Department of Geosciences - Clark Science Center - Smith College

Department of Geosciences
Newsletter
April, 2010
Greetings from the Chair
Welcome to a new issue of the Newsletter from the
“new” Department Chair! Thanks to Bob Burger the
Newsletter is going out for the second year in a row.
Maybe we can get him to reconsider retirement?
I hope this newsletter finds you well and hope that you
will visit us during reunion or any time that you are in
the area. It’s always good to see you again and catch
up on what’s new in your life. Things here change at
a much slower pace but there are some changes. First,
Tony Caldanaro has left the department to take a fulltime
position with the Science Center Computer group
(CATS). While we are sorry to see him go, he is still
around to help with Macintosh support and his office
has only moved next door to Bass Hall. We welcome
Mike Vollinger as our new Geosciences Technical
Assistant. Mike comes to us from UMass where he is
completing his Masters Degree in Volcanology. Some
of you might already know him as he has served for a
number of years as their X-ray Florescence Research
Assistant and has helped many a Smith student with
sample preparation for the XRF.
The Department welcomed the newest member to
its family with the arrival of Ethan David DeSwert
born to Sara Pruss and David DeSwert on March 9.
He weighed in at 7lb 14oz and word has it that Sara
already has him on a schedule! With Sara on maternity
leave, Steve Nathan, from UMass, has stepped in to
teach the Oceanography course. Steve is a foraminiferal
biostratigrapher and is not new to the Department
having taught The Environment back in 2003.
will be in Washington, DC where he will serve as a
GSA-USGS Congressional Science Fellow. Hopefully
Larry will straighten out congress and get more money
for research in the geosciences!
The biggest news is that we are about to embark on
a major renovation to Sabin Reed and Burton Halls.
Chemistry has moved to the newly opened Ford Hall
freeing up space on the first floor of Sabin Reed. This
will bring some exciting changes to the layout of the
department. A new microscope room will be created
in the space that is now the geomorphology lab. This
will service students in sedimentology, mineralogy,
and petrology. The geomorphology lab will move
next door to the space that is currently occupied by the
aqueous geochemistry lab. Mineralogy and petrology
will be taught either in the sedimentology lab or in the
geomorphology lab giving students direct access to the
microscope room. The geochemistry lab will move
down the hall to one of the old chemistry labs that will
become part of the new Center for Aqueous Biogeochemistry
Research (CABR). This will be a 3-lab
suite with a teaching lab (aqueous geochemistry), an
instrument room and a research lab. The old petrology
lab will become a new computer lab that will include a
wide range of software supporting GIS projects. The
Spatial Analysis Lab that is currently housed in Bass
Hall will move next door to the new geomorphology
lab and finally John Brady’s experimental petrology
lab will move upstairs from the basement to part of
one of the old chemistry labs next to paleontology.
The whole project is expected to be completed by
December of 2011 and will result in the geosciences
occupying virtually all of the first floor.
Next year Larry Meinert, our Professor in Residence,
Finally, the Department will be undergoing a
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decennial review next year and we are interested in receiving
input from you on what you thought was good
and bad about your Smith geosciences educational experience.
You can send your comments directly to me
or to other members of the department. If you want to
learn more about what is going on in the department,
you can check out the web page at http://www.science.
smith.edu/geosciences/.
Sincerely,
Bob Newton
Professor and Department Chair
The GEO-STARS and Schalk Funds – A
Great Way to Support Geosciences
at Smith College
In our 2009 newsletter, the Department announced the
establishment of the GEO-STARS Fund – an endowed
fund designated for support of numerous departmental
activities. The endowment yield from the GEO-
STARS Fund will be used in support of geo-activity
extras that require funding beyond what our always
tight departmental budget allows.
A primary goal of the fund is to assist our students
with travel and other expenses related to research,
field courses, and attending professional conferences.
GEO-STARS funds also will help support the Departmental
Luncheon Seminar Series, enabling guest
speakers, students, faculty, and alumnae to share their
educational, research, and professional experiences.
In addition, the Fund will provide support for alumnae
social gatherings at annual Geological Society of
America (GSA) and American Geophysical Union
(AGU) meetings.
Our goal for GEO-STARS is to secure sufficient funds
for an endowment yield of $20,000 to $25,000 annually.
