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GEOLOGYDepartment of

Rendering of the new Carlile GeologyResearch Building to be completed fall 2008

GEOLOGYAlumni Newsletter October 2008Alumni Newsletter October 2008

Department of

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Fall 2007 Welcome Picnic at the Mayborn Museum

Message from the Chair, Steve DrieseThe 2007-08 Academic Year for the Geology Department

This Year’s Geology NewsletterTheme: Searches and construction,both signs of changes for Geology!

During this academic year the GeologyDepartment conducted searches for threeseparate faculty positions, which is a record, Iam told by my colleagues in the Department.And it appears that we have made successfulhires in all three (read more to hear about thelatest new Geology faculty members). After oursadness in losing the old Annex, we now have anewly constructed Carlile Geology ResearchBuilding that is attached to the Baylor SciencesBuilding. Purposefully designed and well-constructed, it is a beautiful facility, even for“dirty” activities involving sand and mud!(Please see the accompanying photos ofconstruction.)

And of course we look forward to seeingall of you alumni again at the GeologyAlumni Homecoming event on Fridayevening, October 31st, 2008, from 7:00-9:00 PM in the 4th floor clocktower (roomE401) of the Baylor Sciences Building,and around the elevators at the Geologyend of the 4th floor. Come visit with formerfaculty, classmates, and staff!

Administrative, Faculty, andStaff Changes:

After intensive national searches conductedin the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008, we havesuccessfully hired three new faculty membersin Geology. Dr. Jay Pulliam was hired as thenew W.M. Keck Professor of Geophysics. Aseismologist, Jay is a graduate of the Universityof California at Berkeley, and was formerly aResearch Scientist at the University of Texas-Austin in the Geophysical Research Institute.You can read more about him in a later article.Dr. Daniel Peppe was hired as a new AssistantProfessor of Geology, emphasizing paleoclima-tology. A paleomagnetist and paleobotanist,Dan is a graduate of Yale University and will bejoining the Department in August of 2009after he completes a post-doctoral appointmentat Wesleyan University. Dr. Boris Lau was hiredas a new Assistant Professor of Geology,emphasizing contaminant hydrogeology. Ananoparticle specialist working in saturatedflow systems, Boris is a graduate of theUniversity of Wisconsin at Madison (inEnvironmental Engineering) and was formerlya post-doctoral researcher at Duke University.He will be joining the Department in Januaryof 2009. You can also read more about him ina later article.

Dr. Stacy Atchley was promoted to the rankof full Professor in the spring of 2008, and inaddition, was appointed for 3 years as the newAssociate Chair of Geology. He had previously

served 5 years as the Graduate ProgramDirector. Dr. Rena Bonem graciously agreed toserve another 3 year term as UndergraduateProgram Director, and currently advises allundergraduate majors in our program. Dr.Shane Prochnow (Baylor Geology Ph.D.graduate) has left the Center for SpatialResearch in the summer of 2008, to join the ITgroup at ExxonMobil in Houston, TX. He wasinstrumental in providing excellent instruc-tion for the Geology Department as a part-timelecturer for our two GIS courses, and will begreatly missed. The Department is currentlysearching for a ½ time lecturer in GIS, afterUniversity approval of a request for thatposition.

Fellowship Events:The annual late summer Welcome Picnic

was once again held in August of 2007 forfaculty, graduate and undergraduate students,spouses and children, but this time indoors atthe Mayborn Museum on the Baylor Universitycampus, in an attempt to move the event outof the heat and humidity to a more comfort-able environment. But the indoor atmospherewas just not the same as having a real outdoorpicnic, so the event is once again scheduled tobe held in the backyard at Steve and MarylaineDriese’s home in McGregor in August of 2008.The Geology Alumni Homecoming Event withfood and refreshments was again hosted by theGeology Department in the Baylor SciencesBuilding in November of 2007 (see photo-graphs later in newsletter). Steve and

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Dr. & Mrs. Don Parker & Dr. Rena Bonem at the2007 Christmas Party

Marylaine Driese held their annual ChristmasParty for faculty and staff in December of 2007at their home. And the Geology Departmentheld its second annual Spaghetti Supper eventat the Harrington House on the BaylorUniversity campus in April of 2008 for faculty,staff, graduate and undergraduate students,and their spouses and children. Dr. Driese gaveout some “real awards” to mainly undergradu-ate students, (which are described in laterstory) followed by “tongue-in-cheek” presenta-tions. Two prospective future Geology students(one 5th and one 6th grader) from the WacoRapaport Academy also attended the event.

Development Efforts and GeologyAlumni Events:

The Baylor Geology Alumni Board ofAdvisors held a business meeting in theafternoon, prior to the Geology AlumniHomecoming Event in November of 2007. TheBoard met with all of the College of Arts andSciences Development Officers, which includedEric Abercrombie, Rose Youngblood, and KarenMartin, in order to talk about ways in whichBoard members can work with the Departmentand the Development Office to identifypotential donors, and to initiate and conductspecial fund-raising projects. They alsodiscussed planning for a Baylor Geologyalumni reception, which was held on April21st, 2008 in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in SanAntonio, in conjunction with the AAPG-SEPMAnnual Meeting.

The Baylor Geology Alumni event in SanAntonio was attended by an estimated 35-40people, and included several DevelopmentOffice staff (Eric and Rose) and A & S CollegeDean Lee Nordt, as well as Drs. Driese andAtchley (see related photos in this newsletter).There was much fellowship and “catchingup”, and great food provided by alumnus JackTrice and his wife Cindy. Afterwards Dr. Driesegave a brief Departmental update and Dr.Atchley spoke of the accomplishments of theApplied Petroleum Studies Group, and the needto secure resources to support a second facultymember in Petroleum Geology in order tomeet student demand. A second Baylor GeologyAlumni event is planned for the GSA Annual

meeting that will be held in early October of2008 in Houston, so be on the look out if youare attending that meeting, and we hope to seeyou there!

Dr. Driese and his wife Marylaine, with Dr.Harold Beaver and wife Dorcas, and Dean Nordtand wife Kathy, also attended a BaylorUniversity Philanthropy Banquet andcelebration on April 18th in which Dr. KenCarlile and his wife Celia were honored fortheir generous support of the Geology Depart-ment and Baylor University. The event was heldin the Ferrell Center, which was transformedfrom a basketball arena to a formal banquethall. BA Earth Science student Janet Cabeen,along with Drs. Driese and Beaver, were filmedin advance of the event and appeared on the“jumbotron” expressing thanks to the Carlilesfor all that they had done for the GeologyDepartment.

The Elan Allen Field Safety Award becamefully endowed in 2008, and two M.S. studentsworking with Dr. Peter Allen were honored asthe first recipients of the awards (see separatearticle on student awards). Baylor Geologyalumna Marlow Anderson-Newton wasinstrumental in seeing that the Endowmentbecame a reality, and we thank her for hergenerous efforts. We also hope that this fundensures safe practice in the field for studentsengaged in field work.

A mineral collection was contributed to theGeology Department through a bequest fromthe estate of Mr. Samuel L. Murphy. Thiscollection of more than 5,000 specimens willbe used by our Geology Department to benefitthe faculty, students and visitors of BaylorUniversity.

Graduate Program:The Department successfully recruited 7

new graduate students in the fall of 2007 (3Ph.D. and 4 M.S. students), 2 new Ph.D.students in the spring of 2008, and 7 newstudents (4 M.S. and 3 Ph.D.) in the fallsemester of 2008. Of the 22 graduate studentsin residence during the 2007-2008 academicyear the Department had 15 students supportedas Graduate Teaching Assistants, plus 6students supported on externally funded

research grants, which is a record for theDepartment! The graduate student body is nowapproximately 50% Ph.D. and 50% M.S.students. All of our 2007-2008 M.S. graduatessecured employment in the oil and gasindustry or in the environmental industry.Recent M.S. graduates going into the petro-leum industry had job offers ranging from$80-$90K, and Ph.D. job offers are as high assix-figures! These offers reflect not only thequality of our M.S. and Ph.D. programs, butalso the critical shortage of trained geoscien-tists relative to current industry demand.Geology Ph.D. candidates published 7 researchpapers in peer-reviewed journals and 2 of thePh.D. dissertation proposals were latersubmitted as grant proposals to the NationalScience Foundation.Undergraduate Program:

The enrollments in Geology major coursessuch as mineralogy, paleontology, structuralgeology, petrology and stratigraphy are onlyslightly higher compared to the past academicyear – this is very surprising in view of thecurrent “hot” employment market in geology,which normally translates to rapid growth inthe numbers of majors in Geology programs.We are still seeing only modest growth in ournumbers of B.S. majors in Geology (currently50) that almost certainly correlates withincreasing prices of a barrel of crude oil(currently at record high levels). Anothermeasure of growth is that the summer field

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camp course in 2007 had 6 students, and in2008 it had 10 students! The Geo 43C1capstone colloquium course had 7 students inthe spring of 2007, and 6 in the spring of 2008.The number of students majoring in Geophys-ics (B.S.) has been relatively low but showssigns of recent increases (to 4 students).Numbers of majors in both the B.A. inGeography and Earth Sciences are bothcurrently low (2 and 4, respectively). FiveBaylor Geology undergraduate students arecurrently engaged in Senior Thesis projectsunder the direction of faculty members. Fourundergraduate geology field assistantssupported by the James W. Dixon Undergradu-ate Field Assistant award helped graduatestudents in the summer of 2007, and threemore will be helping graduate students in thesummer of 2008 as well.

Ms. Sharon Browning, the new Geolaboratory coordinator has been exploring bothrevision and consolidation of the currentplethora of introductory course laboratoriesoffered in Geology and Earth Science in orderto streamline lab course preparations and stillmaintain student satisfaction with ourfreshman courses.

Research Productivity:Research accomplishments for the Geology

Department for the 2007 calendar yearincluded 17 publications, 41 professionalpresentations, and circa $750K in externalfunding. There are also 14 papers for 2008already published, accepted or in press as ofMay, 2008. Journals in which articles by BaylorGeology faculty were published include:Biogeochemistry, Bulletin of Volcanology,Chemosphere, Chinese Scientific Bulletin,Geoderma, Geological Society of AmericaBulletin, Geology, Geophysics, HydrologicalProcesses, International Journal ofEcohydrology and Hydrobiology, Journal ofBiogeography, Journal of Geology, Journalof Hydrology, Journal of SedimentaryResearch, Palaeo3 (Palaeogeography,Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology), PlainsAnthropologists, Quaternary Research, SoilScience Society of America Special Publica-tions, and Vadose Zone Journal.

Abstracts or posters were presented at theGeological Society of America Annual Meetingin Philadelphia (11 papers!), 4th SWATInternational Conference, TRRMS, Associationof Environmental and Engineering Geologists,Society of Exploration Geophysicists, AmericanGeophysical Union Annual Meeting, Texas A &M University Soil Survey and Land ResourcesWorkshop, US Department of Energy ProjectReview Meetings, Workshop on TeachingGeophysics in the 21st Century, the TexasSection American Society of Civil Engineers,the Tulsa Geological Society, the TexasAcademy of Science, International Symposiumon Asian Monsoon Under Global Warming,International Symposium on Paleopedologyand Landscape Evolution, and the Society ofAmerican Archeologists – as is apparent, BaylorGeology research has been presented at a largenumber of professional organizations!

Some major grants were awarded to BaylorGeology faculty this past year. Dr. Steve Driesesecured a National Science Foundation (NSF)grant to study the mineral siderite in soils andits relationship to temperature, for use inpaleoclimate studies in paleosols containingsiderite. Dr. Joe Yelderman received three newresearch grants from the Texas Commission onEnvironmental Quality for wetland andwastewater research. Both Dr. Steve Dworkinand Dr. Stacy Atchley received support from theoil and gas industry (EnCana Oil and Gas(USA), Inc., and Auriga Energy, Inc., respec-tively) for applied petroleum studies research.Dr. John Dunbar continues to be supported ona US Department of Energy (DOE) researchgrant to use resistivity methods to survey theGulf of Mexico for gas hydrates. Dr. JordanFeng continues on an NSF grant to reconstructclimate for the past 50,000 years in centralAsia. Drs. Stacy Atchley and Lee Nordt continuewith a Petroleum Research Fund (PRF) grantto study the sequence-stratigraphy andpaleoclimatology in Triassic paleosol-bearingalluvial successions. And Drs. Peter Allen andJohn Dunbar completed a USDA-funded projectevaluating the use of Lake Whitney as a sourceof potable water.

