This award honors distinguished alumni of the Department. It was initiated in 1985 as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Department, and it is named for Richard Owen, professor of natural philosophy and chemistry at IU from 1864 to 1879.
Born in Scotland, he came to New Harmony, Indiana, with his family in 1828 and became part of his father Robert Owen’s utopian experiment. He became State Geologist upon the death (from malaria) of his brother, David Dale, in 1860, and he served in the 15th Indiana Volunteers during the Civil War, where he fought in the battles of Fort Donelson and Vicksburg. Richard Owen was commandant of a prison camp in Indianapolis, and was memorialized by Confederate veterans in 1913 for his humane treatment of prisoners. At IU, Owen was the second faculty member to publish a research paper, in 1852 (the first was astronomer Daniel Kirkwood). Owen’s geological interests spanned the profession, from paleontology to seismology. He died in 1890 at age 80 from accidental poisoning.
Alumni of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, are recognized for outstanding contributions to the geological sciences and for meritorious service to the profession.
Monday, April 28, 2025
Geological Survey Room 2022 at 3:30 p.m.
EAS Colloquium Series: Owen Award, Dr. David Bottjer, USC
Speaker: Dr. David Bottjer, Professor of Earth Sciences, Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies, University of Southern California
Title: Extinction: Past, Present and Future
Abstract: The defining feature of a mass extinction is the global amount of extinction that occurred. However, there is finer-scale detail to the story, as seen in the ongoing modern mass extinction (the 6th mass extinction), which exhibits variable effects among ecosystems and environments, and hence geographic areas. One way to better understand this biological and spatial variability is to examine ancient mass extinctions, particularly those with the largest amount of extinction (the Big 5 mass extinctions), where nature has already run the experiment.
Bio: Professor Bottjer is a paleobiologist and paleoecologist who has worked broadly on organism-sediment interactions and the ecological history of life. His current research focuses on two broad paleobiological questions. The first includes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the paleobiology and paleoecology of early metazoan life, with field work conducted in eastern California and China. The second emphasizes obtaining a detailed understanding of the paleoecology of the recovery from the end-Permian and end-Triassic mass extinctions, with extensive work on Triassic strata throughout the western U.S., Europe, Japan and China. This Triassic research project has led to involvement in the Paleobiology Database, which has undertaken the development of large databases with web-based access to solve major outstanding paleobiological and evolutionary problems.
The College of Arts