Department of Geology Offices Return to NHB!

Save the Date! 11/4/17 Natural History Building Re-dedication

November 4th, 2017:  Mark your calendars for a grand event to mark the re-dedication of the Natural History Building!  Geology alumni from all over will be converging on NHB for a symposium, tours, and plenty of socializing to celebrate the completion of this once-in-a-lifetime renewal of the traditional home of Geology, on the quad.

Details as they become available will be posted at http://go.illinois.edu/nhb_reopening; please contact the department if you have any questions.

Additionally, there will be an open house on Saturday, October 28, during Illinois Homecoming.  Please see the above link for details as well.

Conroy named 2017 Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences

Jessica Conroy has been named a 2017 Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences, and will participate in the Indonesian-American Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium, July 18-21, 2017 in Ambon, Indonesia.

The Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium series is the National Academy of Science's premiere activity for distinguished young scientists. The symposia are designed to provide an overview of advances and opportunities in a wide-ranging set of disciplines and to provide an opportunity for the future leaders of science to build a network with their colleagues.

Meet Dr. Max Christie, New Lecturer in Geology

The department is happy to welcome Max Christie, who will join the department in August, 2017 as a Lecturer.  Max is a paleontologist interested in how extinction affects ecosystems.  He uses principles of stratigraphy, ecology, and statistics to figure out how communities of animals have changed through time. 

Gary Parker Elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Gary Parker, the W. Hilton Johnson Professor of Geology and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences!

Gary joins three other faculty from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who were also elected this year.  The LAS news page has more:
http://www.las.illinois.edu/news/article/?id=21881&/news//news/2017/NAS17/

New research links river piracy, glacier retreat and global warming

Faculty Search: Lecturer in Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, and/or Paleobiology

Feng Sheng Hu Named ESA Fellow

Prof. Emerita Sue Kieffer receives the "Marcus Milling Legendary Geoscientist Medal"

Lijun Liu Named LEAP Scholar

Prof. Lijun Liu was named a Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors (LEAP) Scholar for 2016-2017.  Liu is one of only six assistant professors in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recognized for their exceptional accomplishments in teaching and research as part of a new program to highlight and encourage the contributions of outstanding junior faculty in the College of LAS.  

Alum Named Teacher of the Year by AAPG Eastern Section

Prof. Gregg leads team exploring submarine volcanos in the Pacific!

Professor Patricia Gregg, her graduate students, and Prog. Craig Lundstrom are aboard the ship R/V Atlantis out in the Pacific Ocean.  Prof. Gregg is Chief Scientist for project OASIS, "Off-Axis Seamount Investigations at Siqueiros," that is exploring sea-floor volcanoes using the Alvin research submarine and other advanced observational methods.

SEE DETAILED STORY ON THE COLLEGE OF LAS NEWS PAGES!

RESEARCHING THE AMAZON

Jim Best, graduate student Julia Cisneros and undergraduate Vanessa Gabel, are journeying to the Amazon River in late November and early December to conduct research on the sedimentology of the Amazon’s main channel.

Follow their trip during this period through a triptych of blogs at https://news.illinois.edu/blog/view/6367/432511

Don Lowe (Ph.D., 1967) receives department’s Alumni Achievement Award

International Water Prize Awarded to Gary Parker

Prof. Gary Parker has been selected as the recipient of the 7th Prince Abdul Aziz Surface Water Prize, for his work on the problem of meandering rivers.  

More information about the prize can be found at http://www.psipw.org/index.php

Prof. Philip Alan Sandberg (1937-2016)

Jim Best's Mekong work published in Nature

Professor Jim Best, the Jack and Richard Threet Professor of Sedimentary Geology, is part of an international team that has published a new paper about sediment supply to the Mekong River Delta.  

See more on the College of LAS News web page:
http://www.las.illinois.edu/news/article/?id=19592&/news//news/2016/riverdelta16/

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS ALUMNI RECEPTION AT AGU

Illinois Alumni are cordially invited to attend the AGU reception hosted by:
University of Illinois Departments of Atmospheric Sciences, Geography, and Geology in the School of Earth, Society, and Environment 
in conjunction with the 2016 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.

Bruce Fouke Publishes Yellowstone Book

Bruce Fouke, along with photographer Tom Murphy, has published a new book, The Art of Yellowstone Science – Mammoth Hot Springs as a Window on the Universe. 

Liu magnetotellurics paper appears in Science

Prof. Lijun Liu, with co-author Derrick Hasterok of the University of Adelaide, has published a paper in Science, titled: "High-resolution lithosphere viscosity and dynamics revealed by magnetotelluric imaging."

U of I Reception at Denver GSA!

The Illinois Geology Alumni and Friends reception at GSA will be a combined event, including Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Iowa, and Minnesota-Duluth. 

Monday, September 26th
7:00 to 10:00 PM
Bubba Gump's Restaurant, 2nd floor
1437 California St, Denver (just northeast of the convention center)

Noah Jemison Receives AGU Horton Research Grant

Graduate student Noah Jemison has been awarded a Horton Research Grant by AGU.  Each year the grant is awarded to up to three students during their candidacy for a Ph.D. degree in hydrology, water resources, or a closely related field.  Noah will be recognized at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

Nicole Fernandez-Franzen Awarded NSF Graduate Fellowship

Fall Field Trip 2016- Starved Rock

DEPT. OF GEOLOGY AND SESE ANNUAL FALL FIELD TRIP

STARVED ROCK STATE PARK & MATTHIESSEN STATE PARK

Sharon Mosher (B.S. 1973; Ph.D. 1978) selected for LAS Alumni Achievement Award

More NHB renovation photos

Additional photographs from the recent NHB walk-through.