This increased emphasis on publishing,giving professional presentations, and securing

external funding is part of an ongoing effort toincrease Geology Department visibility at anational level. (For a complete summary seethe Geology Department 2007-2008 ResearchReport available on the Geology Department’swebsite)

Guest Lecturers for Geology 5050Colloquium Series:

The Geology 5050 Colloquium Seriescontinued with regular schedule of talks heldat 3:30 PM in room E231 on Friday afternoons,and we continued to hold a 3:00 PM receptionprior to each guest lecture in the 4th floorclocktower, as well as occasional Saturday fieldtrip and short course experiences. The Depart-ment continues to support funding for up to 4to 5 far-away (outside of driving distance)speakers each semester, in an effort to increaseDepartment visibility at a national level and toexpose Geology students to researchers fromacross the country.

Notable out-of-town guest speakers in thefall semester of 2007 included Dr. LynnSoreghan (Univ. of Oklahoma); Dr. ChrisFielding (Univ. of Nebraska); Dr. DonMcGookey (Midland, TX); Dr. Jeff Wilcox(Univ. of North Carolina-Asheville); Dr. MayaElrick (Univ. of New Mexico); Dr. Julia Sankey(Cal State Univ.-Stanislaus); Dr. AnthonyRunkel (Minnesota Geol. Survey); Dr. KirkJohnson (Denver Museum, AAPG DistinguishedLecturer); Dr. Christa Ziegler (ExxonMobil,Houston); and Dr. Paul McCarthy (Univ. ofAlaska-Fairbanks). Dr. Stacy Atchley coordi-nated this Geo 5050 seminar series, which wasexcellent.

Notable out-of-town guest speakers in thespring semester of 2008 included Dr. SusanEriksson (UNAVCO); Dr. Chris Mathewson(Texas A&M University); Dr. Russell Davies(Rock Deformation Research, USA); Dr. KeithSverdrup (NSF and Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee); Dr. Nancy McMillan (New MexicoState University); Dr. Judith Chester (TexasA&M University); Dr. Jay Pulliam (Univ. ofTexas-Austin); Dr. Constantin Cranganu (CityUniversity of New York-Brooklyn); Dr. DanielPeppe (Yale Univ.); Dr. Yongxiang (Frank) Li(Tulane Univ.); Dr. Ranjan Muttiah (Texas

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Christian Univ.); and Dr. Boris Lau (DukeUniv.). Dr. Vince Cronin coordinated this Geo5050 seminar series, which was excellent andwhich included many faculty search candi-dates inserted into the schedule at the lastminute.

Acquisition of New Teaching andResearch Equipment:

We have acquired a new Thermo-Electrongas-source stable isotope mass spectrometerthat will be shared by faculty and students inGeology, Biology, Environmental Sciences, andArcheology/Anthropology. It was secured withassistance of the Vice Provost for ResearchOffice (Dr. Truell Hyde). Measurement of ?C,?O, ?N, and ?D in solids and other naturalmaterials is essential to Baylor Scienceprograms, and we are very grateful to the VP forResearch and BSB Building Manager Dr. JimKarban for acquisition of this vital piece ofinstrumentation. Several geochemistry courseswill use the instrument for teaching, andstudents and faculty will no longer need todrive to UT-Austin to use their facility. Dr. SteveDworkin will be the initial director of thislaboratory, but we hope to be approved toconduct a search for a Baylor University-supported instrumentation technician duringthe 2010 budget year.

We still have a Geology “wish-list” forequipment items ranging from $1K to $400K,and we welcome alumni support at all levelsin our attempts to modernize the Department’sequipment base. Dr. Ken carlisle has pledgedfinancial help with setting up the paleomag-netism laboratory for Dr. Daniel Peppe, whichrequires a special shielded room and expensivedemagnetizing instrumentation to accompanythe magnetometer. And Dr. Boris Lau is also inneed of additional research equipment for hisnew nanoparticle laboratory.

Construction of a New CarlileGeology Research Building:

Thanks to an initial gift by Dr. Ken Carlile,and generous additional support by BaylorUniversity, a new Carlile Geology ResearchBuilding was constructed during the summerof 2008, on a site situated on the southeasternedge of the Baylor Sciences Building. The new

5400 ft2 building includes six faculty labs, asmall teaching classroom for use with labsections and storage space for soil, sedimentand rocks. Two of the new Geology facultymembers have asked for, and been assignedspace in this new facility. The building alsoprovides a location for the Department ofGeology to process samples (rock prep room)and a loading dock from which to stagefield activities. The Carlile Geology ResearchBuilding is named in honor of Quinton andMildred Carlile of Marshall, TX. Funds forBaylor’s first geology facility, also named intheir honor, were provided by the Carliles’three sons: David Carlile, Kenneth Carlileand Steve Carlile, and other generoussupporters of the Baylor geology program.

The Geology Department dirty sedimentand rock labs moved from their temporaryquarters in the O’Grady Building at 2nd andLaSalle during September of 2008 to thenew facility. Large Geology researchequipment, including the drill truck,research boats and trailers(and other items) is nowstored in space owned byBaylor University near thefootball stadium.

Construction of aNew HydrologyLaboratory for Dr.Peter Allen. A new hydrology laboratory isto be constructed for Dr. PeterAllen in the 4th floor C-wing(also known as “the waterwing”) of the Baylor SciencesBuilding. Dr. Allen previouslyhad no access to a laboratoryin the Baylor SciencesBuilding; however, funds weremade available for construc-tion of this lab through amajor strategic proposal(MSP) for enhancement ofthe Center for Reservoir andAquatic Systems Research(CRASR) approved by BaylorUniversity in August of 2007.

Major Strategic Proposal inTerrestrial Paleoclimatology:

The Major Strategic Proposal (MSP)entitled: “Research Initiative in TerrestrialPaleoclimatology at Baylor University”,was fully funded by Baylor University com-mencing in August 2007. It takes advantage ofthe existence of a core group of five faculty inGeology currently engaged in studies of thegeologic record of climate change and proposespurposeful growth in this niche area, which noother Geology Department in North Americacan lay claim to at this time. The plan callsfor the hire of three new faculty staged over fiveyears, to complement the existing faculty areasof expertise. Dr. Dan Peppe is the first of thethree new hires. An instrumentation techni-cian to be hired in 2009 is also budgeted as partof this MSP. A first-year assessment report forthe Terrestrial Paleoclimatology MSP isavailable on the Geology Department website.

Photos from the BaylorGeology Alumnireception held on April21, 2008 at the GrandHyatt Hotel in SanAntonio at the AAPGAnnual Meeting

Dr. Ken Carlile Bob Rodgers

Bill Walker

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Scenes from the New Carlile Geology Building

Geo Lake - An unmarked waterline. Installing new utilities pipes Foundation

Removing brick from exisiting building

Piling driller Foundation footers Foundation footers

New utilities pipes Site Grading

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From the professors....Dr. Peter AllenWell, this year was a blast. Peggy and I

traveled to Europe to attend and give a talk atthe 4th International SWAT Conference inDelft, Netherlands. We went via England, theChannel, Paris and Amsterdam. The confer-ence was held at the DELFT Institute ofHydrology and Hydraulics and was wellrepresented with over 100 participants fromall over the world who use the SWAT (SoilWater Assessment Tool) model. In this regard,Jeff Arnold (Research Professor and Directorof the ARS/USDA lab in Temple) and Iamong many others internationally areworking on the next edition of the SWATmodel. This will involve routing water,sediment and pollutants through thelandscape which should be a real breakthrough in large watershed modelingapproaches. Jeff and I and Bill Komar (ARS)are putting together a simple version of themodel for use by engineers and geomorpholo-gists to assess downcutting and erosion inurban watersheds. This should be out for betatesting this fall.

In the States, I went to the GSA Conferencein Denver where we interviewed for the newlyfilled Hydrogeology position. StephanieCapello and I presented a paper on her MSthesis work…meaning she did all the workand I watched her give an excellent talk. Ofcourse I found time to take my daughter

Annabel out to dinner; she will be a senior atthe University of Colorado.

I continue to teach Physical Geology andgraduate courses in Hydrology and Engineer-ing Geology although lately, the price of oil isaffecting the student’s interests. They arebeing drawn away from the pristine bluewaters of the surface into the sticky blacksubterranean realms delineated only by theinferences of e-logs and the occasionalseismic smiley face; Ok, and the salaries areincredible. Anyhow we are still having fun onmany of the same slopes and streams many ofyou remember (Childress, Ash, HydroCenter). Iam still requiring memos and reports…yeswith still the same level of resistance.

The Lake Whitney Salinity Project isbeginning to wind down and modeling hastaken over from data collection. This is goodas the sensors continue to drop and be lost dueto stressful weather conditions on the Lakeand we would be running out of replace-ments! The Whitney Team has expanded toinclude work by former student Bob Rodgerswho did a great report on the Salt Fork andsaline groundwater.

Masters research continues on area streamswith Stephanie Capello defending thissummer, Dave Coffman winding up this fall,and Matt Schreiner next Spring. Stephanie

Dave and Stephanie at a Woodbine outcrop on Timber Creek.

has produced the first study which linkslaboratory tests erodibility to actual fielderosion rates. This should be a widely usedpiece of work as we plan to move towardpublication later in the summer. Dave isworking on a Woodbine Stream in Lewisville.Beside monitoring and erodibility testing,Dave is working on new monitoring proce-dures with time-lapse photography andintegrated sediment sampling. Matt is justgetting started on GIS procedures to predicterosion set-backs for stream channels in theMetroplex. This fall we expect Joseph Sang, aKenyan, who is coming from Africa to workon his PhD. on modeling stream sedimenta-tion. Stephanie and Dave also assisted me ona Stream Erosion Assessment of Stewart Creekin the Colony and Timber Creek in Grape-vine. These involved both extensive fieldwork, laboratory work and reports to engi-neering firms to assess the fluvial evolutionand erosion status of these streams.

John Dunbar and I were part of a Work-shop given to the Texas American Society ofCivil Engineers in Austin, Texas on “StreamRestoration”. This was attended by over 100engineers from all over the State. John and Ialso went out to the Brady, Texas area alongwith Dave Coffman and Bob Wilkins toassess the chemical trap efficiency of 4floodwater retarding structures as part of andEPA Grant. This involved using kinematic

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Eager students examining a “flood level” onbeautiful Ash Creek. Right, examples of sampleextraction and the Jet-Test for soil erosion withStephanie and Dave on Stewart Creek.

GPS, fun four wheelers, the sub-bottomacoustical profiler and vibra-coring rig. Weeven came up with another impact rig whichis powered off a fence post driver for cores onland. The results will be worked up thissummer.

I also went up with the Engineering Firmof Freese and Nichols to assess their evalua-tion of Bois d’ Arc Creek for a future Dam sitein North Texas. This stream is in theBlackland Prairie but differs from the Wacoarea in that it has about 2X the runoff. Thisassessment is part of the 404 Process. Later onthis year, Dr. Craig MacCrae of Aquafor Beechin Ontario, Canada and I reviewed this report.

On the home front, Peggy and I still spendequal time on the I-35 Corridor splittingtime between Sarah and our two grandchil-dren and Waco. Maggie finished up herPediatric Nurse Practitioner MS and after atrip to New Zealand to visit her sister, Annabel(semester abroad in Christchurch), she willbe staring work in Norwood Massachusetts.

Well, again, it is always a treat when youall stop by…I’m sorry if I have missed someof you but it always the highlight of thesemester.

EnCana Oil Well Field TripApril, 2008

Accomplished petroleum geologist Josh Talbertexpounds upon the well logs for the site

Baylor students learning about oil wells

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I write this newsletter contribution havingjust returned from my 7th semi-annualGraduate Sequence Stratigraphy field course. For all of my former students that have takenthe course, you would still recognize itscontent and rigor, although I’ve modifiedsome of our field venues to include geo-graphic locations of ongoing research, e.g.,Big Bend National Park or Petrified ForestNational Park. The trip this year had thelargest enrollment on record with 12 studentsin attendance. The large enrollment slowed

us down a bit in the field, but even more sowhen it came to cooking and cleaning-up theevening meal. Yes, I still require that eachdinner-time meal include a main course, twosides and a desert, and that no dinner mealcan be repeated without unanimous votefrom the students….and yours truly. Mostnotable on this year’s trip was the weather. We typically have beautiful clear skies withhot days and cool nights. This year weendured a constant onslaught of bad weatherthat included overcast skies, rain, sleet/hail,gail-force winds, two tornadoes (from thesame wall cloud), and typically cool to colddaytime temperatures. We were shut out ofone campsite on the Wasatch Plateau ofcentral Utah due to snow, one campsite in theSan Rafael Swell of central Utah due toflooding, and one campsite in the GuadalupeMountains of southeastern New Mexico (Last

Dr. Stacy AtchleyChance Canyon) due to fire hazard. In spiteof everything, I still think that the studentswould say they had a great time and fantasticlearning experience on the trip. Very littlecourse content was compromised due to theadverse circumstances.