Gifts to GEO-STARS can be made through
the Smith Alumnae Office by designating the GEO-
STARS Fund (Smith Fund 544399) as the intended
recipient of the gift, or by sending gifts directly to the
Department of Geosciences designated for the GEO-
STARS Fund. As in the past, gifts also can continue to
go the Schalk Fund, established in memory of Professor
Marshall Schalk – the yield from this fund also
is used in support of Geosciences at Smith. Should
you have questions or further ideas for GEO-STARS,
please contact Department Chair Robert Newton.
Help keep Smith Geosciences strong and moving
forward, support GEO-STARS and the Schalk Fund!
Thank you!
Faculty Updates
John Brady
2009-10 has been a year filled with service responsibilities
for me. During the summer, I worked with
Dick Briggs to write an NSF-MRI2 proposal for Stimulus
funds to replace our aged electron microscope.
Although we were not successful (only 7% were),
we hope the effort will yield a new SEM on the next
submission. My duties as President of the Mineralogical
Society of America began at the GSA Meeting in
Portland in October. You can read my letters to MSA
in Elements magazine during 2010. I was elected to
Faculty Council last May, which has meant weekly
meetings and membership on two other committees
(Mission and Priorities – CMP and Resource Allocation
– ACRA). I now know a lot more about Smith’s
response to the economic downturn (cutting $22M out
of a $190M budget). I am also Smith’s representative
on the WFCR Foundation Board. Finally, we have
all spent time on planning renovations to Sabin-Reed,
which began in January, with Bob Newton doing the
bulk of the work.
Former geology major Nancy (Davis) O’Hara ’82 and John
Brady at Jeff King’s Husky Homestead in Alaska.
Research this year has been mostly writing a chapter
for the Reviews volume to be published in
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conjunction with an MSA short course on Diffusion
to be held prior to the AGU meeting in December.
With collaborator Daniele Cherniak of RPI, I have assembled
an online database of published diffusion data
for minerals (http://diffusion.smith.edu). Our Reviews
Chapter is an overview of “diffusion of all elements in
all minerals.” This summer I will return to SW Montana
with Tekla Harms and Jack Cheney of Amherst
College for another Keck summer project as we continue
to follow the effects of the Big Sky Orogeny in
the ranges south of the Tobacco Root Mountains.
Since my daughter Caitlin ’03 moved to Alaska to
pursue her dog-sledding interests, Nancy and I have
visited her each summer. Last summer, while watching
a presentation Caitlin was making at Jeff King’s
Husky Homestead, we noticed a tourist with a Smith
College t-shirt. She turned out to be former geology
major Nancy (Davis) O’Hara ’82 (see our photo with
a sled dog puppy), now a lawyer in Rhode Island.
Smith geoscientists can be found wherever the rocks
are interesting!
Mark Brandriss
Entering my second decade at Smith, I’m having a
great time teaching Geoscience courses at all levels.
The newest is GEO 102: Exploring Our Local Geologic
Landscape, a stand-alone 2-credit field course
for any and all students who want to know more about
their surroundings here in the Connecticut River
Valley. Question: How many times can you take
groups to the top of Mt. Holyoke before getting tired
of it? Answer: I don’t know — but it must be a lot,
because I’m still enjoying every trip! In addition to
Geoscience majors, the course is drawing plenty of
humanities and social sciences majors who are simply
interested in the world around them. Geosciences for
everyone!
After spending most of my research time over the past
several years studying the plutonic rocks of the Isle
of Skye in Scotland, I’m heading back to southeastern
Alaska this summer for a month of teaching and
research with the Juneau Icefield Research Program
(JIRP; find out more at crevassezone.org, which has
some great photos). Hopefully I can persuade some
Smith students to come along in future years, following
in the ski tracks of former JIRPer Marian Kramer
(Smith Geosciences ’04). Also on the research front,
watch the Journal of Geoscience Education for an
upcoming article on the use of specific gravity determinations
in Mineralogy courses, featuring an experimental
apparatus test-piloted by Smith Mineralogy
students during the past few years.
Bob Burger
The 2009-10 academic year has been a relatively quiet
one for me, as I am on sabbatical leave for the year.
