news about us
December, 1987
FACULTY A. Basu, J. Brophy, R. Christoffersen, D. Dilcher, J.

Dodd (Chair), J. Droste, J. Dunning, M. Hamburger,
D. Hattin, J. Hayes, N. Hestor, N. Krothe, G. Lane, E.

Merino, H. Murray, G. Olyphant, L. Onesti, P. Ortoleva,
G. Pavlis, L. Pratt, E. Ripley, A. Rudman, R. Shaver, L.

Suttner, D. Towell, R. Wintsch.

ENROLLMENTS Undergraduate major enrollment declined from
a maximum of over 200 at the start of decade to
about 60 in the past two years. Graduate enrollment
declined from about 105 to 60.

STORIES December, 1977
FACULTY R.F. Blakely, D.L. Dilcher, J.R. Dodd, J.B. Droste, D.E. Hattin, J.M.

Hayes, T.E. Hendrix, C. Klein, N.C. Krothe, N.G. Lane, J.W. Mead,
W.G. Meinschein, E. Merino, H.H. Murray (Chair), J.B. Patton, E.M.

Ripley, A.J. Rudman, R.V. Ruhe, R.H. Shaver, L.J. Suttner, D.G. Tow-
ell, C.J. Vitaliano, R.P. Wintsch.

ENROLLMENTS Undergraduate major enrollment reached a high of 150; 75 grad-
uate students were enrolled. The Department’s number of alumni
passed 1000.

STORIES The Department had six active NSF grants, five HEW fellowships
on energy and mineral resources, three industrial fellowships,
three industry-funded research projects, and six projects funded
through the Water Resources Research Center.

A gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer designed and con-
structed in part by John Hayes performed flawlessly in analyses
of the Mars atmosphere. Very, very much closer to home, Warren
Meinschein and Robert Ruhe conducted a study of the organic
pollutant content in Bloomington’s storm-water runoff.

William Glover and Andrew Campbell received the prestigious
Faculty Scholarship Brunton Compass Award reflecting their
achievement of highest GPA in the 1976 and 1977 graduating
class of undergraduates. W. Calvin James, Myron Webb, Connie
Roberts, and Ellen Lake received Outstanding Associate Instruc-
tor Awards in recognition of their excellent undergraduate teach-
ing. With approximately only one out of three out-of-state student’s
applicants being accepted, the Montana program continued to
operate at capacity with an enrollment of over 140 students.

54 | hgr
Within the last year, the Department celebrated its
100th birthday and the Indiana Geological Survey
celebrated its 150th birthday.

A Richter-scale 5.0 earthquake centered near Vin-
cennes on June 11 kept Professor Gary Pavlis busy
with television, radio, and newspaper media. It was
widely felt in southern Indiana and there was some
local damage.

The Annual Fall Field Trip of the Great Lakes Section,
SEPM was held at I.U. on October 9-11; it focused on
the Mississippian carbonate stratigraphy of south-
ern Indiana. Bob Dodd and Abhijit Basu organized
the trip with students as part of a special graduate
seminar in carbonate petrology.

Following the celebration of I.U.’s national champi-
onship basketball victory over Syracuse, Professor
Droste summarized his memories of having stars
Steve Alford, Keith Smart, and Dean Garrett in his
introductory physical geology class. Following the
victory in New Orleans, he was forced to postpone
the start of his class until nearly the start of the next
class to allow Keith Smart, whose last-second shot
clinched the victory in the championship game, to
sign autographs.

A new computer lab for student use has just been
completed next to the geology library. Included in
the hardware is a Macintosh SE microcomputer, and
a laser printer, along with extensive software, includ-
ing graphics packages. This will be especially use-
ful for word processing and illustrations for theses,
term papers, and other student projects.





December, 1997
December, 2007
FACULTY FACULTY
A. Basu, S. Brassell, J. Brophy, J.Dodd, J. Dunning, M.

Hamburger, N. Hestor, C. Johnson, E. Kauffman, N. Kro-
the, R. Mackie, E. Merino, G. Olyphant, L. Onesti, G. Pav-
lis, L. Pratt, E. Ripley, A. Rudman, M. Savarese, L. Suttner
(Chair), D. Towell, R. Wintsch.

ENROLLMENTS Undergraduate geology major enrollment experienced a
modest increase to 40; graduate enrollment was 66 with
a near equal number of Ph.D. and M.S. candidates. The
Department’s undergraduate enrollment climbed from
sixth to fifth in the Big Ten; its graduate enrollment re-
mained the second largest in this group of institutions.

STORIES At its annual meeting in September, the Department’s
Advisory Board officially announced the kick-off of the
largest endowment campaign in the history of the De-
partment, if not the largest in the history of any depart-
ment in the University — Geological Sciences at the Fore-
front: “$5 million in five years.”
Representatives from six different energy industries re-
cruited in the Department in spring and fall.

As noted in the September issue of Geotimes, IU geo-
physicists have participated in the Princeton Geophysics
Program, funded by NSF. This project links two objec-
tives: to provide earth science and physics high school
students with hands-on training in seismology, and to
create a nationwide network of seismograph stations ca-
pable of providing useful data to researchers.

Fifteen alumni and friends participated in the sixth an-
nual Alumni College at the Field Station led by Gary Lane
and Tom Straw.

A. Basu, D. Bish, S. Brassell (Chair), J. Dunning, M. Ham-
burger, C. Johnson, K. Johnson, G. Olyphant, G. Pavlis, M.

Person, P. Polly, L. Pratt, E. Ripley, B. Ritts, J. Schieber, R.

Wintsch, C. Zhu.

STORIES The Department’s U.S. News national ranking, in the re-
gion of 75 in 1985, has risen to 34th, in 2006.

The groundbreaking for the second Multidisciplinary
Science Building (MSB II) is expected soon, with an
optimistic schedule for occupancy in early 2009. The
state-of-the-art laboratory space will house the research
programs of several of our faculty, notably those in bio-
geochemistry and those involved in environmental sci-
ence research.

More than 80 people attended the 2006 Holiday party
at The Fields in Bloomington. Undergraduates put on a
“Project Runway” show in which students impersonat-
ed Departmental Professors. Professor Wintsch barely
edged out Professor Bish for the high honor of the Screw-
ball Award.

The Field Station hosted a forum “Does Need Exist for a
National Center for Geoscience Education in the Field?
If so, How do We Get There?” More than 50 participants
from academia and industry attended. The University
provided over $115,000 to upgrade the lodge and make
other facility improvements.

Faculty external research grants in the Department to-
taled 33. (The per faculty total of external funding was
reported to be in the top fifth of the Big Ten.)
Sadly, two long-time Department faculty, N. Gary Lane
and David Towell passed away in 2006-07.

hgr | 55