dr. Lathrop’s laboratoryexperiments are designed tosimulate the dynamosoperating in the interiors ofplanetary bodies, which arethe source of their magneticfields. By building a scale

model of the Earth’s core, filling it withtons of reactive liquid sodium, andspinning the orb, he ultimately aims to

create a homogeneous dynamo in the laband demonstrate a self-generatingmagnetic field.

Dan’s research has excited hiscolleagues as well as the public press.It has recently been featured inDiscovery and Geotimes magazines, andalso on NOVA. He has received manyfellowships and awards, including aPresidential Early Career Award in 1997,and just last year he was elected a Fellowof the American Physical Society.

Daniel Lathrop is on the cutting edgeof his field. As an Adjunct facultymember in the Geology Department,Lathrop supports our new growth inGeophysics. This year he is giving thehonorary Bullard Lecture at the fallmeeting of the American GeophysicalUnion in San Francisco titled “BuildingLaboratory Models of Planetary Cores.”

You can find more about Dan Lathropand his experiments at http://www.physics.umd.edu/people/faculty/lathrop.html

Yinwei Fei, Carnegie Institutionof Washington

Antonio Busalacchi, Director ofESSIC and Professor in theDepartment of Oceanic and

Atmospheric Sciences

Dr. Yingwei Fei received his B. S.from Zhejiang University, China (1982),and Ph.D. from City University of NewYork (1989). Fei, as he is commonlyknown, was awarded a DistinguishedScholar Dissertation Award from the

University for his thesis work onthermodynamics of reactions at highpressure and high temperature. Hejoined the Carnegie Institution ofWashington Geophysical Laboratory in1988.

Dr. Fei’s research interests includecomposition and structure of the interiorsof the Earth and Mars, mantle evolution,core and mantle differentiation, role ofwater and hydrous phases in asubducted slab and deep mantle, physicalproperties of materials at high pressureand temperature, phase transformationsand thermodynamic calculations, andmaterial synthesis at high pressure. Hehas published more than 100 papers inscientific journals, and has served as anassociate editor for AmericanMineralogist, Chinese ScienceBulletin, and Journal of GeophysicalResearch.

Fei received the Hou Defeng Medalfrom Chinese Academy of Sciences in

1990, the Norton Senior Fellowship(1992-1996) from Norton Company, theMineralogical Society of America Award(1999), and the Crosby VisitingLectureship from MassachusettsInstitute of Technology (2000).

Current Fei is working with Universityof Maryland Profs. Bill McDonoughand Andy Campbell as well as UMdundergraduate student Robert Thomason his senior thesis project titled “Effectof the FCC to HCP Phase Transition [iniron crystals] on Trace ElementPartitioning Between Metal and SulfideMelt.” The results of this high pressurestudy will be used to test assumptionsabout the partitioning behavior ofrhenium, osmium, and platinum in theEarth’s inner and outer core.

More information about Yinwei Feiand the Multi-Anvil Group at theCarnegie Insitution of Washington canbe found at http://www.gl.ciw.edu/multi-anvil/

Antonio (Tony) J. Busalacchi is Di-rector of the University of MarylandEarth System Science InterdisciplinaryCenter (ESSIC) and a Professor in theDepartment of Atmospheric & OceanicScience. Tony came to ESSIC in 2000,after serving as Chief of the NASAGoddard Laboratory for HydrosphericProcesses.

In 1999, he was appointed Co-Chair-man of the Scientific Steering Group forthe World Climate Research Programmeon Climate Variability and Predictability(CLIVAR). Tony's ongoing area of re-search is the role of tropical ocean cir-culation in the coupled climate system.He has a 1982 doctorate in oceanogra-phy from Florida State University.

The goal of ESSIC is to enhanceunderstanding of how the atmosphere-ocean-land-biosphere components of theEarth interact as a coupled system. Thisis accomplished via studies of theinteraction between the physical climate

system (El Nino) and biogeochemicalcycles (greenhouse gases, changes inland use and cover). Busalacchi alsoserves as Director of NOAA’sCooperative Institute for Climate Studies(CICS) that ESSIC administers as partof a joint NOAA-University ofMaryland cooperative agreement.