I’ve managed to occupy myself in a variety of ways,
but primarily have been working on an introductorylevel
textbook based on my natural disasters course.
I’m very much enjoying the challenge, but it is slow
going because I’m creating an E-book version as
well as a regular print version. The E-book version is
worthwhile, however, as it will greatly expand (animations,
QuickTime movies, Google Earth images) what
is present in the print version. I’ve also become quite
interested in the late stage tectonic events that affected
the Mesozoic rocks in the Connecticut and Deerfield
basins. I became interested in this question because
of some enigmatic breccias and folds present in the
Jurassic Turners Falls Formation in the Deerfield
Basin, which have variously been ascribed to tectonic
or soft-sediment deformation. So, I’m also spending
some time doing literature searches on this question
and thinking about what types of fieldwork would be
most productive in trying to resolve what happened to
these rocks in the Mesozoic. Next year Lily Seidman,
Class of 2011, is going to do an Honors thesis on this
topic, so it should be an interesting time
This past September my wife, Ann, and I were fortunate
to travel to the Great Lakes region as the Smith
representatives on a Smith Alumnae Association trip. I
presented three lectures focusing on the regional mineral
deposits and the origin of the Lakes. We also will
be traveling for Smith to the Canadian Rockies in late
June, and are, of course, anxious to return to a region
we love.
As I reported in last year’s newsletter, the 2010-11
academic year will be my last at Smith due to my retirement.
I’ve decided to go out with a bang, however,
and will have at least two Honors students as well as
teaching a double-course overload: Natural Disasters
and Environmental Geophysics in the Fall semester
and Structural Geology and Geographic Information
Systems in the Spring. Although I will be very busy, I
can’t wait to begin since I love teaching all four of
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these courses and want to teach each one more time.
Ann sends her best to all. My sons, Doug and Bob, are
doing very well, as are our four grandchildren. Life is
good, the Geosciences Department is thriving, and I
hope to see all our past majors again very soon.
Al Curran
Life in retirement is good! When not traveling, I’m
happily hanging around my office in the basement office
area of Burton Hall, pursing research and publishing
projects on trace fossils, Bahamian geology, sealevel
change, and the geology of fossil and modern
coral reefs. My research mostly involves carbonate
regions of the tropics, specifically the Bahamas, the
Miami area of south Florida (ichnology of the Miami
Limestone – see photo), Belize, and the Dominican
Republic.
Coral Reef Ed-Ventures program in Belize, along with
Professors Paulette Peckol and Susan Etheredge. We
have a great Coral Ed 2010 team, and this summer will
mark the 11th year of the program. I continue to enjoy
playing tennis and all outdoor activities, and Jane and
I retreat to our small house in Wellfleet, on Cape Cod,
as often as possible. We have five grandkids, and they
take great pleasure in running me ragged whenever
possible.
To all geo alums, if you make a visit to the Smith campus,
please feel free to drop by the Department and
Burton B-11 for a visit. I will be glad to see you.
Bosiljka Glumac
This academic year started with a trip to Micronesia
with my partner and field assistant Tony Caldanaro.
We visited the islands of Palau, Yap and Guam with
support from a Rappaport Fellowship at Smith College
to help me further explore my interest and develop a
teaching and research program in archaeological geology.
[I am a member of the Archaeology Program
Urban geology in the wilds of Miami, Florida – Al Curran braves
the sub-tropical jungle to sample the Miami Limestone.
Geology and retirement combine well as an excuse
for travel, and I’m doing my share. The Big Trip was
to China for three weeks in August-early September.
Activities centered on attending an international ichnology
conference at Henan Polytechnic University in
Henan Province. Our Chinese colleagues were great
hosts, and they led us on some excellent field trips to
fabulous geologic sites that were well off the normal
tourist tracks. After the meeting, Jane and I continued
on our own, and we did surprisingly well given our
limited Chinese language skills. Other travels this
year included Belize, the Bahamas, south Florida, and
GSA meetings in Portland, Oregon, and Baltimore. It
was great to see a good turnout of Smith alums at both
of the GSA meetings!
Beyond geology, I continue to be involved with the
Bosiljka Glumac admiring Yapese Stone Money in Micronesia.
