News & Events

Annual Faculty Awards

This spring, Dr. Melissa Lamb received the 2008 Undergraduate Research and Collaborative Scholarship faculty mentor award! The recipient of this award is chosen based on their "outstanding dedication to collaborative scholarship with undergraduate students at the University of St. Thomas." Faculty award winners also receive a $1,000 stipend. Congratulations Dr. Lamb!!

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EDMAP Grant: Three Years Running!

Drs. Tom Hickson and Lisa Lamb received a US Department of the Interior EDMAP grant for the third year in a row. This grant funds student field-based research in southern Nevada. In the first two years, nine students traveled to the southwest to map and collect data to address issues of continental extension, crustal deformation, basin formation, and climate change. Four students will return to Nevada in March, 2008, to conduct more fieldwork and present initial results at the Geological Society of America Meeting in Las Vegas, NV. Additional students will return in June 2008.

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What Happens in Vegas…? Spring Field Camp and GSA Meetings, of course!

Cabin Ross, Rachel Piotraschke, Jill Schleicher, and Lindsey Lee along with Drs. Tom Hickson and Lisa Lamb will be traveling back to the Las Vegas region to continue mapping the Bitter Spring Quadrangle. Their main goal is to complete the eastern edge of their map so they can move onto the western portion of the Bitter Spring Quadrangle. This spring field camp is made possible by the EDMAP grant. While in Vegas, Cabin Ross and Rachel Piotraschke will be presenting a research poster at the Geological Society of America’s Cordilleran/Rocky Mountain Joint Section Meeting March 19-21 with Drs. Lamb and Hickson. The poster is titled “Structural Analysis in the Bitter Spring Quadrangle, Lake Mead, Nevada: Unraveling a Complex Record of Extension.” In this poster they address several questions relating to the nature of Basin and Range extension in the Bitter Spring Quadrangle by studying the fault trends. To read a copy of their abstract, click here.

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Icelandic Adventures

During spring break, Dr. Kevin Theissen and Dr. Camille George will explore Iceland for 10 days as part of an interdisciplinary effort between the geology and engineering departments. Students in oceanography and thermodynamics courses will explore Iceland’s use of its unique geological setting to provide much of its energy needs in a clean and sustainable way. They will explore coastal processes, the offshore volcanic island of Heimaey, and the active rift zone that provides geothermal heat in Iceland. Students will take part in a guided tour of the Nesjavellir district heating facility outside Reykjavik, considered Iceland’s greatest engineering achievement. The group will also visit Reykjavik University and the University of Iceland for lectures on the impact of climate change on glaciers, carbon sequestration and binding with basalt, hydropower from glacial rivers, geothermal energy, and the issues Iceland faces with the management of power in their fishing fleet. The trip also has a blog where trip participants will post entries and photos: http://ust-iceland.blogspot.com/

From left to right: a view from Jokullarson in Southern Iceland, the Dyrholaey peninsula in southern Iceland,and a photo of the active Rift Zone that runs through Iceland.