Faculty and student presentations, Fall 2006

Geology faculty will be presenting papers and posters this fall at the annual GSA, regional AAG, SVP, and MetSoc meetings. Click on the names below to read abstracts...

Pranoti Asher - GSA Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
Jason Dittmer - Popular Culture Association of the South/American
Studies Association of the South, Savannah, GA
Jason Dittmer - 13th Annual Mini-Conference on Critical Geography, Columbus, OH
Jason Dittmer - Southeastern Division of the AAG, Morgantown, WV
Mike Kelley and others - GSA Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
Mike Kelley - GSA Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
Mike Kelley - MetSoc meeting, Zurich, Switzerland
Fred Rich, Gale Bishop, Nancy Marsh, and Kelly Vance - GSA Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
Dallas Rhodes - GSA Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
Dallas Rhodes - AGU Meeting, San Francisco, CA
Chuck Trupe - GSA Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
Kelly Vance, Fred Rich, Gale Bishop, and Pranoti Asher - GSA Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
Rob Yarbrough - Southeastern Division of the AAG, Morgantown, WV

At Georgia Southern University, Petrology is taught as a lecture course with an accompanying laboratory section. Rather than writing term papers, the students create a "GSA-style" poster that represents both the research and writing component that is required of many upper division courses in a geoscience program.

In addition to the traditional laboratory exercises, each student or work group in the course is expected to investigate the petrography, mineralogy, geochemistry, and tectonic setting of a fine-grained igneous or metamorphic rock (not previously encountered during the laboratory portion of the course). Students make their own thin-sections for petrographic analysis and use a Rigaku MiniFlex XRD (funded by NSF DUE 0311730) to determine the mineralogy of the rock assigned to them. Two weeks out of the laboratory portion of the course are scheduled for sample preparation and analysis, and interpretation of the XRD data.

Each student or work group is ultimately responsible for a poster presentation. The students are given detailed guidelines on the various topics that must be addressed for each rock and general criteria for preparing a poster. Individual students become the experts on their specific topic area by researching fundamental information available on it using the standard computerized databases and by explaining the results of the XRD data acquired.

All students felt that the XRD analysis helped them understand the course material better and they enjoyed the hands-on experience. In summary, the XRD improved the instruction of the petrology course, and has enhanced the research experiences of students enrolled in the Geology program at Georgia Southern University.

Since 1976 the U. S. Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program has collected more than 15,000 meteorites. The ANSMET expedition is conducted annually during the austral summer, and field sites vary each season. Typically the 12-member expedition team is divided into two groups. An 8-person "collection team" does systematic searches in 1-2 remote field camps for the 6-week field season. The other 4 people make up the "reconnaissance (or recon) team" that spends a few days at a time scouting future collection areas. During the 2005-2006 field season, team members conducted outreach activities in addition to their other duties.

Throughout the expedition Mike Kelley managed a weblog of team activities. The main target audience of the weblog was primarily K-12 classes in Southern Georgia where it reached over a dozen school systems. Students were able to submit questions to the team via the Georgia Southern University website. In reality the weblog had a much broader impact.

Through the Digital Learning Network at Johnson Space Center, Mary Sue Bell described collecting meteorites and working in extreme environments. She also answered the students' questions about the possibility of life on other planets. More than 700 students in NASA Explorer Schools in Iowa, Texas, and 9 other states ventured into the cold world of Antarctica. The event occurred over two days at the beginning of the season and two at the end so that the students could share the changes the scientists experienced through the Antarctic summer.

Neshaminy Middle School science classes in Langhome, Pennsylvania participated in a teleconference with Mike Wyatt while the recon team was camped on the high-plateau. Prior to the teleconference, students began studying about Antarctica and the ANSMET program for several weeks by examining satellite images of Antarctica and learning about meteorite collection techniques and samples. The hour-and-a-half teleconference involved over 50 students.

