Chair’s MessageTHIS HAS BEEN A YEAR OF TREMENDOUSCHANGE FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EARTH& ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE. Barton Hallis coming down; the new ScienceEducation and Research Center (SERC) isup and running. Professor George Myerretired, and sadly, Gene Ulmer, professoremeritus, passed away. Both menprofoundly influenced the lives ofthousands of students.

This year, we have also welcomed two newfaculty members: Steven Chemtob, andAtsuhiro Muto. The unprecedented growth— seven new hires in as many years —brings the department total to a record 11presidential faculty. This has allowed us tolaunch our geoscience doctoral programand to welcome, this fall, our first threedoctoral students.

The launch of the PhD program has notlessened our commitment to under-graduate education. Rather, we hope it willprovide further opportunities to involveundergraduates in exciting new research.This November at the annual meeting ofthe Geological Society of America inBaltimore we are proud to have eightundergraduate students presenting talksand posters.

New faculty, new labs, new equipment,new grants, our first PhD students, 136majors — this is a truly an exciting time tobe a geoscientist and a Temple Owl!

Sincerely,

Jonathan NyquistProfessor and Chair, Department of EES

EES Department welcomes two new accomplished professorsSteven ChemtobASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Steven Chemtob studies the mineralogical, geochemical and stable isotopesignatures of water-rock interaction. In 2012 he completed his PhD in geochemistryat Caltech, and then completed an NSF postdoctoral fellowship at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis. Chemtob’s research involves field studies of chemicalweathering in near-surface environments, laboratory experiments and materialscharacterization utilizing both conventional and synchrotron-based techniques. Hiscurrent research interests include the mechanisms involved in the deposition ofPrecambrian banded iron-formations and the mineral record of ancient aqueousalteration on Mars.

His work has been published in the American Mineralogist,Journal of Geophysical Research and Journal of Volcanology andGeothermal Research.

Atsuhiro MutoASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Atsuhiro Muto is a glaciologist/polar geophysicist whose majorresearch goal is to understandpast, present and future changes of polar ice sheets and glaciers—and what drivesthese changes. His current research includes using remotely sensed and surfacegeophysical data to discern subglacial conditions beneath Antarctic and Greenlandice sheets, as well as using borehole thermometry to study past surface-temperaturechanges in Antarctica.

He has spent six field seasons in Antarctica’s challenging environment, includinga 65-day traverse to the South Pole. In 2011 he was awarded the Antarctica ServiceMedal by the U.S. Department of Defense.

He has more than a dozen articles published in journals such as Journal ofGeophysical Research and Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Muto received his PhDfrom the University of Colorado. Prior to coming to Temple, he was a researchscientist at the Pennsylvania State University.

Steven Chemtob Atsuhiro Muto

ees.cst.temple.edu

EESUPDATE FALL 2015

College of Science and Technology

Earth & EnvironmentalScience

SUPPORT THE GENE C. ULMER STUDENT SUPPORT FUNDThe Gene C. Ulmer Student Support Fund was created by our recentlydeceased emeritus professor to help students pay for their field campexperiences. To learn how you can honor his tremendous legacy and supportthe next generation of geologists, see page 4.

STUDENT PROFILES

Christopher Conwell: GSA OutstandingUndergraduate Poster AwardChris Conwell, a senior who recentlytransferred to EES from the ChemistryDepartment, was awarded an OutstandingUndergraduate Student Poster Award by theGeological Society of America (GSA) at its 2015Northeast Section meeting in March in BrettonWoods, New Hampshire. His research focuseson the origin of geochemical anomalies andcoloration in relict Atlantic oyster shells. Chrisparticipated in the recent UndergraduateResearch Symposium at Temple and willpresent new findings at the upcoming nationalGSA conference.

Other outstanding students include:

• Olivia Wells, MS ’15, geology, who won anAmerican Association of PetroleumGeologists’ Student Award, and $500, at theAAPG’s annual conference last spring inDenver, Colorado. Her poster presentation onthe evolution of fracture surface roughnesswas judged the fourth best among 120student abstracts.

• Ashley Newman, ’15, a geology degreegraduate who won an UndergraduateResearch Program Award for herinvestigation of the effects on groundwater ofinfiltration from the SERC stormwater basin.