I’m currently advising five students ThreeM.S. and two Ph.D. My M.S. students includeNate Ball (B.S. Baylor University), ChrisGotcher (B.S. Midwestern State University)and Luke Hunt (B.S. McMaster University). Nate and Luke’s thesis projects will be derivedfrom an enhanced oil recovery project(sponsored by Husky Energy) that they will beworking on alongside me this summer inCalgary. My Ph.D. students are all co-advisedwith Drs. Nordt and/or Driese, and includeAislyn Trendell (B.S. McMaster University)and Michael Zahler (Northern ArizonaUniversity). Aislyn’s dissertation involvesportions of the Triassic Chinle Formation atPetrified Forest National Park, and Michael’sdissertation will likely involve the earlyTertiary of northwestern New Mexico. Theseare a great bunch of students and I’m reallyexcited about working with them!

My family is well, although they will notbe able to join me in Calgary this summerdue to our inability to locate accommoda-tions of adequate size. Consequently, I’ll bein Calgary solo for most of the summer,

although the plan is for Janelle and ourdaughters Dallas (age 15) and Audra (age 10)to join me for two weeks in July. Franklyspeaking, the girls are delighted to stay inWaco for the summer since they’ve only doneso once before. This will allow them to bewith their friends and participate in summercamps that they’ve missed in previous years. Our biggest news from the past year is thatwe’ve moved back to Waco from ChinaSpring. We decided to put Dallas back inprivate school, and as such, the long dailycommute no longer made sense. We sold ourhouse in March, and moved into a house innorth Waco. As far as plans for the upcomingyear, we hope to take a trip to Europe in Mayof 2009.

Dr. Stacy Atchley - Stratigraphy field course 2008

2008 Stratigraphy field course group

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Dr. Rena Bonem

With the increasing price of oil, this hasbeen another busy year for academicadvisement within the department with anincrease in undergraduate Geology majors.Many of the new majors are coming fromEngineering and Computer Science andPhysics. That means they already have themath background and can focus on GeologyCourses. The number grows daily right now,but I think there are about 50 undergradu-ates pursuing a B.S. in Geology. At the sametime, there are fewer Earth Science andGeography majors. Geophysics is alsoincreasing slowly and many students seemto be coming in with the skills necessary tohandle the program. The undergraduatestructure class will have the highestenrollment since the early 80’s with 28students because petrology will not beoffered this fall. Paleontology has 21students which suggest that our number ofmajors will probably end up about 60 to 80with the new students coming in this fall.

In the fall, I taught Invertebrate Paleon-tology and World Oceans and went to GSA inDenver. At GSA, I gave one of the presenta-tions in a workshop on UndergraduateRecruitment and Retention in the Geo-sciences. In the spring, I taught WorldOceans and Earth Through Time (Histori-cal) and tried to get over the allergies I havehad for the last year. Isaac Westfield iscompleting his M. S. and we will beattending the International Coral ReefSymposium this summer in Ft. Lauderdalewhere he will present a poster on the sourceof the sediment that is covering Pear TreeBottom reefs since construction of the newcoastal highway and the Bahia PrincipeHotel. Isaac was successful in obtaining inexternal grant support from GSA, Sigma Xi,Project Aware (IPADI) and Dallas Paleonto-logical Society to support his work.

On a personal note, my dachshund packis stable at 6 though I do have 2 fosters rightnow. Lucy and Tess have done very well withagility (Lucy has won lots of agility ribbonsand now has 14 titles to Tess’s 3). I am stillon the board for Central Texas DachshundRescue, Waco Agility Group, and Small PawsOver Texas Agility. There is never a quietmoment around my house!

As always, I look forward to seeing thosewho have not been around Baylor lately andhope that all of you will be able to comeand visit us soon.

Texas Academy of Science 2007 field trip toDinosaur Valley

Christmas 2007

Dinosaur Valley

Joey and Lilly

Tess at San Marcos

Lucy at San Marcos

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Dr. Vincent Cronin

Cindy Ellis Cronin and I celebrated the20th anniversary of our wedding this year.Kelly and Connor are busy as always and aredoing reasonably well.

This was also my 20th year teachinggeology as a university faculty member. Iwant to acknowledge and thank BrianBayliss, Lauren Seidman and Mark Millardfor their hard work, which resulted in theirgraduation with MS degrees in geologyduring 2007. All are (quite) gainfullyemployed in the oil business: Brian withDevon, Lauren with EOG Resources, and Markwith Pioneer Oil and Gas.

Newly recognized fault in outcrop along KananDume Road in the Santa Monica Mountainsabove Malibu. The main displacement zone isconveniently marked by a vertical white stripe,formed by vein calcite.

John Dunbar in a small-group discussion withDon Forsythe (Brown University), John Taber(Incorporated Research Institutions forSeismology — IRIS) and John Stockwell (Centerfor Wave Phenomena, Colorado School of Mines)at the NSF-sponsored workshop on TeachingGeophysics in the 21st Century. Thesegeophysicists are working at the University ofMichigan field station near Jackson, Wyoming.

Striated slip surface of fault on Kanan Dume Road,showing that this previously unknown fault has astrike-slip sense of motion with minor dip slip.

John Dunbar taking a photograph of the TetonRange while on a field trip associated with the“Teaching Geophysics in the 21st Century”workshop.

Newly recognized fault displacing a stream bednear Temple, Texas.

Ryan Lindsay visualizing the geometry of newlyfound faults near Temple, Texas.

Stephen Secrest visualizing the geometry ofnewly found faults near Temple, Texas.

Looking back on my first year as labcoordinator, I have found a professional andsupportive group of colleagues, graduatestudents, and staff here at Baylor. We arecontinuing to work together to make all of thefreshman labs a hands-on experience, whichshould result in more interest and enrollmentin our courses, as well as students who arebetter educated in science. In addition, I amattending a conference this summer hosted byCarleton College in Northfield, Minnesotawhose focus is teaching geosciences in the 21st

century. I anticipate meeting many newcolleagues in the field of geoscience andgaining even more ideas for our freshmancourses. I am proud to be able to assist thefaculty in the administration and improve-ment of labs, as we welcome new facultymembers and strive to maintain excellence inour undergraduate program.

On a personal note, we have adjusted wellto the move from Tennessee to Texas. Mydaughter has made many new friends here,and stays busy with softball and otherinterests. Our five cats look forward to chasingcrickets again as the weather warms up.

Sharon Browning

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I was reappointed as Chair of the GeologyDepartment for another three-year term, so Icontinue as theoretically a 50% administra-tor and 50% researcher/teacher. However, thespring semester of 2008 turned out to be anadministrative “bear” with having threefaculty searches, on top of the normaladministrative load of faculty performancereviews and budget preparation, pluscoordinating planning for construction ofthe new Carlile Geology Research Building.Of all of these administrative tasks the mostsatisfying is seeing the Department grow byaddition of new faculty and especially addingsome “young blood” to a faculty with manygray hairs. I was also elected President-elect ofSEPM (the Society for Sedimentary Geology)and will have much additional travel inconjunction with helping direct a 4000-member international society during thenext 2 years.

In the fall semester of 2007 I taught theGeo 5342 Micromorphology of Soils andPaleosols course to 6 students, and I alsotaught the graduate Seminar on GrantProposal-Writing to 3 Ph.D. students. In thespring semester of 2008 I had my usual Geo43C1 Senior Capstone Colloquium course,which had 6 students – a new twist for the43C1 course this year was that the studentshad the option to prepare a poster display for

the first annual Undergraduate Scholars Dayevent held on April 21st in the Ken and CeliaCarlile Atrium of the Baylor SciencesBuilding, and all of the students elected toparticipate.

I continued supervising four Ph.D.students and one Senior Thesis student. DebJennings has moved to Houston taking a jobwith Core Labs, and from there will completeher dissertation on Jurassic paleosols from theMorrison Fm. of the western U.S., and relatedstudies of barite-bearing soils from the US.Julia Kahmann Robinson continuesreconstructing the paleoclimate history andsequence stratigraphy of upper Mississippianpaleosol “cycles” in the Pennington Fm. ofsoutheastern Kentucky, and has one paperpublished in Palaeo3 and a second in theJournal of Geology, so she is 2/3 of the way tobeing able to defend her Ph.D. dissertation,which hopefully will occur in September of2008. Aaron Shunk continues researching thepaleoclimate records of late Miocene to earlyPliocene paleolacustrine and paleosinkholedeposits in eastern Tennessee and north-central Indiana, and has one paper in press inthe Journal of Paleolimnology and anotherin review in Palaeo3. Jason Mintz successfullydefended his Ph.D. dissssertation proposal inApril of 2008 and will be engaged in studiesof Middle Devonian paleosols in the Catskillsuccession of upstate New York. Jason also co-authored an NSF proposal, which was notfunded, to support his research that wassubmitted to the new program “Paleo-Perspectives on Climate Change”. AlexDixon’s Senior Thesis investigates MorrisonFm. paleosols and a fluvial sandstone andconglomerate succession in Utah, and heshould complete this research in the fallsemester of 2008.

My own research continues to focus onpaleoclimate and paleolandscape reconstruc-tions using fossil soils, or paleosols, as well ason studies of modern soil systems to developclimate proxies and analogs of ancient soils.I published 4 refereed journal articles in 2007

and have 4 papers accepted or in press for2008. I presented 3 papers, as either an authoror co-author, at the Geological Society ofAmerica Annual Meeting in Denver, was a co-author of 2 papers presented at the AmericanGeophysical Union meeting in San Franciscoand 1 paper at the AGU meeting inAculpulco. I also presented a paper for theTexas Soil Survey and Land ResourceWorkshop at Texas A & M University. I wasawarded an NSF grant proposal (with Drs.Greg Ludvigson and Luis González from theUniversity of Kansas Geology Department) onpaleoclimate reconstructions and moderncalibrations using pedogenic sphaerosiderite,and also submitted 2 additional NSF grantproposals in 2007, which were not funded. Isubmitted 2 new NSF proposals in 2008 thatalso were not funded; one is a detailedclimate study of the mid-Holocene in thesoutheastern US (collaborative with severalUniversity of Tennessee researchers) and theother is a study of Catskill paleosols in theDevonian of upstate New York, with StacyAtchley as a co-PI. I continue to work on thegenesis of clay-rich soils (Ultisols) nearKnoxville, TN, with Dr. Larry McKay (Univer-sity of Tennessee Department of Earth andPlanetary Sciences), as well as on climatestudies of Kenyan soils and Quaternarypaleosols, with Dr. Gail Ashley (RutgersUniversity Department of GeologicalSciences). I also began a new collaborativeproject with Lee Nordt, Dr. Mike Waters(TAMU Anthropology), Dr. Tom Hallmark(TAMU Soil and Crop Sciences) and Dr.Zheng-Hua Li (Tennessee Earth and PlanetarySciences) on a possible pre-Clovis archaeo-logical site near Salado, TX. I continue toserve my profession by reviewing submittedmanuscripts for many of the sedimentary andsoils journals, and am an Associate Editor forthe journal PALAIOS. I reviewed grantproposals for the National Science Founda-tion and the Petroleum Research Fund andcontinue to serve on the Editorial Board ofSedimentary Geology.