Expedition team members often give follow-up talks in person to the same groups upon their return to the U. S. We will relate our experiences in conducting the outreach efforts under harsh conditions from such remote field areas. We will discuss the hardware and software used, electrical power and communication issues, the time commitment, and the results of our efforts.

The Planetary Geology Division of GSA presents the G. K. Gilbert Award annually "to an individual who has contributed in an outstanding manner to the solution of a fundamental problem of planetary geology." The Award is named for Grove Karl Gilbert (1843-1918) who recognized over 100 years ago the need to study other planetary bodies to better understand the Earth. In the spirit of Gilbert, the 2006 recipient of this prestigious award has taken a multidisciplinary approach to his work. Dr. Michael J. Gaffey successfully bridges the gaps between geology and astronomy, and between meteoritics (laboratory measurements) and asteroid spectroscopy (remote sensing). He pioneered data acquisition, calibration, and analysis techniques that are now state of the art for ground-based studies of asteroids. He has helped design instrumentation to optimize mineralogical studies of rocky planetary bodies. He has participated in spacecraft missions and used the Hubble Space Telescope to map the surfaces of asteroids. The Gilbert Award is presented for either "a single outstanding publication or a series of publications that have had great influence in the field." Dr. Gaffey qualifies on both criteria. His early paper on the spectra of meteorite classes is still the standard publication referenced by asteroid and meteorite spectroscopic analog studies. His seminal papers on laboratory calibration of extraterrestrial analog materials, asteroid-meteorite connections, and sub-hemispheric spectral reflectance analysis of asteroids span three decades and set the standards for subsequent efforts. Asteroids are relatively unchanged since their formation (based on meteorite analyses), so they tell us about the chemical reservoirs they sampled in the solar nebula. Asteroids provide the spatial context for meteorites, and physical studies of them are the ground truth for models of meteorite parent body formation and evolution. Thus Dr. Gaffey's work on asteroid geochemistry, mineralogy, and petrogenesis has implications for anyone developing models of solar system formation. In this presentation we will highlight some of Dr. Gaffey's contributions to the field of Planetary Science. In addition, we will survey recent advances and ongoing projects in asteroid and meteorite studies that benefit from his participation.

Geology faculty at Georgia Southern University have nearly 20 years of experience working with in-service and pre-service teachers who must teach some aspect of earth science in K-12 programs. As federal monies have come available, grants have been funded every year since 1988. The former Eisenhower Higher Education Program, now a part of Improving Teacher Quality, and a new initiative known as the Partnership for Reform in Science and Mathematics (PRISM, a NSF Math-Science Partnership grant) have allowed Georgia Southern faculty to work very closely with hundreds of teachers and teacher candidates. Natural outdoor classroom settings, such as St. Catherines Island, and numerous mines and quarries in the kaolin belt and granite district allow us to illustrate a wide range of geological features and principles. Our earth science offerings have very strong hands-on, field-oriented, inquiry-based components that lead to enhanced content knowledge for teachers at all grade levels. We also make special efforts to see that teachers develop their own collections of rocks, minerals, and other natural history materials as well as photographs and videos. Follow-up classes ensure proper implementation of collections and knowledge and provide sustained contact that ensures continuous application of what has been learned. An additional strength in our approach is the development of an understanding of the scientific method and instruction of fundamental principles in both life and earth sciences. Cooperative teaching that has relied upon the skills of a public school science teacher, two paleontologists, and an economic mineralogist has allowed us to address many different topics with clarity and confidence.

Presidents, provosts, and deans will not invest their already scarce and dwindling resources in "non-essential" programs unless they are valuable to the institution. What constitutes value depends (in some order of relative importance) on: 1) the financial strength of the institution; 2) the type of institution; 3) the values and priorities of the senior administrators; and 4) the day and hour of the week the question is asked. For any set of these factors, value may be producing external funds from grants and contracts (especially when recovered indirect costs benefit the institution's budget), generating a large number of student credit hours (SCH) at relatively low cost, contributing significantly to the institution's core curriculum, providing positive PR, having wealthy and influential friends, or being publicly engaged in community issues. Value is not simply being good at what you do. A quality product that no one values (e.g., the world's best 8-track tape player or a great 40-year old curriculum) is not likely to have a bright future.