These large artifacts were carved out of cave flowstone on the
island of Palau and transported on rafts to the island of Yap, more
than 400 km away in the west-central Pacific. Photo by Tony
Caldanaro.
Advisory Committee and in the Spring of 2009 for the
first time I taught a course cross-listed between Geosciences
and Archaeology called Archaeological Geology
of Rock Art and Stone Artifacts that attracted over
30 students.] On Palau we attended an archaeological
conference with a field trip to the Rock Islands and
one of the “Survivor” Palau beaches. Our field work
involved examination of cave flowstones that served
as source rocks for large wheel-shaped arti-
4

facts known as Yapese Stone Money, which we got to
examine on Yap. Other highlights of our first visit to
the western Pacific include swimming with thousands
of jellies in Jellyfish Lake on Palau and scuba diving
with manta rays on Yap.
I continue to enjoy teaching. In the Fall I taught Sedimentology
with my second largest enrollment, and this
January I took the largest group of Smith students to
San Salvador, Bahamas. This Spring I am teaching
the senior seminar in Tectonics and Earth History and
I have a course release as a co-director of a year-long
Kahn Liberal Arts Institute project that I envisioned
and proposed called Telling Time: Its Meaning and
Measurement. This project involves almost 20 student
and faculty fellows from across disciplines (Geosciences,
Physics, Astronomy, Biology, History, Music,
Art, English, Anthropology, Economics, Philosophy,
and East Asian Studies), and has been a stimulating
intellectual pursuit of ideas involving time and temporality.
My Kahn project is a continuation of carbon
isotope stratigraphy research on carbonate strata of
various age from the US Appalachians and from Croatia
as well as my research on cave speleothems that I
started two years ago when I participated in the Kahn
project Underworlds and Undergrounds.
Besides all of this, I continue to work individually
with AEMES (Achieving Excellence in Math, Engineering
and Science Program), STRIDE, and Geoscience
students. I also continue to mentor Fulbright
applicants and to be involved in many other facets of
college life. On a personal note, my son Alex is already
over 6 and in kindergarten and his sister Yelena
is 4 and in preschool. They traveled with Tony and I
to Mount St. Helens and Seattle after Portland GSA, to
the Bahamas in January, and to Washington D.C. after
NE/SE GSA Meeting in Baltimore this Spring Break.
Even though we love to travel I look forward to staying
at Smith next year during my sabbatical to maintain
access to my laboratory facilities and to devote
most of my time to writing.
Larry Meinert
This has been a year of changes that will culminate in
moving on from Smith College to start a new life in
the nation’s capitol, Washington, DC. The changes
started a year ago when a friend’s performance at
age 60 in the Boston Marathon inspired me to take
on a similar challenge. This was no small endeavor
since I had not seriously trained for anything in any
sport since college. I identified the St. George, Utah
marathon as being the most appealing to my geologic
sensibilities. It is near Bryce and Zion national parks
and is a point-to-point course through the red rock
country. It starts at a mile high, like Denver, and finishes
in St. George at ~2500’, with plenty of hills both
up and down. It usually is dry and cool (at least at the
start) so I figured the climate would more-or-less compensate
for the elevation and I hoped that the scenic
power of those red rocks would pull me through. It is
a popular race and they hold a lottery for the ~10,000
runners who hope to enter each year. I submitted my
name and on May 11, 2009 received notice that I was
in. On May 12th I started training.
The big event in progress; check out my form.
I plotted every scheduled run on my busy travel calendar,
ending on Oct. 3rd with the running of the St.
George Marathon. Like most training schedules my
weekly runs and particularly the weekend long run
built gradually through the 5 month period, peaking
at a 25 mile run on Sept. 12 before tapering for the
marathon itself. One unusual feature of my training
schedule due to my frequent world travels as a geological
consultant was that my long runs literally spanned
the globe with runs in Hedemora, Sweden; Bergen
and Oslo, Norway; Townsville, Australia; Westport,
Queenstown, Wellington, and Taupo, New Zealand;
Portland and Joseph, OR; Rochester, NY; Grinnell,
IA; and of course western Massachusetts. Although
it was somewhat difficult to fit in runs while traveling
the world, the varied locales were a blessing in disguise
as I never saw the same scenery twice. Almost
by definition, every long run was longer than 5

I had ever run in my life and the green pastures along
the Hedemora River in Sweden and the volcanic cones
and calderas of New Zealand kept even the longest
stretches fresh and interesting.