Dr. Steve Driese

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My family and I enjoyed a 1-week vacationin June last summer to Port Aransas with theDiaz-Granados family (Jim is Chair ofPsychology and Neuroscience at Baylor), andalso made a trip in August to see family inAtlanta, Chattanooga and Knoxville. I alsohad the opportunity to visit these same citiesin December after conducting a programevaluation of the Geography Department atthe University of Tennessee. Marylaine and Icompleted our outside patio and landscapingproject, complete with fish pond, fire andhorseshoe pits, and croquet course, so we areready to use the backyard for entertaining thissummer. Marylaine continues her part-timejob as archivist for McLennan CommunityCollege, and was involved in writing a paperon the early history of the land upon whichthe College was built – this even involvedvisiting some old, forgotten cemeteries andphotographing tombstones, when I was thefield assistant! Mary Catherine has graduatedfrom the 10th grade at Midway High School, isdoing well in her pre-AP courses and inregional swim meets, and after turning 16became a licensed driver! She is already beingdeluged with ads from Colleges and Universi-ties competing for her attention, and isthinking about journalism as a possiblemajor. Our oldest son Nathan is continuingin the Ph.D. program in Philosophy at theUniversity of Kansas, and presented his firstprofessional paper at a national philosophymeeting held at the University of Florida. Ouryounger son Trevor still lives in Knoxville andworks for a mortgage company however, hehas aspirations of continuing graduate workin photojournalism. In spite of the distance,Nathan, Trevor and in-laws Tex and DottieHight, manage to make frequent visits toWaco. Steve and Marylaine continue to bededicated Lady Bears’ season basketball fans,and also enjoy singing together in thechancel choir at First Presbyterian Church,where Steve also serves on the Session.

Publications:Driese, S.G., Orvis, K.H., Horn, S.P., Li, Z.-

H., and Jennings, D.S., 2007, Paleosolevidence for Quaternary uplift and for

climate and ecosystem changes in theCordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica:Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,Palaeoecology, v. 248, p. 1-23.

Driese, S.G., Medaris, L.G., Ren, M.,Runkel, A.C., and Langford, R.P., 2007,Differentiating pedogenesis from diagenesisin early terrestrial paleoweathering surfacesformed on granitic composition parentmaterials: Journal of Geology, v. 115, p. 387-406.

Miller, D.L., Mora, C.I., and Driese, S.G.,2007, Isotopically concentric growth in largecarbonate nodules in Vertisols: implicationsfor climate and ecosystem assessments:Geoderma, v. 142, p. 104-111.

Vulava, V.M., McKay, L.D., Driese, S.G.,Menn, F.-M., and Sayler, G.S., 2007, Distribu-tion and transport of coal tar-derived PAHs infine-grained residuum: Chemosphere, v. 68, p.554-563.

Driese, S.G., Li, Z.-H., and McKay, L.D.,2008, Evidence for multiple, episodic, mid-Holocene Hypsithermal recorded in two soilprofiles along an alluvial floodplain catena,southeastern Tennessee, USA: Quaternary

Research, v. 69, p. 276-291.

Driese, S.G., and Medaris, L.G., 2008,Evidence for biological and hydrologicalcontrols on the development of aPaleoproterozoic paleoweathering profile inthe Baraboo Range, Wisconsin, USA: Journalof Sedimentary Research, v. 78, p. 443-457.

Kahmann, J.A., and Driese, S.G., 2008,Paleopedology and geochemistry of LateMississippian (Chesterian) PenningtonFormation paleosols at Pound Gap, Kentucky,USA: Implications for high-frequency climatevariations: Palaeogeography,Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 259, p.357-381.

Kahmann, J.A., Seaman, J., III, and Driese,S.G., 2008, Evaluating trace elements aspaleoclimate indicators: multivariatestatistical analysis of Late MississippianPennington Formation paleosols, Kentucky,USA: Journal of Geology, v. 116, p. 254-268.

Presentations:Sankey, J.T., Atchley, S., Nordt, L., Dworkin,

S., and Driese, S., 2007, Dinosaurs and dirt:dinosaur paleoecology, paleosol stratigraphy,and isotope geochemistry from the upper

(1) Late Pleistocene to Holocene paleoclimate records from southeastern US, Gulf of Mexico and USHigh Plains. (From Driese et al. (2008) Quaternary Research, v. 69, p. 276-291.)

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Aguja Formation (Late Cretaceous: lateCampanian - early Maastrichtian), BigBend National Park, Texas: submitted to 67th

Annual Meeting, Society of VertebratePaleontology, Austin, Texas. Journal ofVertebrate Paleontology, Abstracts of Papers.

Driese, S.G., Medaris, L.G., Ren, M.,Runkel, A.C., and Langford, R.P., 2007,Differentiating pedogenesis from diagenesisin early terrestrial paleoweathering surfacesformed on granitic composition parentmaterials: GSA Annual Meeting in Denver,CO.

Jennings, D.S., and Driese, S.G., 2007,Using comparative micromorphology andgeochemistry to distinguish paleocatenarelationships in barite-bearing paleosols:GSA Annual Meeting in Denver, CO.

Dixon, A.H., Driese, S.G., and Jennings,D.S., 2007, Provenance and the earlydiagenetic alteration of volcaniclasticmaterial incorporated in fluvial channelsandstone deposits, Morrison Fm. nearCapitol Reef National Park, Utah: GSAAnnual Meeting in Denver, CO.

Kahmann, J.A., Seaman, J., III, andDriese, S.G., 2007, Multivariate statisticalanalysis of Late Mississippian paleosol traceelement chemistry and application tointerpreting pedogenic processes and climatethrough time: American Geophysical UnionMeeting, San Francisco, CA.

Shunk, A.J., Dunbar, J., and Driese, S.G.,2007, Solar periodicities and a monsoonclimate phase recorded at the latest Mioceneto earliest Pliocene Gray Fossil Site,northeastern TN, USA: American Geophysi-cal Union Meeting, Acapulco, Mexico.

Shunk, A.J., Driese, S.G., Farlow, J.O., andFluegeman, R., 2007, A rare Early Pliocenerecord of paleoclimate from north-centralIndiana, USA: American Geophysical UnionMeeting, San Francisco, CA.

Photograph of upper 1 m of 1.7 Ga Baraboopaleoweathering profile examined in drill core613. (From Driese and Medaris (2008)Journal of Sedimentary Research, July issue.)

Photographs of slabbed speleothem depositssampled from cave in eastern Tennessee anddated using TIMS U/Th. (From Li et al., inpreparation.)

Undergraduate Scholars Day PostersDominated by Geology Students

URSA (Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Achievement) sponsored the first BaylorUniversity Undergraduate Scholars Day programs in Spring 2008. Twenty-nine oral presenta-tions in social science and the arts were given on April 22, 2008 in the Bill Daniel StudentCenter. On April 24, thirty-one poster presentations in science, engineering, business, andeducation were displayed from noon until 4 PM in the Ken and Celia Carlile Atrium of theBaylor Science Building. Eight of the poster presentations were given by Geology majors.Physics came in second with 3 presentations. Geology student participants were: GabrielaKeeton (Grain Size Distribution and Organic Matter Content from Paleosols that Span theCretaceous-Tertiary Boundary, Big Bend, Texas, senior thesis under Steve Dworkin); DavisWalker (The Anatomy of Petroleum Exploration in the Gulf Coast, colloquium project); AdamDamman (Archean Glaciation: Mechanisms and Termination, colloquium project); StephenSecrest (Newly Recognized Faults near Belton, Texas: A Display of Preliminary Results andMeasurements, senior thesis under Vince Cronin); Alexander Dixon and Debra Jennings(Provenance and the Early Diagenetic Alteration of Volcanoclastic Material Incorporated inFluvial Channel Sandstone Deposits, Morrison Formation Near Capitol Reef National Park,Utah, senior thesis under Steve Driese); Chris D’Aiuto (Understanding and Solving WaterIssues, colloquium project); Ryan Lindsay (Applying SLAM to the Wells, Nevada Earthquake,February 21, 2008, senior thesis under Vince Cronin); and Michelle Diehl (The North AmericanOutlook for Petroleum, colloquium project). Deadline for submission of abstracts for theSpring 2009 Scholars Day will be in late fall 2008.

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Dr. John Dunbar2008 was a year of finishing externally

funded projects for John Dunbar. A jointBiology/Geology study of salinity in LakeWhitney, funded by the EPA, a study ofreservoir survey methods, funded by the TexasWater Development Board, and a survey offlood control reservoirs in McCullochCounty, funded by the Texas Soil and WaterConservation Board were all brought tosuccessful conclusions during the year. Johnand graduate students Sikiru Amidu andHeidi Estep presented results of these andother projects at the SAGEEP conference inPhiladelphia in the April. One of thehighlights of the trip was trying out a rangeof near surface geophysical instruments inthe mall between Independence Hall andLiberty Bell Center. Sikiru defended hisdissertation in July and has moved on to aposition with ExxonMobil. Heidi isteaching geology at Houston CommunityCollege while finishing her dissertation.

In June John went on a research cruise toMississippi Canyon Block 118, Gulf of

Mexico as part of his DOE funded electricalresistivity study of methane hydrates. Thecruise was to be the initial sea trial of John’snew seafloor resistivity instrument. However,during the initial experiments, sharks bit off200 m of the 500 m long electrode array.While sharks are known to bite seismicstreamers, it is rare. John seems to have hadsome bad luck. After repairing the electrodearray, John will try again in the fall. Theworst part of the experience for John, as wifeAnna describes it, was having to explain toDOE how “a shark ate his homework”.

On the home front, John’s daughterTamura is 15 years old and will enter the10th grade at Vanguard College PreparatorySchool in the fall. She attended Baylor’sUniversity for Young People in June. In Julyshe visited Vanderbilt University and theGreat Smoky Mountains National Park inTennessee with her parents. She is alsolooking forward to volunteering at theMayborn Museum and learning to drive thissummer!

John’s wife, Anna, who is a 1978 BaylorGraduate, continues her job as the RegionalDirector of the Waco office of the TexasCommission on Environmental Quality.Anna doesn’t expect the work in the Wacoregion will slow down anytime soon. Onweekends, she is enjoying taking classesnecessary to become a certified MasterNaturalist. The Master Naturalist programis coordinated by Texas Agrilife Extension(formerly Texas Extension Service) andTexas Parks and Wildlife. The mission ofthe program is to develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education,outreach, and service dedicated to thebeneficial management of natural resourcesand natural areas within their communi-ties. The Master Naturalists are not nudists(as one person once inquired) nor are theyenvironmental extremists. They are just agroup of folks interested in the naturalworld around us – a group in which Annafits in quite nicely.

John Dunbar with seafloor resistivity instrument

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Dr. Steve Dworkin

This was a busy year that included quite abit of field work and lab work. At the end oflast summer, Isaac Westfield (mastersstudent), two undergrad field assistants(Emyris Lane and Adam Damman), Sandy(my dear wife) and me all went to Jamaicato investigate reef mortality. We sampledmarine sediments, soils, and rocks. InOctober Stacy, Lee and I went to the PetrifiedForest National Park and began measuringsection for a new terrestrial paleoclimatereconstruction project. Right before Christ-mas, Lee Nordt and I took two undergradu-ates, who are doing senior theses, to Big Bendand we sampled and described paleosols. Wewent back to the Petrified Forest over Spring

break, this time with two more undergradu-ates who are doing senior theses.

In the lab, I worked on getting the newlaser grain-size analysis instrument up andrunning. My senior thesis student, GabbyKeeton, has now generated quite a bit ofdata on this instrument and she presentedher results in a student research day atBaylor. I also worked on developingsemiquantitative mineral abundancedeterminations on the X-ray diffractometer.Jenny Seitz, who is also working on a seniorthesis, used this method to investigate theintensity of mineral weathering onpaleosols in Big Bend. The two other seniorthesis students, Lisa Turpin and AmyFitzpatrick, have started to generate databut are in the early stages of their projects.EnCana donated a planetary ball mill toour laboratory, so we can now crush uprocks in an efficient manner. The lastexciting addition to our laboratoryfacilities is a mass spectrometer that willapparently be installed some time in theupcoming year.

I have two other masters students whoare studying organic geochemistry. StephenClark has been gathering Cretaceous rocksin central Texas in order to quantify andcharacterize the organic matter within

them. Jana Edwards is studying the organicgeochemistry of the Barnett shale in a studythat is being supported by EnCana.

If you throw in trips to GSA and AGU, mynew responsibilities as graduate programdirector, chairing the search committee forthe geophysics position, and a ski trip toColorado – this was a busy year!

