News Archive
News, Announcements, and Awards
Horner wins lifetime achievement award from Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
Montana State University paleontologist Jack Horner has won the highest honor given by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Read the full story here.
A Fossil Mecca
MSU Students revitalizing Carter County Museum. Read the full story here.
WISSARD project explores subglacial lake (Antarctica Special Assignment: Part 4) KBZK Reports
To view the news special click here.
First class of MSU undergraduates heads to Antarctic Peninsula
Article in the April print version of Earth Magazine, published by American Geosciences Institute entitled “Ice-dwelling bacteria thrive”. The article is based on the results of the following paper Bakermans, C. andSkidmore, M.(2011b). Microbial Respiration in Ice at Subzero Temperatures (-4 to -33oC). Environmental Microbiology Reports, 3(6), 774-782. The April print issue of Earth Magazine.
MSU geology professor heads for Mount Everest
March 16, 2012 -- By Evelyn Boswell, MSU News Service
MSU paleontologists excavate dinosaur clutches in China
Department of Earth Sciences and Institute on Ecosystems receives Joint Fire Science Program grant to develop Northern Rockies Fire Science Network with team of fire scientists from the Northern Rockies
The USDA Joint Fire Science Program has awarded a two-year grant to a collaboration of university and federal scientists involved in fire science research to develop a Northern Rockies Fire Science Network (NRFSN) - Knowledge Exchange Consortium. The purpose of the NRFSN is to improve fire science and delivery to forest managers, identify research gaps and strengthen collaborations between fire science researchers and managers. David McWethy from the Department of Earth Sciences is a Co-PI on the grant with scientists from the University of Montana, Salish-Kootenai College, University of Idaho-Moscow, National Park Service, US Geological Survey and the Rocky Mountain Research Station.
Dinosaur hunter: Jack Horner
Mark Skidmore co-author on breakthrough paper about life under Antarctic ice in Nature. To read more click here and here.
Teams Comb Flathead Indian Reservation for clues about ancient, recent fires. Read article.
Graduate student Alicia Wilder has been awarded a College of Letters and Science Travel Grant to present her research on the Lazufre volcanic center at the XIX Argentine Geological Conference in Cordoba, Argentina, in June
Jordy Hendrikx, Karl Birkeland, Robyn Wooldridge (Graduate student), Alex Marienthal (Graduate Student) and Matt Wieland (undergraduate) are heading to the 2012 International Snow Science Workshop in Alaska, 16-21 September.
The International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW) is a biennial meeting of the professionals who work in the field of snow science and winter recreation. This is the only such conference which takes place and has been ongoing since 1976. It is truly international with participants from countries world wide where winter sports are popular. Professionals from Europe, Russia, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and North and South America are in attendance. The workshop is designed to bring together practitioners such as ski patrollers and mountain guides, forecasters who may work for ski companies, Departments of Transportation or the US Forest Service, engineers from mining companies, architecture firms or government, scientists who teach and research snow science and others who participate in the world of snow. In addition, it provides an opportunity for local mountain user groups to participate in a higher level learning environment. The conference is designed to promote the exchange of ideas and research and introduce the latest forecasting tools and winter products.
The Department of Earth Sciencs have 18 papers submitted to this conference, as either lead or co-authors including research with a number of past and present students and collaborators.
A full schedule of talks can be viewed at: http://www.isswabstracts.com/schedule.php
Awards given to Daniel Lawver:
Jackson School of Geosciences Student Member Travel Grant ($400.00) 2012
Paleontological Society Steven Jay Gould Award ($800.00) 2012
Chelonian Research Foundation Linnaeus Fund ($1600.00) 2012
MSU College of Letters and Sciences Student Travel Grant ($500.00) 2012
Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid ($1000.00) 2011
Another congrats to Anita Moore-Nall on receiving one of only six Sloan Scholarships at MSU. She will receive $12,833.33 for the fall and spring semester.