Dr. Busalacchi has receivednumerous awards and honors. Amongthese, he is a Fellow of the AmericanMeteorological Society. In 1991, he wasthe recipient of the prestigious ArthurS. Flemming Award, as one of fiveoutstanding young scientists in the entireFederal Government. In 1995 he wasselected as Alumnus of the Year atFlorida State University, in 1997 he wasthe H. Burr Steinbach Visiting Scholarat Woods Hole OceanographicInstitution, in 1999 he was awarded theNASA/Goddard Excellence in OutreachAward and chosen by President Clintonto receive the Presidential RankMeritorious Executive Award.

More information about AntonioBusalacchi and ESSIC can be found athttp://essic.umd.edu/~tonyb/tonyb.html

DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS

FACULTY HIGHLIGHTGalt Siegrist

It is safe to say that without thesustained and heroic efforts of GaltSiegrist, our 2006 FACULTY HIGHLIGHT,it is unlikely that we would bedepartment we are today. Galt wasinstrumental in the creation of the boththe Geology Department and thegraduate program. The history of thedepartment, as told by Galt, is anintriguing tale of fits and starts.

Geology started at Maryland withLeonard Furo who came from Texacoin 1964. At that time, Siegrist wassearching for rutile deposits for theGlidden Paint Co. in Baltimore aftercompleting his Masters and Ph.D. atthe Pennsylvania State University. Furoknew Siegrist and suggested that heapply in 1965 for a position in theAgronomy Department to help out withthe huge geology classes he was facing.With offices in the basement of H.J.Patterson Hall, they taught 1000s ofundergraduate students in those earlyyears, with up to four sections of 300+each semester. To support theseburgeoning numbers, Peter Stifel washired in 1966 and then both TonySegovia and Jerry Widener in 1968.

As coordinator of this growing blockin Agronomy, Siegrist first lobbied for aseparate program within thedepartment, and then to sever theumbilical cord altogether. “While wemade a lot of money for Agronomy, wewere a burr in their saddle,” saidSiegrist. The program was establishedwith concentrations in mineralogy,historical geology, structural geology,and petrology. By that time, Furo wassick with cancer and could not teach,although he was generously supportedby Agronomy until his death in 1971.Ann Wylie was hired in 1972 to teachoptical mineralogy and economicgeology, and that same year theGeology Department was born.

Galt was appointed as acting chair ofthe department, which grew to 200 majorsby 1975. The senior thesis programbecame a requirement once thedepartment was formalized, but it was onlyone semester and “very Mickey Mousein the beginning,” said Siegrist. There were40 to 50 theses running at the same time,so “we siphoned off a lot of them to theChemistry Department,” where geo-chemistry had started in earnest with thehires of George Helz, Shelly Sommer,Ervin Gregor, Harry Rose, and IzzyAddler.

By the mid 1970s Galt and Ann decidedit was time for a graduate program andbegan writing a proposal to the facultysenate. “I put in the nouns and Ann put inthe verbs,” said Galt. The initiative,however, was vehemently opposed by theChair of the Chemistry Department, soGalt had to push for the program at up to15 senate meetings, and was continuallydriving back and forth from Annapolis.

“My finest moment was when we gotthe program started in 1977,” said Galt,and we were able to bring in Luke Changas Chair. In 1981 the department movedinto the abandoned Fisheries Building.“There were fish scales everywhere!”said Siegrist, which may be why he took a

sabbatical the following year to studycarbonates in Guam.

For the next eight years Siegristcontinued his work in Guam and took ahandful of graduate students there tostudy carbonate growth and diagenesis.He also began to update the 1940svintage USGS geological map of theisland, which had a lot of mistakes. Hesaid that this was probably because theywere always on the lookout forJapanese military squads still presenton the island. Siegrist’s topographic andquadrangle based geological mapcompiled over two decades is now atthe USGS and should be availablewithin the year.

Siegrist was offered a job at theUniversity of Guam in 1990 and leftMaryland. After 25 years of serviceto the department “it was time to domy own thing,” he said. Galt wasdirector of a USGS funded waterinstitution in Guam for five years andretired from that university in 2003. Hecurrently lives in Queenstown, MD withhis wife Alicia Watson (’75) whoteaches oceanography at Anne ArundelCommunity College. Galt currentlycoaches soccer at St. Peter and PaulHigh School in Easton when he isn’tworking on his new garage.