Sandy and Steve at Carnival

Steve and Sandy in Jamaica

Geochemistry Class Project Gabby Keeton performing grain size analysis

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JanaEdwards in the lab Funnel Heads: Gary Stinchcomb, Holly Meier, Jason Mintz

Jenny Seitz running samples on the X-ray machine Lisa Turpin and GabbyKeeton in the lab

Jana Edwards collects samples for the isotopes class Isaac Westfield and Emyris Lane in Jamaica

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All the boys on the edge of the Grand Canyon

Amy Fitzpatrick, Lisa Turpin, & Gabriela Keeton

Animals in camp at Yellowstone

Breakfast in Yellowstone Colby Wright, Jenny Seitz, Gabriela Keeton, & Alex Dixion

Dr. Don Parker

Dr. Steve Dworkin

Field Camp 2008

Field Camp 2008

Sandy Dworkin

Steven Secrest, the lunch lady

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Gabby & Jenny

Gabriela Keeton &Jenny Seitz

Gabby, Lisa, & Sandy

Hard at work Laundromat fun

looking for quartz

Field Camp 2008

Steve, Sandy, Ryan, Steven, & Adam

Sic Em Bears

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Dr. Zhaodong (Jordan) Feng

Last YLast YLast YLast YLast Year:ear:ear:ear:ear: 2007 was not supposed to bemy lucky year (I “inherited” my superstitionspirit from my Chinese ancestors) and indeedI had a worst fieldtrip experience ever. A groupof us spent nearly two months in Kazakhstan(2007 summer) drilling Balkhash Lake andwe were emotionally tortured and financiallydrained by the corrupted Kazakhstan politicalsystem. Following example (just one ofmany) may be sufficient to illustrate mypoint. Entering Kazakhstan and preparing forthe fieldtrip within Kazakhstan nearlyconsumed all our VISA-granted time (30days) and we have to extend our visas. Wepaid the fees and provided all requireddocuments (seven official documents wereneeded), but we were rejected three times forno reason.

This YThis YThis YThis YThis Yearearearearear: 2008 may be my lucky yearand it is the year (among my 18 years ofproposal writings) that marked my maximaleffort in proposal submissions: I submitted asmany as 5 proposals in a single year (I amsorry for myself: I have been using thenumber of proposal submissions to measurethe level of my academic effort and using thenumber of funded proposals to measure thelevel of my academic success). Following isthe list of those five proposals: (1) High-resolution Holocene Bioclimatic Reconstruc-tion from Lacustrine Sequences in the

Westerlies-Dominated Central Asia (to US.NSF); (2) Mid-Holocene Bioclimatic Changesin Central Plain of China and Their Archaeo-logical Implication (to US NSF); (3) MIS-3Bioclimatic Differentiation in the ChineseLoess Plateau and its Large-scale Significance(to US. NSF); (4) Climatic and Environmen-tal Changes in Northwestern Xinjiang ofChina since Late Glacial (to Chinese NSF),and (5) Investigating the Dynamics ofNature-Human Coupled Systems in AridCentral Asia (to Chinese Ministry of Sciencesand Technologies). I will let you know thelevel of my 2008-proposal success in nextannual letter.

TTTTTeaching:eaching:eaching:eaching:eaching: I offered EARTH SYSTEMSCIENCE (GEO-5389) for the first time atBaylor (it is the fifth time I taught thecourse). I have always enjoyed teaching thiscourse because it forces me to streamline myknowledge that I have accumulated for myresearch (I have been constantly and tirelesslyupgrading my knowledge in paleoclimateresearch). The streamlining processes in turnhelp me greatly in my research (e.g., paperand proposal writings). In addition, I havebeen benefited greatly from students’participation in the class (e.g., presentations

and final papers) that effectively expandedmy knowledge bases. Some of the students didextremely well. Some others may have feltoverwhelmed by my teaching (I did cover alot of ground in my lectures and asked themto read a lot too), but I am sure that they willappreciate some day what they have learned. Ihave to admit that I seem to have problem inattracting students in my EARTH SCIENCE(GEO-1408) teaching. My teaching of thesame course was reasonably well received inNew Jersey (I taught at Montclair State for 11years). My “inadequacy” at Baylor is probablydue to my accented and bookish English. Iam determined to do my best in my 1000-level class teaching, although I am aware ofthe fact that my English is going to be slowto improve after my being in USA for 23 years.

Daily Life:Daily Life:Daily Life:Daily Life:Daily Life: I have been trying to swim ondaily bases (for past 8 years), but the proposalwritings interrupted my routine twice thisyear (around January 15 and around March 1,2008). Shirley (my second daughter) has beendoing extremely well in her school, being astraight A student. She wants to work (for thefirst time) this summer if she can find a job.My first daughter, Xueyan, has been workingfor CitiGroup for 3 years now and is thinking

Zhaodong (Jordan) Feng in Ulaan Baatar, the capital city of Mongolian Republic

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of going to graduate school.

Personal Changes:Personal Changes:Personal Changes:Personal Changes:Personal Changes: Several “positive”changes resulted from passing one more year:2.2% increase in weight; 3.3% increase in grayhairs; 4.4% increase in facial wrinkles, 5.5%increase in waist. “Negative” changesoccurred only in following two areas: 3.333%decrease in height, 2.222% decrease in vision.I plan to improve those percentages incoming year.

Jordan and his Chinese colleagues were drillingLake Ugiy in western part of Mongolian Republic

Jordan was with Kazakhstan colleagues ineastern part of Kazakhstan Republic (samplingloess-paleosol sequences

Jordan with his colleague in western part of theChinese Loess Plateau, China (investigating soilerosion problems

Xi Gua: ... means watermelon. A shot of somelocal farmers and their produce. The watermelonis very good here and grown solely fromprecipitation derived from the monsoons... noirrigation.

Yardong: You can find these all over the plateau.They are typically found along or below paleosollayers. The enrichment of clay from soilweathering has reduced the permeability andacts as a natural “waterproofing”.

Master Li: This is a photo of Jin Gua Li andmyself. He is a local farmer that helped us digtrenches and steps to access the S5 and S4paleosols along the Luochuan section. It turnsout, he helped Tungsheng Liu over 20 yearsago along the same section! I was honored towork with him!!!

Aislyn Trendell & Dave Cleveland

2007 GSA Meeting

Sikiru Amidu Luke Hunt Stephanie Capello and Jason Mintz

LuochuanSection: This is THE classic section forChinese loess studies. The monument is a tributeto Tungsheng Liu and his pioneeringpaleoclimate work here (... Liu et al 1985, “Loessand the Environment”).

Gary Stinchcomb, Ph.D. StudentSummer Research Trip to China

22

Dr. Don Greene

In June, 2008 Don and Alison took anextended trip through the American west.This classic tour seemed to be a victory lap ofmost of the National Parks includingCarlsbad Caverns, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce,and Rocky Mountain. Of course they visitedmuch more between the Parks such as theVery Large Array in New Mexico and theirfavorite locations near Frisco, and Pikes Peak,Colorado. The enclosed photo was taken atEmerald Lake in Rocky Mountain NationalPark.

Don recently expanded his communityservice in behalf of the State of Texas and the

Texas Department of Transportation. InApril, 2008 Don was selected to serve on theCitizens Committee for the Trans-TexasCorridor. The Trans-Texas Corridor is aproposed highway expansion that willparallel Interstate 35 from Laredo toGainesville, Texas. As one of 18 committeemembers for the entire state, Don isspecifically tasked with representing citizen,business, and government interests forCentral Texas. This is a working assignmentthat requires a considerable amount of studyand preparation as well as public interactionfor each of the monthly meetings.

Future automobile traffic will dramati-cally increase along I-35, with 15 millionTexans currently living within 50 miles ofthe corridor. Truck traffic alone will expandfour-fold along the old I-35 corridor by 2020,so there is no question that a solution willneed to be found. Happily, Don has noted astrong interest by the committee in thedevelopment of a high-speed passenger trainas part of the solution. Regrettably, Don hasalso noted a strong “intensity of emotion”associated with the Trans-Texas Corridor.Perhaps the old Texas saying needs to beupdated: “Whiskey is for drinking and water(and the TTC) is for fighting”. Thoughtful

ideas are gladly received atdon_greene@baylor.edu.

Under the supervision of Dr. Don Greene,Mr. Kevin Barrett successfully defended histhesis in March 2008. Kevin originallycompleted his bachelor’s degree in the late1980’s, while completing all but his master’sthesis in the early 1990’s. During the 16 yearinterval Kevin Barrett has been a broadcastmeteorologist at several Texas stations. Asyou may recall, Don was also a broadcastmeteorologist from 1996 to 2006. From thisexperience, Don and Kevin had both noted aseeming geographic disparity by the NationalWeather Service in the issuance of severethunderstorm warnings in Central Texas.Accordingly, Kevin’s thesis was able tostatistically prove that there is a distance biassuch that locations nearest the Fort Worthoffice are “over-predicted” for severe weatherwhile more distant locations tend to beneglected. Since most severe weather inTexas sweeps in along a squall line from thenorthwest, a directional bias was alsodetected. “Upstream counties” such asParker, Jack, and Wise were over-predictedwhile counties southeast of Tarrant Countytend to be neglected. The accompanyingmap illustrates the uneven distribution ofsevere thunderstorm warnings for Centraland North Texas. Kevin will continue hisresearch in this vital area while pursuing hisdoctorate in Geography at Texas StateUniversity in the fall 2008.

Don and Alison Greene

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BackgroundI was born and raised in Hong Kong. I

received my high school and undergraduateeducation in Canada. After that, I went toUniversity of Wisconsin for my graduatedegrees. My interest in water science devel-oped gradually throughout my college andgraduate school years. I am most interestedin drinking water research because of itssignificant role in public health. One of mylong-term goals is to conduct research thatwould improve the sanitation in developingcountries through providing safe drinkingwater.Research

As issues surrounding water researchbecome increasingly complex, a thoroughunderstanding of science and engineeringfactors becomes more critical to the success-ful resolution of current problems and theprevention of future problems. Despitemoving full speed ahead on nanomaterialdevelopment and applications, the possiblerisks of this emerging technology have notfully been considered. To date, there are onlya few recent studies that have discussed thepotential negative impacts ofnanotechnology. In the absence of sufficienttechnical data, the safety of engineerednanoparticles is unknown. Nanoparticles areubiquitous in the environment. For ex-ample, metal-sulfide colloids are found in avariety of aquatic systems including minedrainage, anaerobic sediment porewater,wastewater effluent, and hydrothermal ventecosystems. With large and active surfaceareas, engineered nanoparticles are expectedto behave like naturally occurring colloids.They could provide an avenue for rapid andlong-range transport of contaminants in theenvironment. Responsible researchers shouldnot only demonstrate the benefits ofnanotechnology but also characterize thepotential risks associated with their imple-mentation. My research interests lie in thescience and technology of nanoparticles inaquatic systems. I am interested in identify-

Dr. Boris Lauing the exposure through investigating thefate and transport of nanomaterials so thatmore accurate quantitative risk assessmentcan be performed. This is a broad line ofinquiry deals with the behaviors of colloids onsurfaces and interfaces. I would like to aim ataddressing fundamental research questions,such as: What are the roles of environmentalnanoparticles and biofilms in containmanttransport? and What processes promote/inhibitthe stability and mobility of biotic andabiotic colloids?Teaching

My primary interest is to teach undergradu-ate and graduate courses related tonanoparticle science and technology. I aminterested in teaching my core research areasand develop new courses such as: (1) stabilityand mobility of aquatic nanoparticles:properties and processes, (2) sol-gel basednanomaterial fabrication and characteriza-tion, and/or (3) environmental issues ofnanotechnology. In addition, I am going toteach a freshman-level course — Geo 1403Environmental Geology. Last but not least, Ilook forward to collaborating with facultymembers from across campus to teachinterdisciplinary courses.

Integrating Christian Faithwith Intellectual Life

As Christians, we are being called torespond to the Great Commandment (Mark12:28-31). My calling is to contribute to themission of providing sustainable access to safewater and an opportunity to hear the “LivingWater” message (John 4:1-30) in developingcountries and disaster areas. My response tothe Great Commandment is to conduct waterresearch and outreach in order to provide safedrinking water. One of the ways to implementmy response is to develop collaborations withnonprofit Christian engineering organiza-tions to enhance students’ participation inwater works for developing countries. With aview to integrate my Christian faith andintellectual life, I will seek opportunities forservice that will benefit the people in need,my students, and my scholarship.

Recent PublicationsGaillard, J.-F., C.Chen, S.H. Stonedahl, B.L.TB.L.TB.L.TB.L.TB.L.T. Lau. Lau. Lau. Lau. Lau,

D.T. Keane, and A I. Packman. 2007, Imaging ofcolloidal deposits in granular porous media by X-raydifference micro-tomography, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34,L18404, doi:10.1029/2007GL030514.

Lau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.T....., Harrington G.W., Anderson M.A., andTejedor I. 2005. Physicochemical aspects ofCryptosporidium surrogate removal in carbon blockfiltration. JAWWA 97(2): 92-101.