AAPG Calgary: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS ALUMNI RECEPTION

Join us for the 2016 AAPG Illinois Alumni reception:

Monday, June 20, 2016
6:00–8:00 p.m.
Ed’s Restaurant
202 17th Ave SE, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Sediments and archaeology: Field work in Belize

Graduate student Melinda Higley and Professor Jessica Conroy are helping Professor Lisa Lucero of Anthropology study the study the intersection of Maya civilization, landscape, and climate change in Belize. 

Holben Staff Award

NHB Update: May, 2016

After the complete removal of most interior walls, the inside of NHB is now being rebuilt at a brisk pace, with new walls, infrastructure, and facilities nearly complete.  We have begun to see the department's new home take shape!

2016 Spring Convocation

Shell Sponsors Oil and Gas Industry Short Course: April 23-24, 2016

With sponsorship from Royal Dutch Shell, petroleum Geologist Marsha Bourque from Houston presented an introduction to petroleum geoscience and engineering.  The course was designed for students with little knowledge of the industry who were eager to learn about both the practice of petroleum geology and the nature of careers they might pursue.  

Geology department river trip with high school students

Department purchases new SEM

Illinois-based field course led by Brandon Curry of ISGS

Adjunct Professor Brandon Curry of the ISGS led a field course aimed at regional geology in Fall, 2015.  The class was intended for motivated seniors and graduate students interested in the geology of the Midwest, and centered on several field trips to observe the quaternary and bedrock geology of the State of Illinois.

The genesis and petrology of kidney stones

This polished slice of a kidney stone looks like diamonds when polarized light is used to illuminate a wafer only a 4 millionths of a meter (micrometers) in thickness. Prof. Bruce Fouke is involved with the collaborative Mayo Clinic and University of Illinois Alliance for Technology-Based Healthcare research project on kidney stone genesis with Dr. John Lieske, Dr. Amy Krambeck, Dr. Nick Chia and Jessica Saw. The project involves both advanced petrography of the stones and research into the role of microbes in their deposition.

2015 Alumni Achievement Award

John A. Cherry, Ph.D. '65 received the 2015 Alumni Achievement Award from the Department of Geology.  Cherry, co-author of the groundbreaking textbook "Groundwater" gave the Buckley Lecture in Environmental Geology at UIUC December 3, 2015 on the topic: "Environmental issues for shale gas development: A hydrogeological perspective." Cherry is Distinguished Emeritus Professor, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.

2015 Newsletter

The Department of Geology Year in Review 2014-2015 newsletter is now out. You can receive a copy in the mail or download the newsletter in PDF form here. The stories in the newsletter include an article and obituary for Professor Albert Carozzi, articles on Spring Field class trip to Cyprus, the Field Camp anniversary, some research projects and an update on the remodeling of NHB.

University of Illinois Alumni Reception

Illinois Alumni are cordially invited to attend the AGU reception hosted by

University of Illinois Departments of Atmospheric Sciences, Geography, and Geology in the School of Earth, Society, and Environment in conjunction with the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.

Monday, December 14, 2015

6:00-8:00 p.m.

Jillian’s @ Metreon

175 Fourth Street

San Francisco, California

John Mann Passed Away Sept. 2,2015

In May of 2016 the Spring Field Course Returns to Ireland

In May of 2016 the Spring Field Course will be sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell, with additional support from Chevron.  The trip, led by Professor Jim Best, will return to western Ireland to study the development of the Western Ireland Shannon Basin, from the limestones of the Burren to deep-water black shales, turbidites and fluvial-deltaic successions of the Ross, Gull Island and Tullig formations.

Assistant Professor Jennifer Druhan joins the Geology Faculty

Department of Geology faculty as of August 2015. Her research interests are in hydrogeology and geochemistry, with a focus on numerical modeling of reactive transport processes. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 2012 and held a postdoctoral position at Stanford University for the past three years. 

23rd Annual Dept. of Geology and 9th Annual SESE Field Trip

The 23rd annual Dept. of Geology and 9th annual SESE field trip took place on Saturday, August 29. Undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and faculty from the School of Earth, Society & Environment were invited. The trip visited several locations with Quaternary deposits near the Illinois River about 35 miles northeast of Peoria. 

Congratulations Class of 2015

Congratulations to the Department of Geology Class of 2015. We wish you well in all of your future endeavors and hope you'll stay in touch!

Whalen Celebrates 25 Years and Staff Award

Marilyn Whalen, the Assistant to the Head celebrated 25 years at UIUC in November and also received news that she is to receive the LAS Distinguished Staff award for 2014-2015 in the spring.

Willow repairs Fossil Rhinoceros

As we have moved out of the Natural History Building, we have discovered many remarkable pieces that are part of the Geology department’s long history. One such piece is a fossil rhinoceros ‘hash’ of Diceratherium (two horned young adult rhinoceroses) from the Miocene strata of Agate Springs, Nebraska collected by Harold R. Wanless.

Demolition of NHB

Demolition work is proceeding rapidly in the Natural History Building! The NHB “extreme makeover" will begin with a complete “gutting” of the building, including removal of many old walls, plumbing fixtures, electrical components, flooring, and various other fixtures. 

2014 Alumni Award - John Shelton

The 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award went to John W. Shelton who has had a stellar 60+ year career in the Oil Industry, Academia and Service to the community. On November 6th, 2014, John gave a talk to the Geology Dept. summarizing the important discoveries and changes during his career. He was presented the Award by Tom Johnson, Head of the Department of Geology for his contibutions in all three areas.