GRADUATE STUDENT HIGHLIGHTDavid T. Johnston

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT

HIGHLIGHTKate Burgy

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For 2006, our graduate studenthighlight is David T. Johnston, who willgraduate next January with a bedrockthesis on the geomicrobiology of sulfurisotopes, supporting what one may onlypredict as a stellar academic future.

David grew up in upstate New York,and as an avid skier and rock climber,he became curious about the rocks hewas continually scrambling over. Hisfascinations with the natural worldeventually lead him to environmentalstudies at Bates College where hestudied with Dr. Beverly Johnson, anorganic and isotope geochemist.Working on related projects in thelaboratory, Dave became interested inhow biology and environments interact,and “in the storytelling geochemists cando with an isotope record.”

Fortunate for us, Dr. Johnson was apost-doctoral fellow at the CarnegieInstitution at the same time as Assoc.Prof. James Farquhar, who arrivedat Maryland in 2001 and was lookingfor a bright student to help build hislaboratory. Beverly introduced Daveto James at the 2001 Geological Societyof America meeting in Boston, and therest is history.

At Maryland, Dave learned the Zenof mass spectrometry from James andBoswell Wing and applied novel sulfurisotope techniques to his interests inbiological systems. Dave traveled threetimes to Denmark to work at SouthernDenmark University with Dr. DonCanfield, a famed geomicrobiologist.

congratulate Dave, who has pushed thebar of graduate excellence at Marylandeven higher, and wish him the very best inhis future academic pursuits.

There they cultured specific sulfur-loving bacteria and isolated theproducts of their metabolism – in orderto use mass spectrometric techniqueslearned back at Maryland to betterunderstand the cycling of sulfur in bothmodern and ancient environments.

James said, “Dave was part of myfirst group of students and post docs,and he had a big part in making it apositive, productive, and fun labenvironment. His work has beenexciting, but it hasn’t been easy.” Hespent many marathon sessions in thelab, and a lot of time afterwardsworking to understand his data.

To date, this research has resultedin three first-authored published articlesby Dave, including a landmark articlein Science, as well as two other co-authored publications, and many othermanuscripts in review or inpreparation. “A lot of this reflects thefreedom that I was given here atMaryland,” said Dave. “The facultyhere is just fantastic, and they havealways treated me like a colleague.”

Dave’s hard work has already wonhim much recognition across campus,and the world. He was awarded bythe department for giving the bestPh.D. presentation in 2005.Furthermore, his research has beenpartially funded by NASAAstrobiological Institutes and theInternational School of AquaticSciences (SOAS) scholarships as wellas a prestigious Dean’s dissertationfellowship. Dave has also receivedtravel grants from SOAS and theGeochemical Society to attend variousmeetings, including the 16th annualV.M. Goldschmidt Conference inMelbourne, Australia last summer.

The future looks bright for Dave.He has already been offered post-doctoral research positions at twoprestigious institutions, and with hismomentum, other offers will certainlycome to this exceptional scientist. We

Our undergraduate student highlight for2006, Kate Burgy, figuratively gallopedthrough her senior year – at home inClarksville, Maryland with her stable ofhorses, and at work, winning the J.R.Dorfman Prize for UndergraduateResearch. Her senior thesis project onthe complicated structure of Mather Gorgeat Great Falls of the Potomac with Asst.Prof. Aaron Martin had to be completedquickly as Dr. Martin left for Nepal in themiddle of the spring semester. Althoughthis reigned in her thesis time, it allowedher to finish quickly enough to meet theearly Dorfman deadline.

This ultimate success blankets Kate’sinteresting academic history. While shewas always fascinated with rocks andearthquakes – and was destined to get a“hard science degree,” she transferred outof Geology midway through to major inBiology. However, after a year she clearlysmelled the good hay and came back tothe Geology stables, excelling in her senioryear.

We are pleased that Kate has decidedto saddle up for graduate school here atMaryland, and will start this spring workingin Nepal with Dr. Martin. Besides Irishdancing and saltwater fly fishing, let’s hopeshe also likes Yak butter!

