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(added March 2008)
Fenglin Niu receives National Science Foundation Career Development Award
The Earth Science Department is proud to announce that Professor Fenglin Niu recently received an NSF CAREER award from the Earth Science Research (EAR) Geophysics Program. This very prestigious award provides five years of funding for Dr. Niu to pursue research seeking to make significant progress in our basic understanding of deep processes that are related to the formation and evolution of the Earth's inner core and mantle heterogeneities. In addition to this goal, successful outcome of the proposed work could also constitute a major step towards monitoring subsurface stress transients that accompany and perhaps precede seismic activity, as well as promoting seismology studies for undergraduates and raise public awareness and readiness for large earthquakes and tsunamis.
As part of the education component, Dr. Niu has proposed the utilization of an on-campus seismograph to promote students' appreciation to seismology and Earth science and a direct effort to promote seismology in local community colleges and displaying modern seismograph at local science museum to raise public awareness and readiness for large earthquakes and tsunamis. This grant also proposes to develop a new introductory geophysics course "An Introduction of Plate tectonics, Earthquakes and Volcanoes" for major and non-major undergraduates and to provide research activities for undergraduate students.
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(added March 2008)
John Anderson conferred as Durham University's 2008 Distinguished Visiting Lecturer
Dr. John Anderson recently returned from an appointment as the 2008 Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Durham University in Durham, England. While in residence, Dr. Anderson presented four lectures on the following topics: "Post-LGM History of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet," "Cenozoic History of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet," "Mountain Denudation by Patagonian Glaciers," and "Coastal Response to Accelerated Sea-Level Rise."
The title of Distinguished Visiting Lecturer from this institution is a significant honor bestowed only on those individuals who have made significant contributions to teaching and research activity within their discipline.
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(added February 2008)
Alison Henning Wins Award for Summer Course
Alison Henning, lecturer in the Department of Earth Science, has been selected to receive the Virginia and Griff Lawhon Digital Education Award for 2007. The award was created in 2005 to support the exploration of new and innovative applications of information technology for teaching and learning.
Henning received the award for her summer course ESCI 515: Geophysical Field Work for Educators. Participants in the course for educators have used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to locate lost graves at a pair of historic African-American cemeteries in the Houston area. Henning plans to use the award to purchase additional GPR equipment to support the course.
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(added May 2007)
Alan Levander, Department Chair and Carey Croneis Professor of Earth Science, to receive the Woollard Award of the Geophysics Division of the Geological Society of America.
The Woollard Award is given for outstanding contributions to geology through the applications of the principles of geophysics. Professor Levander, whose main research tool is seismology, is widely recognized for his scientific leadership in forefront research on the structure of the crust and upper mantle. He has made major contributions to understanding the structure and tectonics of the Pacific-North America plate boundary both on- and off-shore of California, the structure and evolution of the Brooks Range in Alaska, the structure and evolution of the western interior of North America, and the structure and tectonics of the Caribbean-South America plate boundary. He received the news of this latest award while in Germany on a research leave of absence supported by a Humboldt Fellowship. The award will be presented to Professor Levander at the annual meeting of the GSA in October in Denver.
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(added April 2007)
John Anderson is the recipient of the 2007 Francis P. Shepard Medal from the SEPM.
The Francis P. Shepard Medal for Marine Geology is awarded in recognition of "Excellence in Marine Geology." Nominees for the medal will be persons who have a sustained record of outstanding research contributions to Marine Geology (e.g. the distribution and characterization of modern sediments, marine geomorphology, or the structure of continental margins) or to other significant aspects of Marine Geology, such as geophysics, geobiology, and geochemistry, providing there is a clear link to marine sedimentation. The recognition is not to be limited to members of the Society or other professional organizations, nor to citizens of any one country. Recipients of the Shepard Medal are eligible as later nominees for the Twenhofel Medal.
Award winners are listed on the SEPM web site.
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(added April 2007)
Doctoral candidate, Priyank Jaiswal, receives SEG Foundation Award
Earth Science Ph.D. candidate, Priyank Jaiswal, has been awarded a 2007-2008 Educational Award from the SEG Foundation. In 1956, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists began a program of encouraging the establishment of scholarship funds by companies and individuals engaged or interested in the field of geophysics. Ultimately, the SEG Foundation was organized to serve this need. The SEG Scholarship Committee - composed of eight members of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, who are appointed by the Chairman of the committee - selects the recipients of the awards. This award is provided to students who make significant contribution in the field of geophysics through their research.
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(added April 2007)
Doctoral candidate Fanwei Zeng receives Texas Water Resources Institute grant
Fanwei Zeng received a student grant from the Texas Water Resources
Institute for her project "Carbon isotopic measurements of dissolved
inorganic carbon: A new tool to assess groundwater-river exchange in
the Brazos River Basin" through their Graduate Student Grant Program.
More information about this program can be found at: http://twri.tamu.edu/usgs.php
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Martha Lou Broussard '57 is a recipient of the 2007 Meritorious Service Award
Martha Lou Broussard has shown decades of dedication to the students and faculty of Rice's Department of Earth Science. She was the first woman to graduate from what was then the Rice Geology Department, and after a successful career in the oil industry, she joined the department in 1983 as department coordinator. Martha Lou officially retired from Rice in 1989, but has been the volunteer alumni coordinator since that time. She organizes events across the country when alumni gather for professional conferences, and has organized two festivals in honor of retiring faculty which attracted alumni and other geologists from around the world to come to Rice. Additionally, she was responsible for many of the arrangements for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Earth Science Department, as well as supporting smaller department events each year. Every year Martha Lou performs innumerable tasks that help keep countless alumni connected to Rice and to each other.
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Morgan Gallagher honored by American Geophysical Union
In recognition of her presentation, The Effects of Decomposition on the Oxidative Ratio and Carbon Oxidation State of Organic Matter, delivered at the 2006 Fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, the Biogeosciences Section of the AGU has selected Ms. Gallagher to receive their Outstanding Student Paper Award. This honor recognizes students whose presentations are considered to be exemplary amongst their peers and to set a standard of excellence for others to aspire to.
In honor of this achievement, Morgan will receive a formal certificate of achievement and official mention in an upcoming publication of Eos, the weekly newspaper of AGU.
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