• Kevin Carpenter, ’15, an environmental sciencedegree graduate who won a Temple LibrarySustainability Prize for his senior seminartopic, “Rethinking Conservation Goals forNorth America's Gray Wolves.”

Geoscience PhD program launchedThe EES Department is pleased to announce the launch of the new PhD in geosciencesprogram. This fall we have welcomed three PhD candidates and five master’s degreestudents. Our first PhD students include:

Katrina Korman is working on an NSF-funded project withAssociate Professor Alexandra Krull Davatzes, studyingthe climatic effects of large impacts in the PrecambrianPeriod. She spent her first field season this past summer in western Australia.

Before coming to Temple, she graduated cum laudefrom the University of St. Thomas with a triple major ingeology, environmental science and philosophy, andcontinues to teach its field camp every winter. She alsoplays the oboe in the Temple Night Owls CampusCommunity Band and is working on learning the guitar.

Jim Berglund is working with Professor Laura Toran, theWeeks Chair in Environmental Geology, on an NSF-fundedproject to find geochemical signatures that better classifykarst springs. He earned a BS in geology from WinonaState University in Minnesota and an MS in geology fromMissouri State University. His master’s thesis resulted intwo papers on karst dye tracing and geophysics.

Before returning to school at Temple to earn hisdoctorate, Berglund was a groundwater protectionhydrologist for the Minnesota Department of Health.

In his spare time, he enjoys flying small aircraft, reading satire, and exploringPhiladelphia by bike.

Boyoung Song is a PhD student working with AssistantProfessor Bojeong Kim to investigate the environmentalapplications of metal oxide nanoparticles and clayminerals. She received her BS in geology from ChungnamNational University in Daejeon, South Korea, and alsoworked at the Korea National Oil Corporation. She earnedher MS degree in geoscience from Stony Brook Universityon Long Island, New York, where she studied sorptionbehavior of an emerging contaminant, antimony--Sb (V)—on hydroxyapatite, a known sorbent that is a naturally

occurring mineral form of calcium apatite.During her free time, Song’s favorite activity is running. She also enjoys listening

to music and reading books.

EES Chair JonathanNyquist, and two recentgraduates, Lacey Pitman,MS ’14, and DerekLichtner, BS ’13, conductsubsurface georadarsurveys on the MainCampus with a big assistfrom Hooter.

EES FUNDED RESEARCHNew External GrantsJuly 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015

Ilya Buynevich• Geophysical Characterization of Biogenic

Structures in Siliciclastic and CarbonateMedia, American Chemical Society PetroleumResearch Fund

Alexandra Krull Davatzes• Field Studies of Precambrian Impacts and

Implications for the Early Crust andEnvironment, NSF CAREER award

Nicholas Davatzes• Geothermal Play-Fairway Analysis of

Washington State Prospects, WashingtonState Department of Natural Resources,Geology, DOE

• Poroelastic Tomography by Adjoint InverseModeling of Data from Seismology, Geodesy,and Hydrology, University of Wisconsin, DOE

Nicholas Davatzes and Roselyne C. Laboso• Influence of Fault Slip Mechanical Interaction

on the Evolution of Permeability at Brady’sGeothermal Field, University of California

Sujith Ravi• Resource-Use Impacts and Potential for

Electricity and Agriculture Co-Production FromLarge-Scale Solar Development, NSF

Laura Toran• A New Classification System for Karst Springs

Using Storm Hysteresis, NSF

TEACHING AWARDS:EES faculty receive two distinguished teaching awardsProfessor David Grandstaff and Associate Professor Ilya Buynevich each won 2014 Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Awards.

Grandstaff joined Temple University as an instructor in1973, earned the rank of professor in 1987 and twiceserved as chair of the department. He teaches introductorygeology, geochemistry and two graduate geochemistrycourses. He often uses the Socratic method, continuallyquestioning his students.

His research includes using rare earth elements andother geochemical tools to better understand thedepositional and diagenetic environment of fossilizationand taphonomy of vertebrate remains.

Buynevich teaches physical geology, processgeomorphology and coastal processes. He works closelywith undergraduates as both a mentor of students in theUndergraduate Research Program and as the departmentrepresentative to CST’s Science Scholar Program. Sincejoining Temple in 2009, he has supervised five master’sstudents, three of whom are pursuing doctoral degrees inthe field of geosciences.