Lau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.T....., Harrington G.W., Anderson M.A., andTejedor I. 2004. Removal of nano and microparticle bygranular filter media coated with nanoporousaluminium oxide. Water Sci. and Tech. 0(12): 223-228.

Hsu-Kim H. and Lau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.T. . . . . Aggregation of Zn-sulfide nanoparticles in the presence of thiolcontainingnatural organic ligands. Submitted to Geochim.Cosmochim. Acta.

Lau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.T....., Harrington G.W., and Anderson M.A.Bacteriophage MS2 and arsenate removal fromgroundwater by nanoporous aluminum oxide coatedgranular filter media: a pilot-scale evaluation on theeffect of pH and coating quantity. Submitted to J. WaterSRT -Aqua.

Lau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.T....., Packman A.I., Atwill E.R., and Harter T.Influence of Pseudomonas aeruginosan biofilms onthe interaction of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts withstreambed sediments. In preparation for submission toAppl. Environ. Microbiol.

Lau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.T....., Chen C., Packman A.I., Gaillard J.F.,Keane D.T. Pore-scale analysis of colloid deposition inporous media by synchrotron x-ray computerizedmicrotomography: effects of particle size and chemicalconditions. In preparation for submission to Environ.Sci. Technol.

Chen C., Lau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.TLau B.L.T....., Packman A.I., Gaillard J.F.,Keane D.T. Temporal evolution of pore geometry, fluidflow, and solute transport resulting from colloiddeposition. In preparation for submission to Water

Resour. Res.

Changing lives through sustainable water research and outreach

24

Dr. Lee Nordt

David Cleveland completed his Ph.D. inDecember of 2008 and was able to publishthree outstanding peer-reviewed journal articleson late Triassic sequence stratigraphy,paleosols, and climate of the southwestern U.S.Chris Gotcher has conducted similar field workin the upper Triassic at Petrified ForestNational Park that will result in a manuscriptsubmission in August of 2008. Steve Ahr hascompleted part of his field work for hisdissertation on an Alfisol climosequence alongTertiary formations of west-central to east-central Texas. Holly Meier will begin herdissertation field work this summer studyingthe alluvial and archaeological history OwlCreek on the Fort Hood Military Reservation..

In the summer of 2008, Steve Driese and Iwill prepare a pre-meeting VertisolClimosquence field guide for GSA in Houston(October). Steve and I will also host a PardeeSymposium at GSA on the critical zone and

modern-ancient soil analogs.

I taught Global Soil systems in the fall of2007 for my graduate students. I continue toserve on the Editorial Board of the journalGeology and completed years of service on theeditorial board of Geoarchaeology-AnInternational Journal.

Garrison completed his second year at MaryHardin Baylor playing on the golf team.Incredibly in the spring of 2008 Garrison’steam won their conference and subsequentlyan invitation to the national tournament inGeorgia. I am even more proud of him beingrecognized as Academic All Conference.

Kaylee has completed her freshman year inHigh School and will soon be driving! Kayleemade the freshman volleyball team at Midwayand is playing select volleyball now. She alsocontinues to maintain good grades in school.

Kathy continues to enjoy working asoutpatient surgery interview nurse at Provi-dence Hospital. As always, she keeps thehousehold going and is in the process ofplanning our new home.

We make frequent trips to Brenham andcontinue to be grateful for the relationships wehave with extended family.

We hope all is well with you and yourfamilies and look forward to seeing you allduring homecoming weekend!

Publications:Cleveland, D., NordtNordtNordtNordtNordt, L., and Atchley, S.

(2008). Paleosols, trace fossils, and precipita-tion estimates of the uppermost Triassic stratain northern New Mexico. PalaeogeographyPalaeoclimatology Palaeoecology257:421:444.

NordtNordtNordtNordtNordt, L., von Fischer, J., and Tieszen, L.(2007). Late Quaternary temperature recordfrom buried soils of the North American GreatPlains. Geology 35:159-162.

Cleveland, D., Atchley, S., and Nordt, Nordt, Nordt, Nordt, Nordt, L.(2007). C C C C Continental sequence stratigraphy ofthe upper Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian) Chinlestrata, northern New Mexico, U.S.A.: allocyclic

and autocyclic origins of paleosol-bearingalluvial successions. Journal of SedimentaryResearch 77:909-924.

Presentations, Lectures, andOther Scholarly/Creative Ac-tivities:

Nordt, Nordt, Nordt, Nordt, Nordt, L. (2007). Grassland evolution ofthe southern Great Plains of the U.S.A. Societyof American Archaeologists, Austin, TX (April)(invited).

Gotcher, C., D., Atchley, S., NordtNordtNordtNordtNordt, L. (2007).The mid-Norian paleolandscape of theNewspaper interval within the Blue MesaMember of the Chinle Formation in PetrifiedForest National Park, Arizona. GeologicalSociety of America meetings, Denver, CO.

Cleveland, D., NordtNordtNordtNordtNordt, L., Atchley, S. (2007).Paleosols and pedogenic isotopes as evidencefor extreme late Triassic climatic events,Chinle Formation, northern New Mexico.Geological Society of America meetings,Denver, CO.

Grants, Contracts, Patents,Software Copyrights:

Atchley, S. and NordtNordtNordtNordtNordt, L. (2007). Theinterrelationship of sequence stratigraphy,paleoclimatology, and terrestrial ichnology inTriassic paleosol-bearing alluvial successions,Moenkopi and Chinle Formations, southwest-ern United States. Petroleum Research Fund(continuation, $80,000).

I was fortunate to have the article above(Geology) recognized in:

Inside Baylor, President John LilleyPost Chronicle of New YorkMiami HeraldUnited Press InternationalRomania Wire Service

Atchley and Nordt “on the edge” in PetrifiedForest National Park.

Kaylee and Garrison at the beach in Pensacola,Florida.

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Dr. Don ParkerThey spent time sampling units of theRaton-Clayton volcanic field, the Nathroprhyolite domes near Buena Vista, and theMcDermott Formation (a late Cretaceousvolcaniclastic unit in southwestern Colo-rado). They also visited briefly with Don’sson, Travis Parker, who was stationed at FortCarson in Colorado Springs and who is nowserving in Iraq.

In fall 2007, Don taught AnalyticalTechniques in Geochemistry, focusingattention upon the newly acquired Rigakuautomated X-ray fluorescence unit acquiredin July 2007 with the help of geologyalumnus Ken Carlile and the University. Theunit was rapidly brought up to standardspreviously obtained by the older Siemens unitand awaits use in student investigations. Donalso taught Petrology, which included a five-day field trip to look at volcanic terrains inNew Mexico and Colorado.

In spring 2008, Don taught Volcanologyand Rocks and Rock-Forming Minerals with16 students. The Departments’ mineralcollection was bolstered through the dona-tion of an extensive, well-curated collectionby the late S.M. (Pat) Murphy and his wife,Myrna Murphy, of Richardson, Texas. Thiscollection will provide needed examples of

rare minerals, some specimens for display,and money through the sale of somespecimens.

Don was pleased to see Master’s studentAnna Perry finish her thesis on the CascadeHead Basalt of the Oregon Coast Range.Anna’s work completes Baylor investigationsof these interesting and anomalous igneousrocks. As this is written, major papers werebeing completed with former students JohnWhite and Minghua Ren on the Pantelleriavolcano in Italy, and on a regional synthesisof Rio Grande Rift magmatism with NancyMcMillan of New Mexico State University.

Don is looking forward to a Sabbatical infall 2008 (his first in 14 years), during whichtime is plans on field work in the OregonCascades and some badly needed writing.

Conejos Formation

Natural Arch, Big Bend

Petrology Class examines ignimbrite in S.Colorado

Once again, Don taught field camp,spending most of his portion in Durango,Colorado, and the remainder in centralColorado near Buena Vista. There were fivestudents in 2007 (and 12 enrolled for 2008 –numbers of majors are up). In August, Donwent into the field in New Mexico andColorado with Ph.D. student Daniel Wegert.

Yes, that looks like a Rattlesnake. Don Parkerand Ph.D. student Daniel Wegart Volcanology Class at Roadcut

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I would like to take this opportunityintroduce myself and my research to Bayloralumni. In August 2009 I will be joining theBaylor Geology Faculty as an assistantprofessor with a focus in paleoclimatology. Ireceived my doctoral degree from YaleUniversity in 2008 and am currently workingas part of an NSF sponsored research projectin conjunction with researchers at WesleyanUniversity.

My research focuses on integratingpaleomagnetism, paleobotany, and paleocli-matology to reconstruct past ecosystems. Irely on this interdisciplinary approach toaddress the way that terrestrial ecosystemsrespond to climate change through time. Myresearch program relies on the integration oftwo different methodologies to approachthese questions: megafloral paleobotany andpaleomagnetism. I use paleobotanicaltechniques to reconstruct paleoenvironments,estimate paleoclimate, and examine theevolutionary history of plant communities.Paleomagnetism is used for age dating andcorrelation. Through this integration, itbecomes possible to study plant communitiesthen make regional and global correlationsto synchronous ecosystems. Using these

Dr. Daniel Peppecorrelations, I can test local, regional, andglobal hypotheses about evolution,paleoenvironment, paleoecology, andpaleoclimate.

While at Yale, my research was specificallyfocused on examining changes in plantcommunities in the Paleocene across NorthAmerica and how these changes correspondedto climate. At Wesleyan I am examining leaftraits and their relationship to temperatureand precipitation. The results of this studywill help improve current techniques forestimating temperature and precipitationwith fossil plants and will have broadapplications for understanding climatechange through geologic time.

In addition to my research on fossil plantsin North America, I have begun work oncollaborative research projects in Kenya andthe United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) focusingon the paleoecology of the Neogene and earlyQuaternary as it relates to hominoidevolution. All of the projects are in theirbeginning stages, and I plan to focus muchof my future research in these areas. Two ofthe research projects in Kenya are in collabo-ration with faculty members in the Anthro-pology Department at Baylor, and I amexcited for further inter-departmentalcollaboration.

I published two peer-reviewed journalpapers in 2007 and currently have two papersaccepted for publication in the first half of2008. In 2007 and 2008, I have presented myresearch at the Geological Society of Americameeting and at the International Organiza-tion of Paleobotany Conference. One of myresearch projects in Kenya, where we are bestudying the fauna and flora of the earlyMiocene on Rusinga Island, was funded bythe Leaky Foundation and we expect toconduct a short field season in January 2009.

My wife and I are looking forward to ourmove to Waco, and our integration into thelarger Baylor community, in the summer of2009. We hope to meet you then!

Publications:Peppe, D.J. and Reiners, P.W., 2007, Conodont (U-

Th)/He thermochronology: Initial results, potential,and problems: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 258(3-4): 569-580.

Peppe, D.J., Erickson, J.M. and Hickey, L.J., 2007,Fossil leaf species from the Fox Hills Formation(Upper Cretaceous: North Dakota, USA) and theirpaleogeographic significance: Journal of Paleontology,81(3): 550-567.

Peppe, D.J., Evans, D.A.D., and Smirnov, A.V., inpress, Magnetostratigraphy of the Ludlow Member ofthe Fort Union Formation (Lower Paleocene) of theWilliston Basin in North Dakota: Geological Societyof America Bulletin.

Peppe, D.J., Hickey, L.J., Miller, I., Green, W., inpress, A preliminary investigation of the Aspen Shaleflora (Albian, Wyoming, USA): a floral catalog:Peabody Museum of Natural History Bulletin.

Peppe, D.J., McNulty, K., Harcourt-Smith, W.,Dunsworth, H., Cote, S., Van Couvering, J.A., inreview, Stratigraphic interpretation of the KuluFormation (Early Miocene, Rusinga Island, Kenya)and its implication for primate evolution: Journal ofHuman Evolution.

Presentations:Peppe, D.J. and Hickey, L.J., 2008, Plant

community response to mass extinction and climatechange in the Paleocene Williston Basin of NorthDakota, USA: International Organization ofPaleobotany Conference.

Peppe, D.J., Hickey, L.J., and Evans, D.A.D., 2007,Floral change in the North American Paleocene:Abstracts with Programs – Geological Society ofAmerica, 39(6): 192.

Dan Peppe points out ash deposits in thePaleocene Fort Union Formation in the WillistonBasin of Montana

Dan Peppe and a Ugandan researcher in KibaleNational Park, Uganda conducting a botanicaltransect.