SENIOR THESIS PROGRAM

Dusty Aeiker (left), Deducing the depth oforigin of granulite xenoliths from zircon-

rutile thermometry: a case study fromTanzania (advisors Rudnick, McDonough

& Piccoli)

Kate Burgy, The Measurement of Small-Scale Structures to Determine Their

Influence on the Orientation of the MatherGorge of the Potomac River, Maryland and

Virginia, USA (advisors Martin & Zen)

John James, Magmatic liquid crystalliza-tion of sulfides in the Ellicott City grano-diorite: Implications on ore metals (advi-

sors Rudnick & Piccoli)

Andrew Shansby (right), Comparison ofthe Petrology of Samples from Two

Amphibolite Facies Localities from theAndrelândia Group, Brazil (advisors

Brown & Piccoli)

Lynnette Pitcher (center), The Behavior ofRhenium and the Platinum Group Elements

during Fractional Crystallization of theKilauea Iki Lava Lake in Hawaii (advisors

Walker & Helz)

Andrew Masterson, Anomalous Fraction-ation Patterns of Multiple S-Isotopes inthe Broadband UV Photolysis of He-SO2

(advisors Wing & Farquhar)

David Limburg (left), An Analysis ofApatite Chemistry in Garnet

Porphyroblasts and in the Matrix ofMetamorphic Rocks (advisor Piccoli)

Brendan Williams (right), A SulfurIsotopic Study of Neoproterozoic Evapor-

ites in the Shaler Supergroup, VictoriaIsland, Northwest Territories, Canada

(advisors Kaufman & Johnston)

The Department of Geology seniorthesis program, coordinated by Prof.Phil Candela for the past decade,turned 35 this year. Since 1972 therehave been 487 completed senior thesesadvised by our faculty.

Faculty members that have advisedthe most students in this program include:Ann Wylie (59), Peter Stifel (55), GaltSiegrist (45), Jerry Weidner (32), BobRidky (31), Phil Candela (29), KarenPrestegaard (28), and Tony Segovia(27).

There was a crowd of excellentgraduating seniors in 2006. Again thisyear, their final presentation included aposter session in the Geochemistry hall-way. We wish each of our departingstudents, and newest alumni, the best ofluck with their future endeavors.

* * *To see the posters from this year’spresentations and lists of thesesover the past 35 years go to http://www.geol.umd.edu/pages/under-graduates/SeniorThesis.htm.

Ashley McCleaf (left), Hydraulics Effect-ing Bedrock Erosion at a Stream

Knickpoint (advisor Prestegaard)

OUTREACH ACTIVITIES Department of Geology faculty out-reach to the local geological communityspans the gamut of activities. For ex-ample, over the past several years BillMcDonough, James Farquhar, andJay Kaufman have mentored highschool students from Oxen Hill, CharlesFlowers, Montgomery Blair and EleanorRoosevelt high schools in the Geochemi-cal Laboratories. This past year, AarishaShrestha, an intern working with Prof.Kaufman, was highly successful withher Science Fair project titled “Environ-mental Setting for Earth’s Earliest Eu-karyotes.” She won first place in Earth/Environmental Sciences, and third overallin the Eleanor Roosevelt science fair.This allowed her to compete in the 58thAnnual Prince Georges Area ScienceFair where she won the Grand Prizecompeting against 158 other finalists.

Aarisha was then invited to present herwork at a symposium in Texas and atthe Intel International Science Fair in In-dianapolis. She is currently a freshmanat the University of Maryland.

Geology Department faculty similarlyplayed key roles in the Geological Soci-

Aarisha Shrestha, EleanorRoosevelt HS senior with her Grand

Prize poster from the PrinceGeorges County Science Fair.

2006 GSW officers (l to r) BillMcDonough (Secretary), Rich

Walker (President), Jay Kaufman(Program Chair)

HOW CAN YOU HELP US?There’s excitement at Maryland in Geology with our achievements in 2006. We’re recruiting world-class faculty and talentedstudents. We are exploring new frontiers at the edge of discovery. Our Faculty are receiving recognition for their achievements.We have one of the best Geochemistry Programs in the world. And we’re all working together to become one of the top GeologyDepartments in the Nation.

But, we need your help to reach this goal! How can you help us?

In this tight economy, the support of alumni and friends like you is the key to our success and to maintaining our commitment toexcellence. Whether you support us yourself or put us in contact with someone who can, your contribution is sincerelyappreciated. Your tax-deductible donation will help us strengthen our program with faculty and student recruitment tools, state-of-the-art facilities, an enhanced fieldwork program for our undergraduates and innovative outreach programs.