His research focuses on geological records of extremeevents and animal-substrate interaction usinggeomorphological, sedimentological, geophysical andgeoarchaeological methods.

Two Faculty Members Earn TenureDuring the past year two faculty members, AssociateProfessors Ilya Buynevich and Alexandra Krull Davatzes,achieved tenure (see above story regarding Buynevich).

Davatzes joined Temple University in 2008. Herresearch focuses on building temporal and scaleconstraints of geologic processes on Mars; early Earthatmosphere, crust and oceans; and meteorite impact plumeformation and evolution. Her courses include “Sedimentary Petrology” and“Planetary Geology.” She also serves as a faculty member at Temple’s SpatialIntelligence and Learning Center.

Strong Showing at2015 GSA ConferenceEES faculty and students presentedand co-authored more than 30 talksand posters at the Geological Society ofAmerica National Conference inBaltimore Nov. 1-4.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DENNIS TERRY co-authored The White River Badlands:Geology and Paleontology, which IndianaUniversity Press published earlier this year.Between 1987 and 1990 Terry worked eachsummer at Badlands National Park in SouthDakota as a National Park Service interpreterand researcher. He has returned everysummer since then to continue his research.

IN MEMORIAMWe mourn the passing of Emeritus Professor Gene Ulmer, who died Sept. 18,2015. Gene was a driving force in our department for decades, both during his39 years as a faculty member and more recently as emeritus faculty. Anaccomplished researcher and teacher, Gene cared intensely about students andestablished the Gene C. Ulmer Student Support Fund to help undergraduatespay for their field camps. Donations can be made to the fund in his memory.Please see details on the following page.

David Grandstaff

Ilya Buynevich

Alexandra KrullDavatzes

College of Science and Technology1803 N. Broad Street400 Carnell HallPhiladelphia, PA 19122

For more news, go to ees.cst.temple.edu

Field camp crowd-sourcing reachesfundraising targetThis year the Department of Earth andEnvironmental Science successfullycompleted a crowd-sourcing fundraisingcampaign—which involved a deadlinefor submitting online donations—tosupport seniors attending their capstonegeology field camps. Those funds,combined with the proceeds of a jewelrysale, raised more than $4,000 to providecritically needed support this summer forstudents attending their capstonegeology field camps.

The funds were disbursed via the GeneC. Ulmer Student Support Fund, whichwas established by the recently deceasedemeritus professor to specifically supportour students’ field camps.

Returning students always remembertheir field camps as one of the best (andhardest) experiences in their training asgeoscientists.

To support the next generation ofgeologists, please consider contributingto the Gene C. Ulmer Student SupportFund. Donations to the fund can be madeat giving.temple.edu/givetocst. Checksshould be made payable to "TempleUniversity CST," with "Gene UlmerStudent Support Fund" in the memo.Send to: John Walker

CST Dean's Office1803 N. Broad StreetCarnell Hall, Suite 400Temple UniversityPhiladelphia, PA 19122

Thank you.

Mike Gagliano (BS '04, Math; MS '10, Geo) has been a senior geologist with the New Jersey Geological Survey (NJGS) for the past two years. His master’s degreefocused on geophysics, which he has been utilizing since he started working part-time for the NJGS in 2012.

His primary responsibilities involve conducting marine seismic surveys to identifyoffshore sand resources for beach restoration in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Healso has conducted seismic surveys to: locate underground storage tanks; trackcontaminant plumes; detect salt water intrusion; delineate the boundaries of ancientcemeteries; and map a shipwreck off the coast of Mantoloking.

“With geophysics, we’re always trying different techniques and you never knowwhat you are going to find,” says Gagliano, a Philadelphia native and resident.“When people follow up on your work and find an underground storage tank to digup that is exactly where you said it would be, it’s quite satisfying.”

Gagliano says his education at Temple, including the skills he acquired in Matlaband ArcGIS, have made him something of an IT guru at the NJGS. “To find the off-shore sand that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uses to replenish the beachesrequires a lot of data processing,” he says, “I actually wrote some programs inMatlab to do some of that processing.”

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT:Gagliano ’04, ’10, senior geologist with NJ Geological Survey