Dear Colleagues:

I expect you are as pleased as I am that summer session 

has gotten off to a much cooler start than last year. Let's hope we will only have a "normal" hot summer. In the first week of June I enjoyed leading the GeoX students through a module related to earthquakes and seismology. There's more about this group of high school students below-all I can say is watch out, they are really bright-and if we do as well as we did last year in recruiting them to Texas A&M, they will be challenging us in the classroom before you know it.

We have a few upcoming personnel changes in the College leadership. I am pleased to announce that I have recommended to Provost Watson that Dr. Ping Yang, be appointed as Department Head in Atmospheric Sciences. He will succeed Dr. Ken Bowman, who has served ably for the past five years. I am very much looking forward to working with Dr. Yang. In addition, Diane Barron, our director of development, is transferring to the College of Engineering to serve the Department of Mechanical Engineering. We will be conducting an open search for her replacement over the summer, in conjunction with the Texas A&M Development Foundation. Meanwhile, Diane will continue to work with us on a few ongoing projects into the fall.   

Kudos, to the entire Geography Department which received a strongly positive review from an external panel that assessed the program in late April. Among other praises, the department was cited for its strong record of faculty research in highly topical areas of Geography, its synergies within the College of Geosciences, strong collegiality, and its recent decision to reinvest in GIScience.   

The NSF has recently released a Dear Colleague letter, announcing the recompetition of the Science Services for the Integrated Ocean Drilling program. We will of course be working hard to submit a winning response by year's end.  

I know that many of you are curious about the processes surrounding raises for September 1, 2013. As you know, the raise is a merit raise, and will come in two parts: an average of 1.5% that will be added to recurring salaries, and an average of 1.5% that will be a one-time payment.  Our leadership and business teams are working with our upper administration to implement the raise. Because of the added complexity of the one-time funds, the whole process is going to take longer than usual. So, I ask for your patience in waiting to learn the results. As plans become more concrete we will be feeding information to your unit heads, so please see them with any questions you have.

Kate Miller

Dean, College of Geosciences

GeoX 2012

Texas A&M welcomed the second class of GeoX, the weeklong summer program introducing high school students to the geosciences. Twenty-one students from around the state were here June 1-8. Dr. Chris Houser (GEOG) led the academic program, working with more than 20 faculty, graduate student and staff volunteers. Students lived on campus and went on field trips to learn about studying and working in the geosciences as well as what it takes to become an Aggie. Individual and corporate donations provided funding for the program.  

GeoX Summer Class of 2012

ResearcherID

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If you have established a ResearcherID profile, but it is not on your Geosciences profile, the following will allow you to add it.

Costa Rica REU

Dr. Chris Houser (GEOG) is again co-PI this summer for the REU in Costa Rica. After spending two weeks on campus, students are now at the Soltis Center where they will be for four weeks before returning to Texas A&M. Other professors participating in the program are Drs. Sarah Brooks, Lee Panetta, and Courtney Schumacher (ATMO) and Drs. Steven Quiring, Brendan Roark and Oliver Frauenfeld (GEOG). 

The Costa Rica 2012 REU group

SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES 

Dr. Shari Yvon-Lewis (OCNG) and graduate students Lei Hu and Yina Liu presented three papers describing their recent results at the May 15-17 Global Monitoring Annual Conference in Boulder.

GRANTS AND AWARDS ACTIVITIES

Recents grants awarded through April 2012 are posted on the GeoResearch website. 

Dr. Piers Chapman (OCNG) attended a meeting of the BP Gulf of Mexico research groups on May 9 to discuss outreach to the New Orleans community. The research groups will be working with Texas Sea Grant in their outreach activities. Cruises related to the research award will start at the end of June.

SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION 

Gov. Rick Perry has appointed Dr. Christopher C. Mathewson(G&G) of College Station to the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists. The board licenses and regulates the public practice of geoscience.

Mathewson is a Regents professor emeritus and a senior professor of geology at Texas A&M University. He is a licensed professional engineer in Texas and Arizona, and a licensed professional geologist in Texas and Oregon. He joins a nine-member board, and his term is until Feb. 1, 2017.

Dr. Robert Duce (ATMO) chaired the Committee of Visitors for the research programs of the Division of Ocean Sciences at the National Science Foundation June 4 and 5.

Dr. Lisa Campbell (OCNG) was re-elected to the ASLO (Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography) Board of Directors as secretary for a three-year term (July 2012-June 2015). 

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS 

Oceanography doctoral student Yang Feng and Drs. Steven DiMarco and George Jackson (OCNG) have a paper in press in Geophysical Research Letters, "Relative role of wind forcing and riverine nutrient input."  

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Dr. Norman Guinasso (OCNG) discussed his work studying oil and gas seeps near BP's Macando Well in the Gulf of Mexico in an article published in The Louisiana Weekly on May 14. It was also posted on The Huffington Post.

Dr. Steve Quiring (GEOG) and graduate students Chris Labosier and Laiyin Zhu published an op-ed piece in The Houston Chronicle arguing that budget cuts are threatening vital research on Texas hurricanes.

Dr. Will Sager (OCNG) lent his astronomy expertise to The Eagle to discuss the eclipse of the Sun by Venus on June 5. He discusses his interest in astronomy and the best way to view the eclipse as it happens.

Dr. John Kessler (OCNG) was cited in the British edition of Wired magazine for his work on the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Dr. Andrew Dessler (ATMO) was quoted in The New York Times on the question of clouds and their potential affect on global warming, the last bastion against accepting climate change for skeptics in the scientific community. He was also cited for his work on the positive feedback cycle in climate change caused by water vapor in a ScienceDaily article marking the tenth anniversary of the launching of NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) satellite. Dr. Dessler is also participating in the Google.org climate communications initiative, a project that seeks the most effective way to communicate climate science news.

Dr. Mark Lemmon (ATMO) discussed with several news outlets the August landing on Mars of the rover Curiosity which will study climate change on the red planet as well as whether Mars ever had conditions favorable to life.

Dr. Robert Korty (ATMO) discussed the potential shift in wildfires from Texas to the Western United States with Reuters in an article on MSNBC.com. He also discussed the potential of volcanoes to diminish hurricanes for a Nashville news outlet. 

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

Master's degree student Victor Garcia of the Water Degree Program will intern in Washington, D.C. this summer for the Green Strategy Committee of the Peace Corps as part of Texas A&M's Public Policy Internship Program.

Harold E. Johnson III (G&G) and Stephanie Grotte (GEOG) each received a George Bush Presidential Library Foundation Grant. Johnson will use his grant to collect samples in the Ouachita orogen in Arkansas.  

Grotte is now in Belize as part of her travel grant, studying the abundance, micro-habitat and diet of lionfish around the Turneffe Atoll. 

The award supports students' travel to conferences, research projects or internships, either in the United States or abroad. The College of Geosciences makes the selection based on academic record to help young scholars advance their research.