Congratuations to Ken Pierce who will be honored for his contributions to the scientific understanding of the Greater Yellowstone region during a joint meeting of the Rocky Mountain and Cordilleran section fo Geological society of America, May 19-21 at the Strand Union Building. To read more click here.
Congratulations to Lauren Thomas an Earth Sciences graduate student who was selected to participate in RECS: The Research Experience in Carbon Sequestration Program is an intensive 10-day research program hosted in Birmingham, Alabama. Participants will receive classroom instruction from world-class experts in the field of Carbon Capture and Storage. We will also participate in group exercises and visit local CCS test sites.
L&S faculty, staff and students receive college's top awards on April 24
Melanie Baldwin, Department of Earth Sciences will be honored with the Kathy Griffith Employee Excellence Award. Big congratulations to Melanie for her hard work and dedication to the department. Read More.
Two Students in the Earth Sciences Department recognized in the 2014 Student of Achievment
Awards.These are students who promote diversity and equality, demonstrate strong leadership
abilities, and serve as exemplary role models for their peers. This year’s recipients
are:
Dominique David-Chavez, Earth Sciences with a minor in Native American Studies
Sarah Foster, Civil Engineering (Bio-Resources Focus) and Earth Sciences Snow Science Mechanics
Horner wins lifetime achievement award from Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
Montana State University paleontologist Jack Horner has won the highest honor given by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Read the full story here.
Congratulations to Ali White She has been awarded a 1500.00 grant from Mazama on her research on Ecosystem response to climate change and Fire in Southwestern Oregon during the Holocen Era.http://www.mazamas.org/
Congratulations to Travis Corthouts on receiving a grant from Mazama this year. Travis's research grant was for his research on the Deformational history of the Qomolangma Formation and Yellow Band, Mount Everest, Nepal
MAGIP Congratulates Montana State University Poster Winners
On April 12, 2013, MAGIP presented awards and cash prizes to outstanding geospatial
posters at the Eighth Annual MSU Earth Sciences Department Colloquium. The Colloquium
promotes the Earth Sciences Department and showcased the research of students on a
local stage, in front of peers, faculty and sponsors. The Annual Colloquium provides
an opportunity for undergraduate, Masters of Science, and Doctoral students to display
the results of their research and hone their written, oral, and poster presentation
skills.
This year Carrie Shockley and Allen Armstrong, from the MAGIP Board of Directors, represented the MAGIP organization, judged the excellent posters, and presented the awards during the dinner banquet.
MAGIP would like to congratulate the following winners:
First Place
Certificate, Paid Registration to a MAGIP Event, 1-Year MAGIP Student Membership
$100 Prize
Elevated Uranium and Lead in wells on the Crow Reservation, Big Horn County – a potential
problem (Anita L. Moore-Nall)
Second Place
Certificate, 1-Year MAGIP Student Membership
$50 Prize
Indigenous Earth Science Knowledge of the Gallatin Valley Headwaters Rivers Inherent
in Native Place Names (Dominique M. David)
Third Place
Certificate, 1-Year MAGIP Student Membership
$25 Prize
Hydrothermal Characteristics of a Fault/Fracture System in the Western Big Snowy Arch,
Montana (Sarah R. Jeffrey)
Honorable Mentions
Structural Geology of the North-Half of the Swift Reservoir Culmination, Northern
Sawtooth Range, Montana (Daniel L. Ross)
Mixing following assimilation-fractional crystallization at Cerro Uturuncu, Andean Central Volcanic Zone, SW Bolivia as revealed from in situ laser ablation isotopic analysis of plagioclase (Gary S. Michelfelder)
Understanding Trends in Snow Accumulation, Water Availability and Climate Change using Snow Telemetry and Streamflow Observations in the Missouri River Headwaters (Tom Matthews)
The Effect of Physiographic Parameters on the Spatial Distribution of Snow Water Equivalent in Mountainous Terrain (Karl Wetlaufer)
All posters were invited to present at the upcoming MAGIP Spring Meeting in Miles City.