Do I look like a geologist or a
marathoner?
When race day arrived it was sunny and beautiful;
the red rocks gleamed. Even better, I finished without
killing myself and was very pleased to have run subfour
hours (3:56:04) in my first marathon. I may do it
again this Fall!
During the marathon training another change developed
as my wife – Georgia Yuan, Smith’s General
Counsel – got a call to join the Obama administration
as deputy General Counsel in the Department of
Education. We decided this was a once in a lifetime
opportunity to make a difference and give back to
the country that has been so good to us and our families.
Knowing that we were moving to Washington
D.C. made teaching my last Sherlock Holmes First
Year Seminar in the Fall and final Economic Geology
course in the Spring somewhat bittersweet. In my
seven years at Smith I have enjoyed every student, every
class, and every senior honors thesis. It has been a
privilege to be associated with such a fine institution,
students, and faculty.
Once the decision had been made to move to Washington
D.C. I then looked for opportunities to get
involved. I was fortunate to be selected as the 25th
GSA–USGS Congressional Science Fellow. In some
ways I am following in the footsteps of Maria Honeycutt
(’85) who was the 2007–08 GSA–USGS Congressional
Fellow and Merilie Reynolds (’08) who
was a Congressional Intern for the American Geological
Institute.
My new position will start in September, 2010 and I
do not yet know what Congressional office or committee
I will work in but I am sure that it will be exciting
and fulfilling. I will try to keep a connection with
Smith to continue ongoing projects with John Brady
and perhaps contribute to future honor theses and
other student endeavors. The future looks bright!
Bob Newton
The big news this year is that I have taken over as
department chair from Bosiljka. The duties of chair,
coupled with teaching Global Climate Change, Introduction
to Earth Processes and History, and Geomorphology
have kept me very busy but I have still
managed to start a couple of new research projects.
My study of road salt impacts on groundwater has
expanded into New Hampshire where I am working
with the Green Mountain Conservation Group to
determine the impact of road salt on groundwater in
the Ossipee Aquifer. This is one of the largest stratified
drift aquifers in New Hampshire and is being
stressed from salting along a major north-south road
that crosses through the principle recharge area. This
project is also examining changes in surface water
chemistry in streams as they emerge from pristine watersheds
within the Ossipee Mountains and flow into
the surrounding developed areas. This research has
been greatly facilitated by the new equipment acquired
as part of our Center for Aqueous Biogeochemistry
Research (CABR) NSF grant. The ICP-OES system
has proven to be fast and reliable for a wide range of
major and minor constituents as has the Dionex Ion
Chromatograph for anions. We have also found that
the new graphite furnace atomic adsorption instrument
is capable of easily measuring arsenic concentrations
down to less than 1 ppb!
This summer I plan on working with two students to
begin a long-term monitoring project at Avery Brook
in West Whately. A number of years ago Amy and I
ran a Keck project in Avery Brook. It is an interesting
site as it lies within a nearly pristine watershed that is
the major tributary to Northampton’s principle water
supply reservoir. The purpose of this study will be
to monitor changes in the flux of ions and sediment
into the reservoir in response to climate change. We
hypothesize that increased precipitation especially that
associated with high intensity events, will cause an
increase in sediment flux. We also hypothesize that
increasing temperature will result in higher 6

Geomorphology students measuring stream discharge at Broad
Brook using the new acoustic Doppler flow meter.
organic decomposition rates that will cause increases
in dissolved organic carbon (DOC). High DOC is already
a problem for Northampton because high DOC
water reacts with chlorine to create a series of carcinogenic
compounds.
On a personal note, Jill and I are suffering from the
empty nest syndrome as both our kids are now in
college. Molly is a junior at Bates and is doing an
environmental studies major with a concentration in
geology while JT is a freshman at UNH, starting the
computer science and engineering program. To solve
the “empty nest” syndrome Jill got us a second golden
retriever, Lilly, to go with Wendy. Lilly has proven to
be a challenge as she eats everything in sight (including
cell phones) and has earned the nickname “spawn
of the devil”. Hopefully this is only a puppy stage and
she will soon grow out of it.
