Department News

• Congratulations are extended to our December graduates which include: Michael Bauman, Michael Cass, Kimberly Copeland, Melissa Leszek, Ashley O'Hara, and Brittany Roberts.
• The inaugural Dr. Carolyn J. Merry Geosciences Scholarship was awarded this fall  to one of our environmental geography majors, Ms. Sally Rizzo. 
• Jeff Pacansky and Jordan Sipos were awarded the Department of Geosciences Scholarship for the 2011-12 academic year. 
• The EUPlanetarium has reopened in the newly renovated area of Cooper Science Hall.
• Our student organization, SEED, sponsored a special program this fall featuring Colleen Reed from Orangutan Outreach. Orangutan Outreach seeks to protect orangutans in their native habitat and to promote public awareness of conservation strategies.
• Drs. Henry Lawrence and Richard Deal served as co-instructors for our three credit seminar course GEOG 391 - Field Geography this past May. Drs. Lawrence and Deal led eight students on a two week trip to Hawaii where they learned about the physical, urban, historical, cultural, and economic geography of the Big Island and Kauai.
• The Geosciences Department is pleased to announce that Dr. Laurie Parendes has been elected to a three year term as Department Chair effective May 1, 2011.
• The Department of Geosciences is proud to announce the student recipients of our 2010-11 departmental scholarships and awards. They are: Yvette Nelson (Outstanding Department Senior Award), Sally Rizzo and Adam Baldwin (Department of Geosciences Scholarship), Kim Copeland and Kathryn Simmons (Dr. Michael Schneider Field Camp Scholarship),  William Pelc, Jr. (Michael McAtee Ramsay Memorial Field Camp Scholarship), and Kim Copeland (Franco DiPillo Memorial Award).
• One of our student organizations, Students of Edinboro for Environmental Defense (SEED), organized a fundraiser called "3.7 Miles in Their Shoes" to raise awareness that fresh, potable water is not readily available to many people in the world. Over $600 was raised and donated to Welldone.org, a non-profit organization that constructs wells for small villages in Africa.
• Nine of our majors recently completed 40hr OSHA - HazWoper Training. The training was generously offered by the staff of Environmental Remediation and Recovery (ER&R) here in Edinboro. We are sincerely appreciative of ER&R for their continuing support of our programs.
• Four of our geography faculty presented their research at the 2011 Association of American Geographers Meeting in Seattle, WA on April 12-16, 2011. Presenting their research at this meeting were Dr. Wook Lee (Regional Variation in Commuting), Dr. Richard Deal  (Historical Spatial Variation of the Brewing Industry in Pennsylvania), Dr. Tadesse Kidane-Mariam (Ethiopia: The Socio-Economic Profile of Urban Cooperative Housing Members), and Dr. Henry Lawrence (Photography and the Representation of Place: A Search for Key Landscape Elements).
• Several of our geology majors presented their undergraduate research at the Northeast / North-Central Meeting of the Geological Society of America which was held in Pittsburgh, PA March 20-22, 2011. Presenting their research at this meeting were: Kim Copeland (Depositional Environment of the Northeast Shale Member Along Four Mile Creek, Erie County, PA), and Adam Baldwin, Susan Price, and Zachary Robertson (A Prelininary Ground Penetrating Radar Survey Examining the Geologic History of Presque Isle, PA). Dr. Straffin collaborated with the students on this research.
• Three of our geology faculty presented their research at the Northeast / North-Central Meeting of the Geological Society of America which was held in Pittsburgh, PA March 20-22, 2011. Presenting their research at this meeting were: Dr. Dale Tshudy (A Cladistic Analysis of Clawed Lobsters Based on an Expanded Morphological Data Set), Drs. Eric Straffin and Joe Reese (Using Themes as Guides to Design and Conduct a Geology Field Trip Course).
• The Geosciences Department's 2010 EUP College Bowl team competed against 14 other undergraduate teams from across campus and finished 4th overall.  Congratulations to the five team members: Matthew Fregley, Denise Azevedo, Andrew Obringer, Nathan Miller, and Edward Myers on a job well done.
• Several of our Environmental Studies - Geography majors presented their research under the supervision of Dr. Karen Eisenhart at the fall Meeting of the Middle States Division of the Association of American Geographers. Denise Azevedo, Rebecca Klauk, and Roberta McCall presented their research entitled: Forest Composition of the Howard Falls Land Trust in Erie County, PA. In addition, Rebecca Klauk presented her research entitled: Inventory and Comparison of Vegetation between two Sites at Howard Falls Gorge, Erie County, PA.
• Several of our majors presented their research at the 6th Annual Research Symosium held Nov 4-5, 2010 at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center in Erie. Andrew Obringer (Geography), Nicholas  Fiesler (Environmental Geology), and Justina Santiago (Environmental Geology) presented their research under the supervision of Drs. Eric Straffin and Richard Deal, entitled  Land Use/Cover, Landforms, and their Relationships on Presque Isle, PA.  Zachary Robertson (Geology), Susan Price (Geology), Adam Baldwin (Earth Science) also presented their work entitled: A Preliminary Ground Penetrating Radar Survey Examining the Geologic History of Presque Isle, PA.