A growing problem for our undergraduates is the transfer of the cost of Tertiary education from the State to the individual viareduced State support and increased tuition rates. The increased cost commonly increases the time it takes to complete thedegree, and our ability to help is limited by a significant under-funding in scholarship support for students. In Geology, this isparticularly important, since there are the additional costs associated with fieldwork, particularly Field Camp and research forthe Senior Thesis, and additional financial help from the Department for those students in need commonly allows these studentsto succeed. Through the generous support of our alumni, faculty and friends, we were able to provide financial support to severalstudents to assist with the costs of field camp in 2006. But we must do more.

Please consider strengthening your connection to the Department. I ask you to join with me and the faculty in supporting ourstudents reach their goals. I invite you to join the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences as members of theDean’s Circle (gift level >$2,000) or the Newton Society (gift level >$1,000). An envelope is enclosed, giving you a convenientopportunity to participate, right now, in the exciting and important work that our students and faculty are doing.

You can assist us to support future generations of Geology majors by earmarking your tax-deductible gift for Geology.

Your generous help allows us to provide grants to undergraduate students from the Fernow Field Fund to assist with the costs ofField Camp, and to award prizes for the Best Senior Thesis from the Stifel Undergraduate Research Fund and for the Best

(cont. on back cover)

ety of Washington, the oldest society ofits kind in the US. The GSW holds meet-ings with three 20 minute talks from lo-cal and regional geologists at the Cos-mos Club in Dupont Circle about once amonth. If you live in the region, pleaseconsider joining this supportive society(http://www.gswweb.org).

Front row (Faculty), left to right: Karen Prestegaard, Ann Wylie, Rich Walker, Nick Collins, Bill McDonough, James Farquhar, PhilPicolli, Andy Campbell, Igor Puchtel, Mike Brown, Aaron Martin, Phil Candela, Roberta Rudnick, Sarah Penniston-Dorland, Sash Heir-Majumder, John Merck, Jay Kaufman.Second row along stairs (Graduate Students and Research Associates), left to right: Andy Masterson, Ryan Kerrigan, KateScheiderich, Rachel Potter, Kristin Miller, Erik Hankin, Zachary Blanchet, Tom Ireland, Adam Mansur, Melissa Wilmot, Rick Arevalo,Barry Reno, Jingao Liu, Kristina Brody, Chrisy France, Yan Chen, Lin Qiu, Katya Klochko, Nick Geboy, Michael Mengason, TraceyCentorbi, Tetsuya Yokoyama, Keiko Yokoyama, Todd Karwoski, Noah MillerBack row (Staff), left to right: Dorothy Brown, Ginette Villenuve, Jeanne Martin, Sandy Romeo, Rosalind PinkardNot shown (Faculty): Tom Holtz, E-An Zen, Luke Chang (emeritus), Pete Stifel (emeritus); (Research Associates): Sonja Aulbach, RalfHalama, Fauna Korhonen; (Research Assistants): Richard Ash, Dan Earnest; (Graduate Students): Margaret Baker, Jeremy Bellucci,Pramod Doguparty, Heather Franz, Jenise Honesto, Adrian Hughes, David Johnston, Gwen Rhodes, Ruth Schulte, Brian Tattich

2006 Department of Geology, University of Maryland

Graduate Student Presentations from the Chang Graduate Research Fund. The Hutton General Fund is used to address otherneeds in our drive for excellence in Education. In the future we aim to offer funded Summer Internships to undergraduatestudents.

Gifts to the Department of Geology also may be made directly to the Department by check or online (http://www.geol.umd.edu/pages/contribute.htm) using a credit card. Contributions to the Department of Geology by check should be made out to theUniversity of Maryland College Park Foundation with “Geology” in the memo. To ensure that Geology is the receiver of your giftto the University of Maryland, please be careful when completing the Online Gift Form. On line two, please scroll down to “Other:Specify the gift designation in the following field”, and on the third line in response to the question “Specify “Other” Fund orSchool/College” insert “Geology”. If you do not change these items, Geology will not receive your gift.

I want to thank those of you who responded last year, and on behalf of the Department, offer my thanks, in advance, for your earlyand positive response to this request for your help this year.

Michael Brown