Hope to see many of you at reunion this spring or anytime
you are in the area.
Sara Pruss
I am now in my third year in the Department of Geosciences,
and I have enjoyed every moment of my
time at Smith! This last year has been an exciting one
for me, both professionally and personally. In January
of 2009, I was awarded my first NSF grant as a co-PI
with my colleague Tanja Bosak at MIT. This award
funded 4 weeks of field work for research on the ~720
Ma Sturtian cap carbonate, the Rasthof Formation, in
northern Namibia, southern Africa. I conducted this
work in May and June with a Smith College Geoscience
major, Alexandra (Sasha) Breus ’10, and my colleague
from Harvard, Francis Macdonald. In addition
to exploring some of the most enigmatic sedimentary
rocks in the world, we enjoyed observing cheetah,
leopards, giraffe and zebra in their natural setting!
After returning from this first round of field work, I
quickly prepared to take two other Smith undergraduates,
Katie Castagno ’12 and Hannah Clemente ’11,
to Newfoundland and Labrador for 3 weeks of field
research in July. We studied Cambrian reefs built by
sponges and deep-water Cambro-Ordovician carbonates
of the Cow Head Group. We also encountered
large icebergs off the southern coast of Labrador and
made friends with moose while hiking through Newfoundland
forests.
In addition to all of the fun I have had with students in
the field lately, I have also enjoyed teaching my Paleontology
and Oceanography classes. Student projects
in Paleontology have focused on predator-prey interactions
in mollusk assemblages, and these data have
yielded important results that have been presented at
Smith College’s Celebrating Collaborations as well as
the Annual Geological Society of America Meeting
in Portland, OR, last Fall. I am currently a Fellow in
a Kahn Liberal Arts Institute project entitled “Telling
Time: Its Meaning and Measurement”, and here
I have focused on the taphonomic processes of modern
carbonate settings by measuring the radiocarbon
ages of mollusk shells from the Bahamas. On a more
personal note, I am on leave for the Spring semester
2010 in anticipation of the birth of my first child in
early March. My husband, David DeSwert, (who also
works at Smith College as the Director of Budget and
Grants) and I are ecstatic about the addition of Ethan
David DeSwert to our family!
Amy Larson Rhodes
This past fall, I taught Aqueous Geochemistry (GEO
301), a project-based course that looks at how the
chemistry of water and soil is affected by how different
minerals weather. The field work for the course
was based at Smith’s 200-acre, forested property in
Whately, MA, which was recently inaugurated as the
“Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station.” The
students sampled bedrock, soils and streams, and they
used their samples as a means for learning different
analytical techniques, including use of new instrumentation
that we purchased through a National Science
Foundation grant. I greatly enjoy teaching 7

this course, which is very “hands-on” for the students.
This past Saturday, two GEO 301 students presented
results from the class project at Smith’s “Celebrating
adelgid on branches of hemlock trees at the MacLeish
Field Station. As a result, we expect to see a change
in the forest structure such as has been observed in
southern New England. This summer, we will be conducting
various soil bag experiments to predict how
the nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients in the
soil may change as a result of forest succession from
hemlock to black birch.
The Aqueous Geochemistry class finds a millipede while digging
a soil pit at the MacLeish Field Station.
At the Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station, West Whately,
MA. Top: Smith’s 200-acre property consists of forest and pasture
and borders Northampton’s drinking water reservoir. Bottom:
Mary Gowins (’11, left) and Jenna Zechmann (’12, right)
take a water sample at a perennial stream.
Collaborations” campus-wide event. In their poster
titled, “The Role of Bedrock Geology and Forest Canopy
on Soil chemistry at the MacLeish Field Station,”
Katy Meek (’10) and Caroline Wise (’10) showed a
difference between the soil and water chemistry in
watersheds with deciduous trees underlain by marble
bedrock versus hemlock areas underlain by schist.
This summer, I will be collaborating with three student
interns to build on the GEO 301 results. We have observed
egg masses of the invasive pest hemlock wooly
I am currently teaching two introductory courses,
GEO 109 “The Environment” and a first-year seminar
titled “Global Environmental Changes and Challenges.”