• The Geosciences Department has hosted a number of distinguished speakers this fall including Mr. Robert McDermott (Geological Consultant - South Pass Resources, Inc.), Dr. Gary Lash (Geology Professor - SUNY - Fredonia), Mr. Colin Wylie ( Exploration Portfolio Manager - Hydro Gulf of Mexico, L.L.C.), Mr. Tom Malizia (Operations Geologist - Atlas Energy, Inc.), and Mr. Jim Schmidt (Marcellus Shale Driling program Coordinator - Talsiman USA Exploration and Production, Co.).
• The Geosciences Department is proud to announce that we will be offering a new concentration in Urban and Regional Planning beginning Fall 2010 under our existing B.A. Geography program. Urban and regional planners develop long and short term plans for the use of land and the growth and revitalization of urban and rural communities. The U.S. Dept. of Labor projects faster than average growth for planning fields through 2018 (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Ed.)
• The Geosciences Department is pleased to announce that a new minor in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is now offered by the Department.  Students completing the 18 credit minor will become proficient in using a GIS to store, analyze, and display geographic data.  GIS skills are highly desired by employers in planning and environmental fields, utilities, and business just to name a few.
• The Geosciences Department recently hosted Dr. Elizabeth Screaton, Ocean Leadership Distinguished Lecturer and Professor and Hydrogeologist at the University of Florida. Dr. Screaton spoke to our students about the interrelationship of fluid flow and deformation in subduction zones.
• One of our geology majors, Jonathan Malzone was recently awarded second place in the undergraduate division for the College of SM&T at the 2nd Annual EUP Student Research Symposium. Jon's work was entitled: Preliminary comparisons of grain size and multi-proxy data from a Medieval lake sediment core, east central France. Jon's work was supervised by Dr. Eric Straffin.
• The Geosciences Department recently hosted Mr. Joseph C. Struckel, Petroleum Geologist and president of Geosearch Logging Inc.. Mr. Struckel spoke to our majors about the role that well site geologists play in surface logging.
• Dr. Laurie Parendes' Geography of Water Resources (GEOG 425) includes a mini-speaker series. This Spring, representatives from Moody and Associates, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, PA Sea Grant, the Edinboro Wastewater Treatment Plant, and the Edinboro Lake Watershed Association have spoken to the students in this class.
• Dr. Eric Straffin is working with a non-profit conservation group, Fisherman's Cove, to understand the geoarchaeology of a section of land along the Allegheny River below Franklin, PA, in order to better manage land use in that area.
• One of our Environmental Geography majors, Justin Stangl, recently presented his research entitled " Forest Cover and Farm Abandonment in Erie County" at the 4th Annual Northwest PA GIS Conference.
• The Geosciences Department faculty have temporarily relocated to Centennial Hall to accommodate the Cooper Hall expansion and renovation project. We are all looking forward to moving back into Cooper and utilizing the new classroom and laboratory space when the project is completed.
• Two of our student organizations were active participants in recent homecoming festivities. Students of Edinboro for Environmental Defense (SEED) marched in the parade,  promoting green initiatives and cleaning up along the parade route.  In addition, our Department's Earth Science Club and Honor Society, Sigma Gamma Epsilon (SGE), held a rock and mineral sale as a fundraiser for the club.
• We are proud to announce a new scholarship opportunity for our majors, the Dr. Carolyn Merry Geosciences Scholarship. This scholarship will be just one of six awarded annually on a competitive basis to our most deserving majors.
• Our student clubs continue to distinguish themselves. On September 12, the Students of Edinboro for Environmental Defense (SEED) teamed with those of Sigma Gamma Epsilon (SGE) to take part in the first annual French Creek Valley Conservancy's Creek Clean-up. Collectively, they won a $1000 prize for the educational institution with the greatest number of volunteers.
• Dr. Dale Tshudy has written a chapter on lobster evolution for a book published in June entitled "Decapod Crustacean Phylogenetics" and coauthored a paper entitled "A Classification of Living and Fossil Genera of Decapod Crustaceans" to be published by The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology this November.  
• Drs. Baher Ghosheh and Karen Eisenhart have recently returned from China where they accompanied students who earned 3 credit hours for completing the initial offering of our GEOG 391 - Field Geography course.
• Dr. David Hurd recently traveled to Florida to participate in an educational forum hosted by NASA and watch the launch of  the space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
• Dr. Karen Eisenhart coauthored a paper entitled, "Historical and Modern Disturbance Regimes, Stand Structures, and Landscape Dynamics in Pinon-Juniper Vegetation of the Western U.S." published in the May 2009 edition of the journal Rangeland Ecology and Management .