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I am joining Baylor after spending the lastthirteen years as a research scientist at theInstitute for Geophysics at UT Austin. I amexcited about making the transition to beinga member of Baylor’s faculty and believe thatmy background will benefit the GeologyDepartment and its students. I have felt theexcitement that comes with making a newdiscovery about the Earth—or just learningsomething new to me—and I want to helpBaylor students experience that same thrill.This is an especially good time to studygeophysics in Texas—thanks, in part, to thehigh price of oil and the resulting resurgenceof the petroleum industry but also to newresearch opportunities provided by bothindustry and the National Science Founda-tion. The sort of research I am pursuingconcerns fundamental tectonic problems andconnections between the lithospheric mantleand crust and surface geology, so it has someappeal for students who are heading towardindustry as well as students who want tomake a career in academia. Also, this sort of“field-based observational seismology” isaccessible to both undergraduate andgraduate students, so I think it is especiallyappropriate for Baylor. I will describe myresearch in more detail below but first I willgive you a little of my personal history. Itseems, in retrospect, like I made a long,roundabout journey to get here—but I amhappy to have arrived at Baylor.

My personal historyI grew up in Delaware and southeastern

Pennsylvania, then skipped across the countryfor my first two years of college (Deep SpringsCollege, in eastern California), then back eastto graduate from Cornell University inIthaca, New York, then back to California toattend graduate school at UC Berkeley. Afterlogging so many miles I was surprised to findtwo of my mates from elementary school inNewark, Delaware studying geophysics atBerkeley as well. All three of us graduated atabout the same time and are all still in theacademic side of geophysics—but I stilldon’t know why we ended up in the samefield, studying at the same school.

After Berkeley I spent two years as a postdocin The Netherlands at the University ofUtrecht. While in Utrecht I married MaraPfund (who is American—we met inBerkeley) and our first son was born, so it wasa busy time. When we announced to ourDutch friends that we planned to name ourbaby “Cody”, there were quite a few murmursalong the lines of “wow, what an unusualname…never heard of that onebefore…etc.” But the first time we took himto see a doctor in Austin (we moved therewhen Cody was three months old) there was adifferent sort of confusion in the waitingroom. When the attendant called “Cody”,three other kids and their parents responded.We took that as a sign that Texas wasintended to be our home and we have stayedhere ever since. Cody is now 13 and hisyounger brother, Fox, is 10. Fox is the onlyone of us who can claim to be a native Texan,since Cody was three months old when hearrived (I was going to say “stepped foot inTexas”, but of course he wasn’t walking atthe time). Now Cody and Fox are bothcompetitive soccer players and avid readers offiction.

Mara is a teacher, currently of kindergar-ten, although she has taught first grade andspecial education in the past. Mara’s firstlanguage was German because her mother is

from Berlin and her father’s family isGerman as well. She also spent about half ofher childhood in Austria and Germany—herfather was a diplomat with the U.S. StateDepartment. Since it is the language shespeaks with her family, Mara has consistentlyspoken German with Cody and Fox since theywere born. Although I still don’t speakGerman myself, I have learned some, throughlistening to them.

Our household also includes two dogs—former strays that we adopted on separatetrips to Puerto Rico—and two cats (alsoformer strays that we adopted in Austin).

In 2004-2005 we all spent a year inMayagüez, Puerto Rico, where I taught at theUniversity of Puerto Rico and did research atthe Puerto Rico Seismic Network and Marahome schooled Cody and Fox.

One component of my research focuses onthe Northeastern Caribbean and, although Ialready had professional “contacts” in PuertoRico and the Dominican Republic, spendinga year there allowed us to develop realfriendships as a family and be immersed in avery different culture. We took many“fieldtrips” as a family—some with mygeologist colleagues—and it all fit nicelywith Mara’s home school program, takingfull advantage of our flexibility. We nowhave close friends in Puerto Rico and hope toreturn regularly (although we can’t afford tobring back any more dogs).

Dr. Jay Pulliam

Dr. Pulliam in Puerto Rico

Dr. Jay Pulliam (on the right) in the DominicanRepublic

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I have a younger sister, a brother-in-lawand two nephews in Austin and an oldersister, brother-in-law and two nieces inCalgary, Alberta. My parents both retiredfrom the University of Delaware a few yearsago and now live in Canmore, Alberta—soafter being scattered in four differentlocations for most of my adult life, myfamily has now gravitated into two clusters.With one cluster in central Texas and anotherin central/western Alberta, it is easier to seeeveryone regularly. When I was first lookingaround Baylor’s web pages I came across apicture on Stacy Atchley’s research page thatlooked very familiar. I finally realized that itwas taken near my parents’ house outside ofCanmore, AB.

To round out my personal interests: I enjoybicycling, hiking and cross-country skiingand have, at various times in my life, been afairly serious player of soccer, tennis, andultimate Frisbee. I still play all three of thoseoccasionally but, more often, I drive my sonsaround to their soccer practices and games. Ialso enjoy traveling—whether work-relatedor not—and reading fiction and history.

Research interestsMy research uses energy generated by

earthquakes to study the structure of thedeeper parts of the Earth—the deep lithos-phere, mantle, and core. Since earthquakestend to occur in the same locations over andover, I need to install instruments in someunusual places in order to record waves thatilluminate interesting features. So far theseactivities have taken me to West-central

Africa (Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon,Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe) and theCaribbean (Dominican Republic, PuertoRico, U.S. and British Virgin Islands) as wellas Texas, New Mexico, California, andNevada, as well as offshore. Since more thanthree-quarters of the planet is covered bywater, we have developed ocean-bottomseismographs (OBSs) that can record groundmotion on the seafloor. Subduction zones,for example, tend to create nests of earth-quakes that are just offshore, and so anyseismographic network will be incapable oflocating and evaluating earthquakes reliably.We need to deploy OBSs on the seafloor inorder to understand what is happening in thesubduction zone. The availability of this tool(OBSs) has also led to combination onshore/offshore experiments in which we recordmarine surveys with instruments onshore, tostudy the ocean-continent transition, forexample, and to collaborations withcompanies in the exploration industry. Irecently learned that an OBS project MrinalSen (of UT Austin) and I had proposed tostudy the plate boundary near the AndamanIslands will be funded. The Andaman Islandsare part of India, although they lie close toBurma (Myanmar); the plate boundary isquite complicated there and it is where therupture associated with the great Sumatraearthquake of December 26, 2004 stopped.The redistributed stress has led to an increasein earthquake activity in this region, which iswhat we will record with ocean bottomseismographs.

However, thanks to NSF’s EarthScopeproject, a decade-long, multi-disciplinaryinitiative to study the North Americancontinent at a variety of scales, I will beconducting most of my fieldwork closer tohome for the next few years. I have a projectfunded by NSF (called SIEDCAR: SeismicInvestigation of Edge Driven ConvectionAssociated with the Rio Grande Rift) tostudy structure and processes associated withthe Rio Grande Rift that will require me todeploy 75 instruments in eastern New Mexicoand west Texas from 2008-2010. Another

EarthScope-funded project is aimed at theGulf Coast margin, where deep sedimentshave kept us from learning the nature of therift that created the Gulf of Mexico anddetails of the transition from oceanic crustacross stretched transitional crust to theLlano Uplift.

My goals for Baylor studentsI hope to prepare students for careers in

academia, industry, and government research.Many of the techniques are directly transfer-able from lithospheric-scale studies to anexploration setting and the overall approach,which emphasizes integrated, multi-disciplinary studies, is one that is highlypopular in the oil patch. Beyond specifictechniques, carrying out a novel researchproject from conception to experimentaldesign, data acquisition, analysis andpublication is a valuable—and oftendifficult—experience for a student. Yet thatis how one develops the skills and confidenceto do research, so I will require my students toparticipate in all these stages of research.Although each graduate student researchproject I supervise will likely be related to anexternally-funded umbrella project, each willrequire ingenuity and creativity on the part ofthe student advisee. My goal for eachundergraduate who completes a senior thesiswith me is that he or she should be in a betterposition to choose a career within thegeosciences, know how to negotiate themyriad possibilities for further training, andbe well prepared academically to be successful

In Equatorial Guinea, Africa

In Sao Tome, off the Coast of Africa

29

in that training.

Regarding Baylor’s Central Texaslocation

Most of the continent’s currently activetectonics occur in the west, which results innumerous outcrops. Who doesn’t like to holda rock in their hand and spin a story aboutregional geology? Studies of tectonics in theTexas region are, in comparison, under-appreciated (even by Texans, in my experi-ence). The heavy sediment load (second onlyto the Bengal fan) warps the Gulf Coastdownward and must have produced uplift inthe vicinity of Waco (along the BalconesFault System), extension, and “activetectonics” in a unique fashion. In placesalong this margin there are 15 km ofsediments lying on top of crust that is(perhaps) only 10 km thick. This is a uniquesituation (barring the Bengal Fan) and wetherefore need to use remote-sensing tools,such as seismology, gravity, magnetics, andmagnetotellurics, to model and understandwhat happened here. EarthScope is providingsome of the tools we need, and a newprogram at NSF provides funding (on acompetitive basis) to pay graduate students,undergraduate students, and field costs toconduct focused studies that require theacquisition of new data. In fact, there is acadre of us that is trying to convince theNational Science Foundation that this regionshould be a centerpiece of the EarthScopeprogram, and thus receive a larger share of itsresources. I will report our success or failurein this space next year.

Regardless of that outcome, however,Baylor students and I will carry out the sortsof studies I described above with the ampleresources made available to us by theUniversity. I therefore I expect new insights toemerge concerning about Texas’ newfrontier—the one thousands of feet beneathus. These insights will extend far beyondTexas; since the majority of the world’scontinental margins are similar to ours.

The Elan Allen Field Safety Scholarship emphasizes field safety and honors alumnus, ElanAllen. A committee of three faculty who actively work on field projects with students (PeterAllen, John Dunbar and Joe C. Yelderman Jr.) decided the awardee(s). The successful applicantmust be recommended by at least one faculty member in the department and then provide thescholarship committee with an example of the way they incorporated safety into their fieldwork. The awardees selected this year were MS students Stephanie Capello and David Coffman.It is the hope of the Department, the scholarship committee and the supporters of the scholar-ship, that the award and the competition for the award will increase student awareness of fieldsafety. If you would like to contribute to the scholarship fund please send a check to thedepartment with a note that it should support the Elan Allen Field Safety Scholarship.

Elan Allen Field Safety Scholarship

Dave Coffman Stephanie Capello

Janet Cabeen and Adam Damman at the 2008 Honors Convocation

2008 Honors Convocation

30

Dr. Joe Yelderman

The big groundwater news this year is theestablishment of the McLennan CountyGroundwater Conservation District(MCGWCD). After participating in thedevelopment of the Groundwater AvailabilityModel (GAM) for the Northern Trinity Aquiferin 2004, Dr. Yelderman is now working withthe GAM, once again, to aid the newly formedMCGWCD. To complicate the process, theTexas Commission on Environmental Quality(TCEQ) has proposed that McLennan beincluded in a Priority Groundwater Manage-ment Area designation with 4 other counties.These activities promise to provide researchopportunities for new graduate students inhydrogeology and plenty of local controversyregarding groundwater.

Dr. Yelderman chaired the hydrogeologysearch committee this past year as thedepartment added a strategic faculty positionto the rapidly growing water research programat Baylor. The search took Joe to the annualmeetings for the GSA and AGU wherenumerous interviews resulted in new friendsand colleagues as well as reunions with oldfriends (see photo). Dr. Boris Lau was chosenfor the new Hydrogeology position and will bea great addition to the department. His nano-particle research will add a new area ofGroundwater expertise.

The TIEES program was finally estab-lished at BU and Dr. Joe along with severalother geology professors have been selected toact as fellows.

The wetland studies continue and Dr.Yelderman is working with Dr. MargaretForbes on a TCEQ grant with the GalvestonBays Estuary Program to model thehydrogeological functions of coastal prairiewetlands (see photos).

The Baylor Wastewater Research Program(BWRP) continues to flourish and Baylornow has agreements with the cities of Wacoand Whitney (see photo) for cooperativeresearch.

Dr. Yelderman is also working with theCenter for Spatial Research (CSR) to provideGIS based maps for the City of Woodway toaid in the enforcement of their EscarpmentOrdinance and to convert the EnvironmentalAtlas for McLennan County to digital format.In addition, he and his brother-in-law, RodSquires, are working with the CSR onRiparian buffers along west Texas streams(see photo).