This semester in GEO 109, we just concluded a
mock trial of the famous groundwater contamination
case described in Jonathan Harr’s nonfiction story, A
Civil Action. I had conducted this class project in the
late 1990’s when the movie A Civil Action starring
John Travolta came to the box office, but I gave this
class exercise a rest until just recently. The story still
resonates with the students. By researching the literature
and other sources, the students testify as experts
in hydrology, chemistry, and medicine about the viability
of TCE contamination reaching drinking water
wells in Woburn, MA, and whether the contamination
caused a childhood leukemia cluster. The debates
today became quite heated, and I’m always impressed
by the quick and creative thinking that results from
students during the mock trial proceedings.
Beginning in the fall, the Environmental Science and
Policy Program will launch a new major, and I will
co-teach the introductory course with Donald Baumer
from the Department of Government based off 8

the first-year seminar I am currently teaching. Our
goal with the course will be to combine scientific and
policy perspectives on the major environmental problems
of the 20th and 21st centuries, and I’m glad to
bring a geology perspective to the class.
As part of my work for Smith’s new Center for the
Environment, Ecological Design, and Sustainability
(which is much more easily spoken as “CEEDS”), I
have been managing operations of the MacLeish Field
Station. Our aim for MacLeish is to create a worldclass
facility that advances environmental education
and research. Smith is fortunate to have a 200-acre
site on which students can conduct a variety of class or
independent research projects, or to just take a break
and hike in a beautiful forest. The property is ecologically
important; it is within a patchwork of forest and
gently farmed pastures that contribute to one of the
largest remaining tracts of undeveloped land in Massachusetts.
Bordering Smith’s property is the primary
reservoir that supplies drinking water to the City of
Northampton. This summer, Smith students will begin
construction of the first, new nature trails for the property
that were part of a design developed by the 2008
Landscape Studies Studio course. Reid Bertone-Johnson,
of Landscape Studies who is co-managing the
site, and I are putting together grant proposals to help
fund an outdoor classroom, instrumentation to monitor
different climatic parameters, and a docent program
where Smith students will lead natural history tours
for different community and educational groups. In
2008, Jill Ker Conway gave a leadership bequeath to
CEEDS, after which she named the field station for
Pulitzer Prize winning poet Archibald MacLeish and
his wife Ada. We are hopeful that foundations and
other donors will follow President Conway’s lead in
support for development of environmental education.
Learn more about MacLeish at the website: http://
www.smith.edu/green/about_macleish.php. Curious
about the weather? See live meteorological readings
measured at MacLeish at http://macleish.smith.edu on
a cool and informative webpage created by STRIDE
scholars Meredith Gallogly (’12) and Jenna Zechmann
(’12).
My husband Erik and I still live in Northampton, and
our daughters Sylvia (7 years) and Linnea (3 years)
keep us busy. Sylvia goes to the Smith Campus
School, and recently she has been learning about coral
reefs from Katherine Donovan, a Smith alumna and
teaching fellow who, as an undergraduate, participated
in Smith’s “Coral Ed-Ventures” program in Belize,
organized by Al Curran and Susan Etheredge (Dept. of
Education). Learning about coral reefs has motivated
Sylvia to be a better swimmer so she can snorkel near
and study them someday. Linnea loves preschool at
Smith’s Center for Early Childhood Education, which
is located around the corner from campus and our
house. She wishes her school would hold pajama day
more often. We’re all looking forward to a trip to Norway
this summer to have a reunion with Erik’s family,
who all live on the Norwegian coast south of Oslo.
We’ll be sure to see some great rocks too!
Student/Faculty Publications
(* denotes Smith student)
Glumac, B., Curran, H.A., *Motti, S.A., *Weigner,
M.M., and Pruss, S.B., 2010, Polygonal fractures in
ooid grainstones of Cat Island, Bahamas: A unique
sedimentary structure in carbonate deposits: Joint
Northeastern and Southeast Sections, Geological Society
of America Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, v.
42(1), p. 168.