Congratulations to Anita Moore- Nall for earning the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation Native American Graduate Fellowship for the 3rd year in a row as a Ph.D. student. This award is worth $10,000.00 and a tuition waiver. Congratulations Anita!
Provost's Award for Undergraduate Research/Creativity Mentoring
Maire O'Neill, architecture, and David Varricchio, Earth sciences, have won the Provost's Award for Undergraduate Research/Creativity
Mentoring awards. Each receives a $2,000 honorarium.
Varricchio has a sustained and successful record of mentoring students, providing
both field and lab paleontology research opportunities. He has made student research
central to all of his classes, as well as his own research. To provide opportunities
for student research engagement, Varricchio has made student participation in his
grants a significant factor. He is the recipient of an NSF Career Award, which included
as a major component an educational plan for extensive student participation. Varricchio
has also co-authored a number of refereed journal articles with students, guided student
presentations at national and international venues, and mentors students formally
and informally.
President's Excellence in Teaching Awards
Florence Dunkel, plant sciences and pathology; Christina Hayes, mathematical sciences; and David Lageson, Earth sciences, were awarded the 2013 Excellence in Teaching Award. Each will receive
a $2,500 honorarium.
Lageson has been called a force of nature and a great ambassador for MSU and the
Department of Earth Sciences. Even after 32 years at MSU, he continues to inspire
students with his infectious enthusiasm for geology and ongoing excellence. Since
his best learning experiences have always been in the field, his career-long goal
is to expose his students to those same opportunities. Even indoors, he has gained
recognition for his dynamic lectures, his innovative curricular development and his
sustained commitment to outreach. His lifelong commitment to education was demonstrated
again this past year when he incorporated numerous learning activities with a trip
to Mount Everest.
Provost's Excellence in Outreach Award
David Bertelsen, Extension agent for Wibaux County, and David Lageson, geology/Earth sciences, were selected as the 2013 recipients of MSU's Provost's
Excellence in Outreach Award. Each receives a $2,000 honorarium.
Lageson has made a lifetime commitment to outreach, but he literally took that commitment
to new heights when he joined a 2012 educational expedition to Mount Everest. As its
chief scientist, he helped develop and implement an extensive education and outreach
program that inspired students, teachers and the general public in Montana and around
the world. He also wrote a chapter on the geology of Mount Everest for a new National
Geographic book. Lageson's chapter explains the origin of Mount Everest and the tectonic
evolution of the Himalayas. Lageson also organized National Geographic's "Young Explorers"
program to help develop the next generation of explorer/journalists.
Phi Kappa Phi Award
Bill Wyckoff and Linda Young won the Anna K. Fridley Distinguished Teaching Award given by the Phi Kappa Phi honorary,
sharing a $1,500 cash award.
Wyckoff has taught at MSU for 26 years and has earned high praise from his colleagues
and students for his enthusiasm, energy, knowledge and compassion. He is praised for
his mentoring of both undergraduate and graduate students. "He always has an open
door," one student writes, "and I see students taking advantage of this daily." Colleagues
praise him for his ability to bring his research into the classroom and to keep students
informed about ways to think about changes in the cultural landscape.
An outstanding congratulations to Cathy Whitlock, professor of earth sciences and MSU director of the Institute on Ecosystems, was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). This leading scientific organization advances science around the world and across all disciplines. Read More...
Congratulations to Dominique David, undergraduate student in Earth Sciences. She has been awarded the Montana Space Grant Consortiums full-year Space Grant Fellowship. This honor reflects the student's past achievements as well as present and future commitment to the aerospace sciences and engineering. Ms. David joins an elite group of approximately 1,900 Space Grant Scholars and Fellows nationwide.
Congratulations again to Ken Pierce, who has been selected as the recipient of the 2012 GSA QG&G Division Distinguished
Career Award.The award will be bestowed at the division awards ceremony to be held
on Tuesday, November 6 at the annual meeting in Charlotte, NC. As the recipient,
Ken will also be entitled to present an extended lecture. . As the recipient, he
will also receive a cash award of $1000.
