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GSA Member News
September 2008
- 23 Sept.: Congratulations to GSA Fellow David Montgomery, who has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in recognition of his extraordinary originality, creativity, dedication, and promise for important future advances based on his track record of significant accomplishment. Montgomery will give two talks at the 2008 Joint Annual Meeting in Houston: a Thurs., 9 Oct., Pardee Keynote Symposium titled "Records of Anthropogenic Soil Erosion: Implications for Agricultural Sustainability" and session 523-15 on Mon., 6 Oct., "Agriculture and the Erosion of Civilizations."
- 17 Sept.: GSA Senior Fellow Farouk El-Baz met with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House for an Iftar reception and dinner in celebration of the month of Ramadan, an Islamic time of fasting, prayer, and charity. El-Baz is director of the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing. [ view press release ]
August 2008
- GSA Member Robert Detrick of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has been named the director of the Division of Earth Sciences for the National Science Foundation Directorate for Geosciences.
- At the 33rd International Geological Congress (IGC) in Oslo, Norway, 5-14 August, GSA Member Stan Finney began a four-year term as chair of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (IUGS). Also during the IGC, GSA Fellow Carlton Brett was presented with the IUGS Digby McLaren Prize in recognition of his outstanding career of significant contributions toward advancing the discipline of stratigraphy.
- The following GSA Members were elected as Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): Richard B. Alley, GSA’s 2008 Public Service awardee; Michael A. Arthur, GSA’s 2007 Sedimentary Geology Division Laurence L. Sloss awardee; GSA Senior Fellow Michael A. Church; Bruce H. Corliss; GSA Fellow Larissa F. Dobrzhinetskaya; GSA Senior Fellow Edward S. Grew; GSA Fellow Michael F. Hochella; GSA Fellow Ken C. Macdonald; GSA Fellow Fred M. Phillips; Maureen E. Raymo; GSA Fellow and chair of GSA’s Geology & Society Division, Marilyn Suiter; and GSA Fellow and the GSA Planetary Geology Division’s 2007 G.K. Gilbert awardee, Maria T. Zuber. AAAS fellowship recognizes meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications, and AAAS Fellows have made significant contributions in research, teaching, technology, services to professional societies, and/or the communication of science to the public.
July 2008
- GSA Fellow Gordon Lister has been awarded the S.W. Carey Medal by the Geological Society of Australia for a distinguished career in the field of tectonics.
- “Some scientists study the history of the earth, and some study the history of the study of the history of earth.” The American Institute of Physics has just chosen a scholar of this type to be its new director of the Center for History of Physics. Gregory Good is currently the chair of the Department of History at West Virginia University in Morgantown. Good will continue the tradition of bringing information into the public sphere with his upcoming book on the history of the discovery of Earth's magnetic field. Good is a member of the International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences and is director of graduate studies in the History Department at WVU.
- The University of Texas at Austin has named Charles G. "Chip" Groat interim dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences. Groat replaces Eric J. Barron, dean since 2006, who left the university to become director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Groat holds the position while a national search takes place for the next Jackson School dean. [ more ]
June 2008
- GSA Member Matthew C. Larsen has been named U.S. Geological Survey Associate Director for Water, with responsibility for all water-related research and activities within the USGS, including flooding, water quality, drought, climate change, and water availability. Larsen began his USGS career in 1977 and earned a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1997.
May 2008
- GSA Member and 2007 GSA Distinguished Service Award recipient Yildirim Dilek has been awarded Miami University's prestigious Benjamin Harrison Medallion. The Harrison Medallion is presented to members of Miami's faculty or staff who have made outstanding national contributions to education.
- GSA Senior Fellow Farouk El-Baz, director of the Boston University Center of Remote Sensing, has been honored by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture’s Supreme Council of Antiquities with the “Golden Award” for his “unstinting efforts in preserving archaeological sites in Egypt.”
- In recognition of her outstanding contributions to the advancement of the geophysical sciences, GSA Member Patricia Dove of Virginia Tech has been named a 2008 Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
- GSA Teacher Member Michelle Brand Buchanan of Pineville Junior High in Pineville, Louisiana, has been named the first recipient of the Edward C. Roy Jr. Award for Excellence in K-8 Earth Science Teaching. Buchanan is also the 2007 National Association of Geoscience Teachers Outstanding Earth Science Teacher for Louisiana.
- GSA Members Richard B. Alley of Penn State University and Paul E. Olsen of Columbia University have been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
April 2008
- Deceased GSA Fellow Fred F. Meissner, a petroleum geologist with the Colorado School of Mines, was posthumously awarded the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Sidney Powers Memorial Award. This gold medal, given in recognition of distinguished and outstanding contributions to, or achievements in, petroleum geology, is AAPG’s highest honor.
March 2008
- GSA Fellow Igor Effimoff has been elected to the Board of Directors of Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. Effimoff provides geological, geophysical, and engineering consulting services for investment and business development opportunities with U.S. and international clients. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Teton Petroleum Company and President of Pennzoil Caspian Corporation.
February 2008
- Senior Fellow Clay Conway has been appointed Consultant to Kent Exploration Inc. Conway specializes in mineral exploration on dissseminated and vein-style gold deposits in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and has expertise in structural geology and interpreting geospatial data and remote sensing imagery.
January 2008
- Lee Rice has been appointed to the board of directors of International Beryllium Corporation. Rice is a founding partner of Rare Earths Limited LLC, a private, Colorado-based company that provides satellite imagery, mapping, deposit evaluation, and other technological, geological, and consulting services with a special focus on the rare earths sector.
- Daniel J. Bain, University of Pittsburgh, and Brian A. Pellerin, U.S. Geological Survey, are two of six winners of the 2007 Early Career Fellowships awarded by the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI). They will join the Hydrologic Synthesis team at the University of New Hampshire.
- GSA Fellow and former Treasurer John E. Costa retired from the U.S. Geological Survey effective 3 January after 25 years of federal service. He mostly recently served as National Flood Science Coordinator in the Office of Surface Water and will continue on as a scientist emeritus.