Institutional value can be identified and cultivated by habits of positive behavior. Here are a few to consider. (1) Be entrepreneurial. Like the free market, a university is a large complex organization with opportunities that have not been recognized or addressed. (2) Set goals, especially for metrics used in program evaluation (i.e., SCH production, number of majors and graduates, and retention rates). (3) Be efficient by producing more and costing less. Pay careful attention to the "cost" of the SCHs you produce; there are institutional and national norms against which you will be compared. (4) Provide leadership; instead of resisting change, use the opportunity to lead the way for others. Sharing the products of your efforts with other departments will make allies. (5) Be flexible; in this regard the relatively small size of most geoscience program is an asset. (6) Solve your own problems. Increasing the number of your majors or providing modern instrumentation is unlikely to find a place on the dean's personal agenda. Never take a problem "upstairs" without at least two suggestions for how to address the issue. (7) Finally, use every opportunity to advertise your successes.

John D. Rockefeller explained the secret of success: "Get up early, work late -- and strike oil." That's finding value.

Demographers use population pyramids to characterize the age/gender structure of societal groups. Diagrams of the population of age cohorts for both sexes assume the shape of a pyramid in rapidly expanding groups, having many more young people than older adults. Stable populations have similar numbers of people in age cohorts from infants through middle-age adults. Shrinking populations have fewer children and relatively larger numbers of adults. Demographic analysis of the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) membership reveals significant differences among the numerous specialties and the membership as a whole.

The population structure diagram of the total AGU membership is highly asymmetrical with 77.5% male and 22.5% female. Males outnumber females in every age cohort. This is most noticeable among members born prior to 1945. Males belonging to these cohorts make up 16.5% of the total membership, while female members of equivalent age include 0.8% of the total. The largest membership cohort (29% of the total) is comprised of males born between 1950 and 1964, a group that includes both the "baby boom" generation and post-war petroleum exploration expansion. In contrast, the female cohort with birth years from 1970 to 1979 is the largest grouping of women members (8.4% of AGU's membership). Furthermore, women comprise 36% of the members born since 1965, and only 14.5% of those born before 1965. Considered separately, the female membership's age structure is characteristic of a growing population, while the male side is in relative decline.

The population structure of the entire membership is mirrored in some specialties, but there are remarkable differences in others. The largest specialty group (hydrology) includes 16.9% of the total AGU membership and has a population structure that differs little from that of the whole organization. Four specialties, Atmospheric Chemistry, Biogeosciences, and Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, and Marine Geochemistry differ significantly from the aggregate membership. The population structures of these groups are pyramidal, indicating a strong potential for growth. Women also comprise more than 30% of each of these groups and outnumber men in some recent cohorts.

Growth potential is unevenly distributed throughout AGU's membership with traditional specialties likely to experience significant decline as the older cohorts retire and die. Strongest growth is most likely to occur in recently recognized interdisciplinary specialties, especially those in which women already constitute a significant fraction of the membership.