Again, congratulations on a stellar career worthy of this award. To read more click here.
Congratulations to Ken Pierce who has received the 2011 American Quaternary Association Distinguished Career Award. The award recognizes a Quaternary Scientist who has contributed significantly & continuously to the advancement of the North American Quaternary science in any discipline. The award is the highest one made by AMQUA and truely honors someone with a lifetime commitment to Quaternary science. Congratulations Ken! To read more click here.
Congratulations to Melanie Baldwin who was awarded the Pure Gold Award on December 8th, 2011. She was presented with her award at a reception on December 14, 2011 at President Waded Cruzado's house. Thank you for all you do Mel!
Congratulations to Nick Atwood for being awarded the 2010 Big Sky scholar- athlete of the year. He recently received the award for his undergraduate academic performance while a member of the MSU track team. Nick's other achievements include his current MS graduate work in Italy and his internship at BHP-Billiton. His contributions to the department also include rejuvenating the AAPG student chapter in our department. Way to go Nick.
Congratulations to Martin Larsen Ph.Dc who has was an award-winner at the 2011 RMS/CORD meeting in Logan. Nice work Mort!
Congratulations to Dr. David Mogk who has been recognized by the International Association of GeoChemisity (IAGC) for his outstandng scientific accopmplishments in a particular area of geochemistry. He will be recognized in the IAGC newsletter and IAGC website. The award will be announced in an upcoming issure of Elements.
Big congratulations to Dr. David Mogk for being awarded the SPORE: Science Prize For Online Resources In Education. Read more about it here!
Dr. Todd Feeley is the 2010 recipient of the Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence.
Congratulations to Anita Moore-Nall on your travel scholarship application to attend the 2012 SACNAS National Conference
in Seattle, Washington from October 11-14.
The abstract entitled Isotopic Evidence from Late-Stage Calcite and Brecciated Host
Rocks from Abandoned Uranium Vanadium Deposits in Montana and Wyoming Suggests a Possible
Hydrothermal Source has been accepted for a Poster Presentation at the Science, Technology,
and Diversity for a Healthy World in Seattle. Congratulations!
Gary Michelfelder's paper was accepted as part of the 2012 New Mexico Geological Society's Fall Field
Guide.
Michelfelder, G.S. and McMillan, N.J. 2012. Geochemistry, origin, and U-Pb zircon
ages of the Sierra Cuchillo laccolith, Sierra County, New Mexico. In 63rd Annual New
Mexico Geological Society Fall Field Conference Guidebook, Sierra County and Surrounding
Areas, p. 121-133.
Terra Spotts received a student research grant ($2500) from the Geological Society of America for her proposal for “Determining methane fluxes from glacial sediments at Robertson Glacier, Alberta, Canada”
Zach Adam received a student travel grant ($750) from NASA to attend and present a poster at NASA’s AbSciCon, Astrobiology Science Conference in Atlanta, GA, April 17-20, 2012
Zach Adam’s poster earned second place in the student poster competition of about 150 posters at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Atlanta, GA, April 17-20, 2012 and he was awarded a $1000 prize. Mark Skidmore and Dave Mogk were co-authors on this posters. Adam, Z.R., Skidmore, M., Mogk, D.W. (2012) “Investigating a Caudosphaera-like acritarch from the Mesoproterozoic Belt Supergroup, Montana”.
David "Cary" Woodruff had a paper published in the online journal Cretaceous Research titled "A new titanosauriform from the Early Cretaceous Cloverly Formation of Montana". Named Rugocaudia cooneyi, this titanosaur is the very first one ever found in Montana, and is also the northernmost known titanosaur in all of North America.