• It is with great pride that the Department announces its annual scholarship and award winners. They are: Peggy Mogush (Outstanding Department Senior), Jake Lybrook (Geosciences Department Scholarship), John Malzone (Ramsay Memorial Scholarship), Nick Bonini ( DiPillo Memorial Scholarship and Dr. Michael Schneider Field Camp Scholarship), Heather Weismiller (Dr. Michael Schneider Field Camp Scholarship).
• We continue to be extremely excited about the Howard Falls Research and Education Endowment Fund, which provides support for collaborative research among our faculty and students in the areas of GIS mapping, biogeography, and geology. Research projects are ongoing on the nearby 250+ acre Howard Falls and Falls Run watershed.  One of our recent graduates, Michael Murphy, began a comprehensive GIS survey of the property last spring and this work was continued and extended this spring by one of our current majors, Justin Stangl.
• The Geosciences Department is proud to announce that Dr. Wook Lee will be joining our Department this Fall. Dr. Lee earned his Ph.D in Geography from the the Ohio State University and most recently has been a faculty member at Texas State University at San Marcos. His research interests include: Urban and Transportation Geography, Urban and Regional Planning, Geographic Information Systems, Spatial Analysis / Quantitative methods, and the Geography of East Asia and North America. Dr. Lee will be teaching World Geography and Urban Geography for us this Fall. Welcome Dr. Lee!
• Congratulations to Dr. Baher Ghosheh, who was recently named 2009 EUP Educator of the Year . Dr Ghosheh joins another of our Department colleagues, Dr. David Hurd, who received this award in 2007. Thus, Geosciences Department faculty have been honored with this University-wide award twice during the past three years.
• Dr. Henry Lawrence authored an article, "City Trees for Sustainability and Pleasure" in the Harvard Design Magazine this spring.
• Our students and faculty under the leadership of Dr. Karen Eisenhart and Dr. Michelle Shuey assisted in the organization of and participation in a weeklong series of campus events centered around Earth Day in April.
• In March, five of our geography faculty traveled to the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting in Las Vegas where they presented their current research. Research topics in human geography included the political ecology of food insecurity/famine in Ethiopia (Dr. Kidane-Mariam) and  the historic development of the brewing industry in Erie (Dr. Richard Deal). Meanwhile, our physical and biogeographers presented their research on city trees (Dr. Henry Lawrence), the composition and structure of a deciduous forest at Howard Falls in Northwestern Pennsylvania (Dr. Karen Eisenhart), and the landscape ecology of human-wildlife conflict (Dr. Michelle Shuey).
• Dr. Dale Tshudy has coauthored " Phylogeny of marine clawed lobster families Nephropidae Dana 1852 and Thaumastochelidae Bate 1888 based on mitochondrial genes." in a Proceedings volume of Advances in Decapod Phylogenetics.
• Dr. Joe Reese is collaborating with the EarthScope National Office based at Oregon State University. Dr. Reese will be designing inquiry-based learning exercises that focus on EarthScope scientific results and observations. He will also co-teach an interpretive workshop based on EarthScope science. 
• The Geosciences Department has recently combined our B.A. Geography and B.A. Environmental Studies / Geography Programs into a single B.A. Geography Program with a concentration available in Environmental Studies and combined our B.S. Geology and B.S. Environmental Science / Geology Programs into a single B.S. Geology Program with a concentration available in Environmental Geology.
•  Dr. Richard Deal coauthored "The East Erie Neighborhood Atlas"  with Suzanne McDevitt (Social Work) in association with the Edinboro University Community Outreach Partnership Center
• Dr. Joe Reese traveled to Houston, TX to attend the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America and present his work on Earthscape Edinboro: an earth systems based educational model to connect locals with their locale.
• Dr. Eric Straffin traveled to Austin, TX to present his research on the the French creek watershed at the 39th Annual Binghampton Geomorphology Symposium.
• Dr. David Hurd is collaborating with the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) to develop a framework designed to help teachers improve the science knowledge and inquiry skills of visually impaired students.  Dr. Hurd will be teaching a continuing education course this fall in support of this initiative. On a related note, Dr. Hurd has coauthored a new book entitled A tactile guide to the solar system. The book was  produced in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and published by AAC Core Concepts.
• The Geosciences Department is pleased to announce that several of our faculty were recently awarded Student Technology Fee funding to purchase new computer hardware for the Department's Cartography and GIS Lab (proposed by Dr. Richard Deal), a Ground Penetrating Radar (proposed by Dr. Eric Straffin), and a Bartington Magnetic Susceptibility Meter System (proposed by Dr. Brian Zimmerman).
•  The Geosciences Department is pleased to announce six new course offerings including: Evolution: What the Fossils Say, Remote Sensing, Field Geography, Geography of Water Resources, Forest Geography and Conservation, and Principles of Urban and Regional Planning.