|
|
|
|
Here's a little information about recent activities of the Geology Department faculty and staff, with links to their websites.
|
Dr. R. LaRell Nielson is in his third year as chair of the Geology Department and is teaching stratigraphy and Geology of North America this Fall. He is still adviser of the Geology Club and the AAPG Student Chapter. He presented a paper at Texas Academy of Science and is continuing his research on the Kaibab Formation in western Utah and working on the weathering of tombstones of Texas.
Dr. Volker Gobel was the thesis advisor for Kevin Ausburn and Jace Morris who finished their theses in 2006. He is currently researching pyrite in Weches Formation rocks of East Texas and has been working with graduate student Patrice Barlow on magmatic rocks of the Magnet Cove Igneous Complex, Arkansas.
Dr. Ernest Ledger has just finished writing a paper on arsenic in the Weches Formation and is preparing to retire in May, 2008! He continues to do research on the distribution and location of arsenic in east Texas and is teaching courses that use shallow geophysical instrumentation. His wife, Ella, often accompanies him when he does field work in east Texas and in Arkansas.
Dr. Chris Barker is teaching oceanography and graduate structural geology in addition to his usual introductory courses. Next Spring, he will teach structure, metamorphic petrology and field methods. In late May, he and Dr. Nielson will head out West for another edition of our great Summer Field Camp. Dr. Barker just finished a year as chair of the Faculty Senate. He says it was a great experience and hopes that he was able to focus some attention on important issues facing SFA. But he says he is also very glad to get back to geology! He is still the department webmaster, so if you have any information you would like to put on the alumni webpage, please send it to him (cbarker@sfasu.edu).
Dr. Wesley Brown is our newest faculty member who joined us in the Fall of 2006. He is a geophysicist who brings a fresh perspective to the department. He is currently teaching an introductory geophysics course that is already getting rave reviews from our majors. Dr. Brown is from Jamaica. He earned his PhD from UTEP and recently conducted Post Doctoral studies at Texas A&M Research Center in El Paso, Texas.
Patricia Sharp continues to work with education majors when teaching Earth Science Activities for Teachers, and she also helps them to prepare for TExES, the state education exam. Along with Dr. Nielson and Dr. Barker, she co-authored a paper on coastal processes. Pat is anxiously waiting for her daughter, Megan, to return to Las Vegas from Okinawa where she will go back to graduate school. Her son, Sam, graduated December 2006 and is a Process Engineer for Temple-Inland.
Mindy Shaw recently completed her Master's degree with Dr. Ledger in May, 2006 and is beginning her PhD studies at Texas A&M. She keeps busy teaching introductory geology classes, leading field trip courses to the Hill Country, Arkansas and Nacogdoches areas and assisting with the Stratigraphy, Petrology and Structure Labs. Mindy is getting married in December (congratulations!) and is still enjoying her three teenagers.
Shana Scott, our departmental administrative assistant, is still keeping the department moving forward with all of her hard work. She has been with us for six years.
Dr. William P. Roberts, after retiring from SFA, is still teaching part-time at Shenandoah College and James Madison University in Virginia.
|
|
