Olivia DrakeSuzanne O'Connell, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, director of the Service Learning Center, received a grant worth $21,000 from the Keck Geology Consortium on April 27. The award will support an undergraduate research project titled "Sediment Dynamics in the Lower Connecticut River" this summer.
This semester, 18 earth and environmental sciences majors explored dwarf mangrove forests, studied landslide susceptibility in a rainforest, examined if cave rocks record bat inhabitation, and analyzed the chemistry of coastal seagrass – all in Puerto Rico. The students, who are enrolled in the E&ES 398 course Senior Seminar, developed observational, interpretative and research skills through their island studies. The seniors traveled to Puerto Rico in January for fieldwork, and spent the past few months analyzing their findings. They presented their Senior Seminar Presentations on April 19 and 21 as part of the Stearns (more…)
Wesleyan’s College of the Environment has appointed faculty members Johan “Joop” Varekamp, Clark Maines, Vijay Pinch and Elise Springer as 2011-12 fellows. The fellows will gather with other Wesleyan scholars and undergraduate students for a year-long academic "Think Tank" on a critical environmental issue. The 2011-12 topic is "Water’s Past, Water’s Future." The aim of the Think Tank is not only to generate a deeper understanding of the thematic issue, but also to produce scholarly works that will influence national and international thinking and action on the issue. Scholars and students in the think tank are expected to produce scholarly (more…)
Johan "Joop" Varekamp, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, professor of environmental studies, was elected as president of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE). The CFE is an organization of environmental advocacy, habitat restoration and outreach with about 20 staff members. Its mission is to protect and improve the land, air and water of Connecticut and Long Island Sound by using legal and scientific expertise and by bringing people together to achieve results that benefit the environment for current and future generations.
Johan “Joop” Varekamp, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, professor of environmental studies, is the co-editor of a special issue of the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, titled Continental Margin Volcanism. He's also the co-author of an article titled "Back-arc basalts from the Loncopue graben (Province of Neuquen, Argentina)," which is published in the special issue.
Johan “Joop” Varekamp, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, professor of environmental studies, received a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation in January. He will use the funds to build a new X-Ray Fluorescence lab in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department. The lab will be used for analyzing rocks, soils and waters.
David PesciSuzanne O’Connell, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, director of the Service Learning Center, and Edward Laine ’69, associate professor of earth and oceanographic science at Bowdoin College, organized a virtual workshop on service learning through the National Science Foundation in early 2010. Several participants met in person at the fall American Geophysical Union (AGU) national meeting in fall 2010. Timothy Ku, associate professor of earth and environmental science, one of virtual workshop participants, presented information about his service learning course “Environmental Geochemistry” at the AGU meeting. Laine, O’Connell, and Ku are pictured above at the AGU meeting.
Ellen Thomas, research professor of earth and environmental sciences, was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in December. Thomas joins 502 other fellows from across the country. These individuals will be recognized for their contributions to science and technology at the Fellows Forum to be held Feb. 19 during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Thomas will receive a certificate and a blue and gold rosette as a symbol of her distinguished accomplishments.
Wesleyan, in conjunction with the Price Carbon Campaign, an umbrella organization of climate-policy advocates, is convening a conference to discuss and develop new approaches to pricing carbon emissions that are destabilizing Earth’s climate and driving global warming. “Pricing Carbon: The Wesleyan Conference” will be held Nov. 19-21 at Wesleyan. Headline speakers include climatologist and Columbia University Professor James Hansen, author-activist Bill McKibben, and environmental-justice lawyer and advocate Angela Johnson Meszaros. “Wesleyan University’s College of the Environment was established in 2009 to help students become better stewards of our fragile Earth,” says Barry Chernoff, director of the College of the Environment and professor of biology. “We…
Dana Royer, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, assistant professor of environmental studies, accepted the gold Donath Medal at the Geological Society of America’s (GSA) annual meeting in Denver, Colo. Nov. 1. The award came with a cash prize of $10,000. The award recognizes a scientist, aged 35 or younger, for outstanding original research marking a major advance in the earth sciences. On a GSA press release, Peter D. Wilf of Pennsylvania State University said, “Dana is a true innovator who successfully tackles extremely important questions in paleoclimatology and paleoecology, in part using paleobotanical proxies calibrated with a remarkable…
James Greenwood, research associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, received a grant worth $494,517 from NASA. The grant will support his research titled “Water in Lunar Rocks: Petrologic and Isotopic Analyses of Phosphate Minerals in Apollo’s Samples” through June 30, 2014.
Wesleyan’s architecture design class and its Research-Design-Build Studio have been recognized by the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) 2010 Small Projects Practitioners Awards. They were recognized for the observation platform “SplitFrame” they created for the Helen Carlson Wildlife Sanctuary in Portland, Conn., in 2008. The studio and class are overseen by Elijah Huge, assistant professor of art, assistant professor of environmental studies. Last year the class and studio created the Sukkah on campus as one of their projects.