Graduate student Jason Weckbachercompleted his MS thesis in geology and isemployed in the environmental consultingfield in the Boston area.

One of Dr. Joe’s most rewarding experi-ences this past year was working with At-Riskhigh school students in a program called“Gear Up” to develop math skills usingpiezometers and groundwater/surface waterinteractions (see photo).

Dr. Yelderman continues to teach SundaySchool at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church.Diane continues to teach Kindergarten atNorth Waco Elementary. Logan (son #2)completed his sophomore year at Baylor andworked at Camp Ozark teaching skateboard-ing over the summer. Cal (son #1) isworking on an MA in creative writing NewMexico Highland University. Marrieddaughter, Abigail White, lives in Houstonwhere she works as a media traffic coordina-

tor for MarCom Advertising and her husband,Jared, who received his CPA in May, works asan auditor for Price-Waterhouse-Coopers. Dr.Yelderman’s mother, Ada Frances, now residesat St. Catherine’s care facility off Highway 6in Woodway. The Yeldermans spent theirfamily vacation in the Texas Hill Country(see photo). The Yeldermans still live at 706Woodland West, Woodway, Texas and visitorsare always welcome.

Adam Clapp downloading data from waterleveldatalogger in wetland

Dr. Joe with Mentor Dr. Mary Anderson and UWofficemate Rich Manser at AGU

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Bruce Byars planting bulrush in the Whitney wastewater treatment

Cal and Diane Yelderman on vacation in the Texas Hill Country Gear Up students learning math using piezometers

wastewater treatment wetlands

Abel Tellez and Rod Squires map riparian buffers in Transpecos, Texas Adam Clapp and wildlife at Brazoria NWR

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GraduatesCongratulations to our graduate studentswho completed their Graduate degrees inGeology this year!

December 2007David M. Cleveland – Ph.D.David M. Cleveland – Ph.D.David M. Cleveland – Ph.D.David M. Cleveland – Ph.D.David M. Cleveland – Ph.D.Fluvial Sequence Stratigraphy andPaleoclimate of the Upper Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian) Chinle Strata, Northern NewMexico.

August 2008Sikiru Amidu – Ph.DSikiru Amidu – Ph.DSikiru Amidu – Ph.DSikiru Amidu – Ph.DSikiru Amidu – Ph.D.Electrical Resistivity Imaging for Character-izing Dynamic Hydrologic Systems.

Stephanie Capello – MSStephanie Capello – MSStephanie Capello – MSStephanie Capello – MSStephanie Capello – MSModeling Channel Erosion in CohesiveStreams of the Blackland Prairie, Texas at theWatershed Scale.

Undergraduate StudentsAdam Damman –Adam Damman –Adam Damman –Adam Damman –Adam Damman – 2008 recipient of theRobert T. Hill Award for Academic Excellencein Geology

Colby WrightColby WrightColby WrightColby WrightColby Wright – 2008 recipient of the DixonUndergraduate Field Assistant Award

Janet Cabeen & Adam DammanJanet Cabeen & Adam DammanJanet Cabeen & Adam DammanJanet Cabeen & Adam DammanJanet Cabeen & Adam Damman –Chosen to represent the Geology Departmentat the Honors Convocation (2008)

Baylor Geology alumni Dwayne Crumpler (MS-89) and Suzy Dahl-Crumpler (MS-90) have a daughter, Lydia, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Suzy haswritten some poetry as a way to cope and share. We are privileged to be able toshare one Suzy’s poems in our newsletter with her permission. Please keep thiswonderful family in your thoughts and prayers.

Embrace the PresentEmbrace the PresentEmbrace the PresentEmbrace the PresentEmbrace the PresentLike a kayaker in a set of rapids

A rower on a lake

Or a sailor on the ocean

In life you have to find the rhythm and flow of your lifeThe rhythm and flow of the environment around you

You don’t accomplish this by looking behind you or off in the distance

You cannot concentrate on the set of rapids down the riverOr on the other half of the lake

Or on a distant puff of wind running across the waves

You find the rhythm and flow of your life by being in tune with the presentBy accepting the present

In the act of accepting your current realityYou can then be open to studying it, searching it, and feeling it

By being in the moment / in the present

You can identify its unique rhythm and flowAnd then embraced today’s rhythm and flow

Only then can you can strive to settle into it and understand it

The benefit of this state of mind is that you can quit wasting energy fighting itThen you can find ways:

to coexist with this unique rhythmto blend with it

to use it’s peaks and troughs to your advantage to power you through this days dilemmasThis way of being one with life’s flow is more efficient

It is less stressful and maximizes the use of precious energy

Once you are in tune with today’s rhythm and flowYou will be able to react appropriately when conditions change

When the winds shifts or the waves come from a different directionYou can accept your new reality, adjust and a settle into that new rhythm and flow

And find the sweet spot and keep going

Suzanne Dahl-Crumpler11/23/06

33

Where are they now?

Where are they:DrDrDrDrDr. Nolan G. Shaw (BA, 1951). Nolan G. Shaw (BA, 1951). Nolan G. Shaw (BA, 1951). Nolan G. Shaw (BA, 1951). Nolan G. Shaw (BA, 1951)Nolan is Professor Emeritus at CentenaryCollege, and after retiring from teaching heformed the company Shaw-Laird, LLC wherehe drilled, completed and operated wells.Nolan and his wife, Jane Craig Shaw, live inMckinney, Texas and have five children andnine grandchildren. He enjoys spendingtime with his family, studying Geology,flying, and “taking time to smell the roses”.

Brandee Whiting Lacy (BSED, 1995 &Brandee Whiting Lacy (BSED, 1995 &Brandee Whiting Lacy (BSED, 1995 &Brandee Whiting Lacy (BSED, 1995 &Brandee Whiting Lacy (BSED, 1995 &MA, 1997)MA, 1997)MA, 1997)MA, 1997)MA, 1997)Brandee is still living between Ft. Davis &Alpine on the 06 Ranch. She is the mom ofChristian, age 6, and Katherine, age 4.

Leah Graham (BA, 1998)Leah Graham (BA, 1998)Leah Graham (BA, 1998)Leah Graham (BA, 1998)Leah Graham (BA, 1998)Leah is a registered nurse in the emergencyroom at North Central Baptist Hospital inSan Antonio.

Mark Decatur (BA, 2004)Mark Decatur (BA, 2004)Mark Decatur (BA, 2004)Mark Decatur (BA, 2004)Mark Decatur (BA, 2004)Mark is an Environmental Consultant in Ft.Worth for Dunaway & Associates. Hecurrently lives in Keller with his wife Allisynand son Hudson, and is pursuing hisMaster’s degree at TCU.

Congratulations to:Gary Henry (MS, 2004) & ShaneGary Henry (MS, 2004) & ShaneGary Henry (MS, 2004) & ShaneGary Henry (MS, 2004) & ShaneGary Henry (MS, 2004) & ShaneProchnow (MS, 2001 & PhD 2005) Prochnow (MS, 2001 & PhD 2005) Prochnow (MS, 2001 & PhD 2005) Prochnow (MS, 2001 & PhD 2005) Prochnow (MS, 2001 & PhD 2005) whorecently passed the State’s Licensing examand are now registered Geologists.

Paige Clark Adelaide (BS, 1993) Paige Clark Adelaide (BS, 1993) Paige Clark Adelaide (BS, 1993) Paige Clark Adelaide (BS, 1993) Paige Clark Adelaide (BS, 1993) on thebirth of her daughter, Clark Adelaide, onAugust 21, 2007.

Claus Hetzer (MS, 2000) Claus Hetzer (MS, 2000) Claus Hetzer (MS, 2000) Claus Hetzer (MS, 2000) Claus Hetzer (MS, 2000) and his wifewho adopted Armand James Paul (A.J.) onSeptember 9, 2007. A.J. was born on August22, 2007.

Jason Cipriano (BA, 1998) Jason Cipriano (BA, 1998) Jason Cipriano (BA, 1998) Jason Cipriano (BA, 1998) Jason Cipriano (BA, 1998) and his wifeon the birth of their daughter, LainieElizabeth Cipriano, who was born November5, 2007. She weighed 7lbs. 13 oz.

Fred (MS, 1996) and Angela (MS,Fred (MS, 1996) and Angela (MS,Fred (MS, 1996) and Angela (MS,Fred (MS, 1996) and Angela (MS,Fred (MS, 1996) and Angela (MS,1996) Nawrocki1996) Nawrocki1996) Nawrocki1996) Nawrocki1996) Nawrocki on the birth of theirtwins, Lucas & Natalie. Grandparents areDon and Vicky Gaitros.

Lisa Zygo (BS, 1997& MS, 1999) Lisa Zygo (BS, 1997& MS, 1999) Lisa Zygo (BS, 1997& MS, 1999) Lisa Zygo (BS, 1997& MS, 1999) Lisa Zygo (BS, 1997& MS, 1999) andher husband on the birth of their second son,Ryan Peter Flynn, on February 18, 2008.

Farewell to:DrDrDrDrDr. Shane Prochnow – . Shane Prochnow – . Shane Prochnow – . Shane Prochnow – . Shane Prochnow – He and his familymoved to Houston this past summer. Bestwishes to them in their new home.

Condolences to:Dr. Lee Nordt & Family on the passing of hisfather, Leroy Nordt.

Ruth King & family on the passing of herhusband, George King (BA, 1956 & MS,1963).

David Crass (’81, MS ’87) and family on thepassing of his wife, Cynthia (Cindi) JonesCrass (’78).

Brian, Kandra, and Kadin Clark visited Dr.Yelderman on 3/3/2008. They live in LittleRock Arkansas and Brian works for the USGS.

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Tear out and mail to:Department of Geology · One Bear Place #97354 · Waco, TX 76798-7354

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35

You are cordially invited to join thefaculty and staff ofBaylor University

Department of Geologyfor

Homecoming 2008 Open HouseFriday, October 31, 2008

7:00 pm – 9:00 pmBaylor Sciences Building

Room E401

36

NONPROFITORGANIZATIONU.S. POSTAGE

PAID

BAYLORUNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY

One Bear Place #97354 • Waco, TX 76798-7354

Change Service Requested

BAYLOR UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY

Dr. Steve Driese, Chairman

Dr. Peter Allen, ProfessorDr. Stacy Atchley, Associate Professor

Dr. Rena Bonem, ProfessorDr. Vincent Cronin, Professor

Dr. John Dunbar, Associate ProfessorDr. Steve Dworkin, Professor

Dr. Zhaodong (Jordan) Feng, Associate ProfessorDr. Don Greene, Professor

Dr. Boris Lau, Assistant ProfessorDr. Lee Nordt, Professor & Dean, College of Arts & Sciences

Dr. Don Parker, ProfessorDr. Daniel Peppe, Assistant Professor

Dr. Jay Pulliam, W.M. Keck Foundation Professor of GeophysicsDr. Joe Yelderman, Professor

Dr. Tom Goforth, Emeritus ProfessorDr. Harold Beaver, Emeritus Professor

Dr. Bill Brown, Emeritus ProfessorDr. Oliver Thomas Hayward, Emeritus Professor

Sharon Browning, Geology Freshman Laboratory Coordinator

Paulette Penney, Office ManagerJamie Ruth, Administrative Associate

Janelle Atchley, Administrative Assistant

BAYLOR UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY

Dr. Steve Driese, Chairman

Dr. Peter Allen, ProfessorDr. Stacy Atchley, Associate Professor

Dr. Rena Bonem, ProfessorDr. Vincent Cronin, Professor

Dr. John Dunbar, Associate ProfessorDr. Steve Dworkin, Professor

Dr. Zhaodong (Jordan) Feng, Associate ProfessorDr. Don Greene, Professor

Dr. Boris Lau, Assistant ProfessorDr. Lee Nordt, Professor & Dean, College of Arts & Sciences

Dr. Don Parker, ProfessorDr. Daniel Peppe, Assistant Professor

Dr. Jay Pulliam, W.M. Keck Foundation Professor of GeophysicsDr. Joe Yelderman, Professor

Dr. Tom Goforth, Emeritus ProfessorDr. Harold Beaver, Emeritus Professor

Dr. Bill Brown, Emeritus ProfessorDr. Oliver Thomas Hayward, Emeritus Professor

Sharon Browning, Geology Freshman Laboratory Coordinator

Paulette Penney, Office ManagerJamie Ruth, Administrative Associate

Janelle Atchley, Administrative Assistant