Greetings from the Departmental Chair
Dear Alumni,
I hope that you find the current edition of the HGR informative
and exciting. As a department, we are very proud of our accom-
plishments this past year. Some of the highlights include an
Atmospheric Sciences program that is growing by leaps and
bounds. This year they placed their first graduate in a broad-
cast booth as a weather forecaster. David Polly, our newly
named Schrock Professor, and several other faculty have been
instrumental in landing a multi-disciplinary, multi-department,
multi-million dollar Grand Challenges grant entitled “Prepared
for Environmental Change.” Chen Zhu, our reigning aqueous
geochemist, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science (AAAS), which is a truly prestigious honor.

We remain committed to providing the finest undergraduate and graduate edu-
cation possible. Our undergraduates are moving on to graduate school while our
graduate students are all finding jobs. Much of this success is due to the support
of alumni like you who have generously given to the department in so many dif-
ferent ways.

The near 60-year-old Geology Building is slated for renovation sometime in the
next few years (following a complete renovation of Ballantine Hall on the other
side of campus). The upside is that we will have modern teaching and research
facilities in the end (though much smaller offices). The downside is that we will
have to move much of our work to other buildings on campus for at least a year.

Come visit us in a few years and see for yourself what the renovation will have
accomplished! All-in-all, it has been a good year for our faculty, staff and students. I am proud to
serve as Chair of a department that is full of such fine colleagues and co-workers.

Happy Reading
Jim Brophy
Departmental Chair
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