While most of our course offerings are remote this semester, we are offering several courses through U-Mass University Without Walls. These are asynchronous courses that are taught independently from your regular semester courseload, and can taken by anyone, whether enrolled at UMass or not. They are all listed in SPIRE.
Dr. David Boutt, along with colleagues at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, has been commissioned as part of a cooperative study to investigate how lithium extraction impacts the hydrologic environment in Latin America, especially with regards to lithium brine-fresh water aquifer systems. The goal of the study is to provide companies with better guidance on sustainable lithium extraction.
The Geosciences Department is pleased to announce the November 29, 2020 publication of The Chinese City (Routledge, 2021), by Professor Piper Gaubatz (Geography Program) and Professor Weiping Wu (Director, Columbia University Graduate Program in Urban Planning). This is a completely revised second edition of their 2012 book. The book engages with major recent changes in Chinese cities and urban life.
PhD student Shaina Sedai is lead author on a recent paper published in Science Advances discussing simulations of dramatic climate impacts from higher Antarctic melt. With her co-authors, including alum Dr. Alan Condron (WHOI), and Dr.
U-Mass Geosciences has a strong showing at the (virtual) annual Fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union this year, with 43 department members as authors on 39 talks and posters from December 7th - 16th, 2020. If you're attending #AGU2020 this year don't miss out! Here is a schedule of who is presenting and when:
Click here to browse the presentations by author.
Congratulations to students from the UMass Geography Club for winning the 2020 World Geography Bowl at the American Association of Geographers New England-St Lawrence Valley Division Meeting, November 13, 2020.
This was the fifth recent win for the UMass team, which also won with the top score in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, and placed 3rd in 2018 and 2019. Several team members will represent the New England region in the national competition in Spring 2021.
Dr's Julie Brigham-Grette and Steve Petsch published a piece in The Conversation about the warming Arctic, their paleoclimate research on past warm climates, and the implications for our future. Read more...
The International Association for Geoscience Diversity recently named Dr Michele Cooke, geosciences, as the recipient of its 2020 International Association for Geoscience Diversity Inclusive Geoscience Education and Research Award for her work as a “foundational leader in accessible and inclusive geoscience teaching in both the classroom and field for over 20 years, all while maintaining a successful research career in geomechanics and structural geology.
A little over a year ago our beloved faculty member, Dr Sheila Seaman, lost her long and valiant battle with cancer— To honor her dedication to education, research, and the betterment of students, we are launching the Sheila Seaman Student Research Fund. This endowed fund, administered by the UMass Foundation, will, in future years, provide monetary support for Geosciences student research. Although preference will go to students in the fields of mineralogy and petrology, other students will be able to benefit from
Dr Rob DeConto is part of a U-Mass team that has received grants from the NSF EELEVATE program to explore and develop pathways so that the transition to sustainable energy also promotes the socioeconomic equity of communities.
In a new paper this week in the Journal of Geography in Higher Education, geographer Dr Forrest Bowlick and colleagues at Texas A&M offer first-hand accounts of what is required for GIS instructors and IT administrators to set up virtual computing specifically for providing state-of-the-art geographic information systems (GIS) instruction. Read more
Dr Christine Hatch reflects on COVID-19, and the resulting quarantine's, effects on the natural environment for the Daily Hampshire Gazette's Earth Matters column: Read it here...
The Geological Society of America’s (GSA) Continental Scientific Drilling Division (CSD) has named Dr Julie Brigham-Grette as one of its two Distinguished Lecturers for 2020, which means she will be available to give online seminars on her Arctic drilling research to geologists anywhere in the world by request this fall and into spring 2021.
A team of climate scientists and geologists including Dr Robert DeConto recently received a five-year, $7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to drill through the Greenland Ice Sheet and into the bedrock below, where they will be able to evaluate how long it has been since the last ice sheet retreated from the continent. Read more...
USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has awarded a two-year, $300,000 grant to Dr. Brian Yellen to develop tools to estimate the mass of carbon stored in salt marshes.
It is with deep regret that we mark the passing of Professor Ward Motts (3/31/1924 - 2/22/2020). The memorial service will be on March 29th at South Congregational Church, 2 PM
Ward S. Motts, pioneering hydrogeologist and emeritus professor of geology at UMASS Amherst, died peacefully aged 95 at the Hospice of the Fisher Home in Amherst, MA. A memorial service had been planned for March 29th at South Congregational Church in South Amherst.
A new paper co-authored by Dr. Stephen Burns uses speleothem records to document paleoclimate in Southern Arabia. The research found over 21 pluvial periods with precipitation of more than 300 mm per year to have occurred since ∼1.1 million years ago. Read more...
Dr. Michael Rawlins, climate modeler and associate director of the geoscience department’s Climate Systems Research Center, is lead author of a new analysis of the changing character of runoff, river discharge and other hydrological cycle elements across the North Slope of Alaska.
Dr. Julie Brigham-Grette was interviewed by the Polish blog Glacjoblogia discussing her research of past climate change— looking particularly into the last 2-3 million years of Earth history across the Arctic.
Dr. Julie Brigham-Grette will highlight the Lake El’gygytgyn Drilling program on PBS's Polar Extremes, airing February 5th and 8pm EST. The show also contains several familiar faces to those in our department, including alum Jeremy Shaken: Watch the trailer, and show, at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/polar-extremes/
PhD students Karin Lehnigk and Sarah McKnight have created a blog highlighting their experiences while conducting research abroad this semester.
PhD student Brendan Moran, Dr. David Boutt, and Dr.
Several students and faculty are presenting their research at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union this week in San Fransisco. Below is a list of when and where you can find them:
U-Mass Geosciences is one of 14 departments selected, among 52 applicants, to participate in the newly inaugurated American Geophysical Union Bridge Program, part of the Inclusive Graduate Education Network, to increase success of URM graduate students in geosciences.
PhD students Hannah Baranes and Dr. Benjamin Keisling presenting on ice sheet stability models and estimating flood hazards at the COP25 Cryosphere Pavilion at the U.N. IPCC COP-25 meeting in Madrid! See more, including video of their Early Career talks, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH6IS3Rnw4I.
Department of Geosciences
627 North Pleasant Street
233 Morrill Science Center
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003-9297
Phone: (413) 545-2286
Fax: (413) 545-1200