Cathy Whitlock, Dave McWethy, Laurie Stahle, Teresa Krause are coring lakes in Tasmania and New Zealand as part of their NSF grant (WildFIRE Partnerships in Research and Education) to understand the linkages between fire, climate, and people. Joining them in the field are other participants from Montana: Prof Dennis Aig, Danny Schmidt, and Savannah Lozier (MSU Science and Natural History Filmmaking Program), Prof Bruce Maxwell and Jason Baldes (LRES), Gabe Yospin (IoE), Loga Fixico and Matt Weingart (Salish-Kootenai College), and Bob Keane (USFS Fire Lab, Missoula). These teams will be working "down under" through March.
Cathy Whitlock has assumed new duties as co-Director of the Montana Institute on Ecosystems. The IoE is the first joint-university institute in the state, with hubs at both UM and MSU, and its goal is to advance integrated environmental sciences and related fields. The IoE is supported by a $20 million grant from the NSF EPSCoR program for the next five years, and Whitlock is the MSU Science Lead.
PhD student Virginia Iglesias has a new paper in the international journal The Holocene, entitled:
Holocene climate variability and environmental history at the Patagonian forest/steppe
ecotone: Lago Mosquito (42°29'37.89''S, 71°24'14.57''W) and Laguna del Cóndor (42°20'47.22''S,
71°17'07.62''W); DOI: 10.1177/0959683611427330. Her co-authors are Cathy Whitlock,
Maria Bianchi, Gustavo Villarosa, and Valeria Outes.
Sandra Underwood, who received her PhD from our department in 2010, recently has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Reserch. The paper is a chapter of her dissertation reserearch. Her co-authors are Dr. Todd Feeley, and Micheal Clynne of the USGS.
"HYDROGEN ISOTOPE INVESTIGATION OF AMPHIBOLE AND BIOTITE PHENOCRYSTS IN SILICIC MAGMAS ERUPTED AT LASSEN VOLCANIC CENTER, CALIFORNIA"
Paleontologists Frankie Jackson and Dave Varricchio recently selected students for their May 2012 research trip to China, sponsored by
the National Science Foundation grant International Research Experience for Students (http://www.montana.edu/ires). Students participating in the trip include Christian Heck, Paul Germano, Hannah
Wilson, Danny Barta, and Anita Moore-Nall from MSU and four students from UM, Montana
Tech, and Salish-Kootenai College.
Hannah Wilson, a freshman honors student at MSU, began conducting research on dinosaur
eggs during fall semester of 2011, mentored by Dr. Frankie Jackson and graduate student
Daigo Yamamura. Hannah recently received research stipends from the Undergraduate
Scholars Program and the Vice President of Research in order to continue this work
through fall semester 2012. Congratulations Hannah!
The paleontology program recently acquired a new GMC Sierra extended cab, 4-wheel drive pickup truck for field work through the generous donation of Phillip Varricchio and the Varricchio Family Foundation. take a look here.
MSU paleontologists, colleagues discover new raptor species in dinosaur "graveyard"
http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=10234&origin=homepage-l
Sediment at the bottom of Yellowstone National Park lakes a window on ancient world
August 22, 2011 - By Carly Flandro, Bozeman Daily Chronicle
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/region/article_0a7900a0-cc4b-11e0-a6ca-001cc4c002e0.html
New MSU research sheds light on South Pole dinosaurs
MSU moves forward with U.S. Department of Energy backed carbon dioxide storage project in northern Montana
http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=10021&origin=homepage
ASMSU Exponent: Bringing the Classroom Outdoors
Article by: Nathan Carroll 2011 Field Geology student
MSU grad student will use NSF fellowship to uncover secrets of ancient Montana rocks
http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=9998&origin=homepage
Breaking ground
David Varricchio's findings have cast a new light on dinosaurs and their young
by Evelyn Boswell
http://www.montana.edu/mountainsandminds/article.php?article=9651 http://www.montana.edu/mountainsandminds/2011/spring/breakingground.php
MSU grad student thrilled to study ancient marine mammals
http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=9818&origin=homepage-l