Active recruitment of geoscience majors is essential to maintaining a strong program. Although many instructors encourage their students to consider geology or geography as a major, a more focused approach is necessary to realize substantial increases in the number of majors. Recruitment talks are one way to enhance recruitment of majors from introductory classes. The Department of Geology and Geography (DoGG) at Georgia Southern University offers a significant number of core curriculum courses including physical geology, environmental geology, oceanography, world regional geography, and physical geography. Most of the students in these courses are not science majors and many are in their first two years of college. These students have become the focus of our recruitment efforts. The DoGG began using recruitment talks as a way to actively recruit majors in Spring 2001. At that time, the Department had approximately 40 majors (combined geology and geography). In the Fall 2004 semester, the number of majors topped 100 for the first time. Since then, the DoGG has continued to grow, approaching our goal of having 1% of the ~16,000 undergraduates at Georgia Southern University as geology or geography majors. Much of this growth can be attributed to recruitment talks in introductory classes. Several DoGG faculty members present recruitment talks during regularly scheduled class times each semester. Talks are given by a faculty member other than the class instructor and are normally given just before registration for the next semester begins. A typical talk begins with a general discussion of how to choose a major, followed by an explanation of why majoring in geology or geography is a good career choice. Opportunities for international travel, field-related projects, and frequent field trips are highlighted with many images of our students in the field. Jobs in geoscience fields are discussed, stressing the opportunities is GIS and the oil and gas industry. Talks take ~30 minutes and literature about the DoGG's programs is provided at the end. Additionally, we encourage students to talk to any of our faculty about choosing a major, core curriculum courses, and strategies for success in their undergraduate careers. Our increase from 40 to over 100 majors in recent years attests to the efficacy of this recruitment strategy.

Limited public knowledge of the sources of industrial minerals and the applications of essential raw materials may influence the direction of state or national regulatory trends and budgets with negative consequences for mineral resource industries. The lack of appreciation for industrial minerals and current mining methods contributes to the difficulty in permitting new quarry operations or expansion of active sites; although the operations may contribute to the local economy and reduce construction costs. Georgia Southern addresses the deficit in mineral resource knowledge by incorporating mineral science in graduate courses for teachers, advanced undergraduate courses for science majors and introductory courses that are open to all majors. The Department of Geology and Geography uses an in-house introductory Environmental Geology laboratory manual that begins with a chapter on metallic and industrial mineral resources. The manual includes a project-based learning exercise in which students use X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to identify mineral components of household and construction products. The students explore the physical properties of the minerals to determine their function in the product. Development of the XRD exercises and purchase of equipment was funded by NSF CCLI grant(DUE 0311730). Geology majors and science education majors may take an Economic Mineralogy course that includes both industrial and metallic mineral resources. The Department began summer development programs for teachers in 1988 supported by Eisenhower Higher Education funds. Concurrent regional geology and mineral resource courses used a combination of lectures, labs and weekly field trips to mines and quarries. Teachers collected minerals, rocks, ores, fossils and photographs that were used as their teaching collection in the fall. The NSF Partnership for Reform in Science and Math also supports teacher development with funds for mineral science workshops and assistance for teachers attending other development programs. Summer programs for earth science teachers are one of the best routes to improving public knowledge of mineral resources as the transfer of information to a larger audience begins immediately and continues throughout the career of the teacher.

Robert A. Yarbrough
Department of Geology and Geography
Georgia Southern University
ryarbrough@georgiasouthern.edu

Numerous empirical studies demonstrate that transnational migrants from Latin America retain a national identity, while simultaneously adopting the pan-ethnic moniker "Hispanic/Latino". Recent work in geography and other social sciences, however, stresses the fluid and shifting nature of subjectivities. Within the fractured metropolis, moreover, the places that people frequent constitute their everyday urban geographies and thus structure their social interactions. This paper examines the importance of place, conceptualized as socio-spatial context, in the process of negotiating national identity and racialized "Hispanic/Latino" subjectivities by Central American-born residents of Atlanta. Through a series of in-depth interviews, I explore the degree to which a pan-ethno racial "Hispanic/Latino" identity gains salience for Central American immigrants in Atlanta, and the degree to which the expression of such an identity shifts across the various socio-spatial contexts (e.g., home, work, worship, play, etc.) that define everyday life. Results indicate that interview participants' social interactions and thus the opportunities for the expression of national identities vis-à-vis pan-ethno racial identities (or some other identity) depend in part on the particular socio-spatial context. Place, therefore, plays a significant role in the process of identity negotiation for these Central American-born residents of Atlanta, GA. By examining the ways in which everyday geographies affect individual identities, I hope to draw attention to the inherent instability of contemporary categories of 'race' and 'ethnicity'.