Glumac, B., Curran, H.A., *Weigner, M.M., *Motti,
S.A., and Pruss, S.B., 2009, Formation and distribution
of ooids along a beach-to-offshore transect at
Pigeon Cay, Cat Island, Bahamas: Geological Society
of America Abstracts with Programs, Annual Meeting,
v. 41(7), p. 116.
Guswa, A.J., Rhodes, A.L., *McNicholas, J., *Mehter,
S., *Spence, C. (2009) Ecohydrologic implications
of differences in throughfall between hemlock and
deciduous forest plots, West Whately, MA. Eos Trans.
AGU, 90(52), Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract
H33D-0908.
*Motti, S. A., and Pruss, S. B., 2010, High predation
rates on a carbonate tidal flat, Cat Island, Bahamas,
Northeastern and Southeastern Sections, Geological
Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 42,
No. 1, p. 188.
Pruss, S. B., Hurtgen, M. T., and *Breus, A., 2009, Environmental
insights into paleobiological patterns of
the Cambro-Ordovician Port au Port and St.
9
George Groups, western Newfoundland, An

International Conference on the Cambrian Explosion,
Banff, Alberta, August 3–8, 2009.
Pruss, S. B., *Duffey, S., and *Stevenson, M., 2009,
Predation rates in a modern carbonate setting, San Salvador
Island, Bahamas, Geological Society of America
Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 41, no. 7,
p. 706.
Rhodes, A.L., Guswa, A.J., *McNicholas, J., *Mehter,
S., *Spence, C. (2009) Effect of hemlock and deciduous
forest canopy on chemistry of throughfall, West
Whately, Massachusetts. Eos Trans. AGU, 90(52),
Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract H34E-01.
Student/Faculty Research
Beaton, Kirstie (Bosiljka Glumac): Origin of Milky
Way Mud, Palau, Micronesia. (STRIDE Research
Project)
Betances, Catherine (Bosiljka Glumac): X-Ray
Flourescence in a Provenance Study of Yapese Stone
Money. (AEMES Research Project and Celebrating
Collaborations Poster)
Beyer, Megan and Castagno, Katie (Bosiljka Glumac):
Carbonate Black Pebbles in the Paleosol at the
Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary at Bamboo Point, San
Salvador, Bahamas. (Bahamas Class Research Project
and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)
Breus, Alexandra (Sasha) (Sara Pruss): Field analysis
of Neoproterozoic and Ediacaran carbonates, Namibia.
(NSF-funded summer internship)
Castagno, Katie (Sara Pruss): Field and geochemical
analysis of the Cambro-Ordovician Cow Head Group,
western Newfoundland (SURF Project, STRIDE)
Clemente, Hannah (Sara Pruss): Paleoecology of Lower
Cambrian archaeocyathid reefs: Southern Labrador,
Canada (SURF Project, Special Studies)
Dalton, Lilly (Sara Pruss): Petrographic and laboratory
analysis of the Neoproterozoic Rasthof Formation,
Okaaru locality (AEMES project)
Duffey, Siobhan (Bosiljka Glumac): Microstratigraphic
analysis of a Quaternary Speleothem in Pursuit of
Easily Accessible Paleoclimate Information. (Special
Studies and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)
Duffey, Siobhan (Sara Pruss): Synthesis of predation
and diversity of Bahamian shell assemblages (Praxis
Summer Internship)
Froneberger, Miriam (Bosiljka Glumac): Marbles from
Yap (Federated States of Micronesia) as a possible
local source of Yapese Stone Money. (Kahn Institute
Assistantship and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)
McNicholas, Jennifer and Mailloux, Emily (Bosiljka
Glumac): Comparison of an Ancient and Modern Soil
Horizon, San Salvador, Bahamas. (Bahamas Class Research
Project and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)
Meek, Katy and Wise, Caroline (Amy Rhodes) The
Role of Bedrock Geology and Forest Canopy on Soil
Chemistry at the MacLeish Field Station (Class Research
Project).
Motti, Sarah (Sara Pruss): Predation on a tidal flat, an
analysis of a gastropod-dominated assemblage from
Cat Island, Bahamas (Special Studies)
Nakhnikian-Weintraub, Sofia, Kaplan, Jessie and
Kennedy, Caitlin (Sara Pruss, Bosiljka Glumac and H.
Allen Curran): Mollusk Predation by Polinices Snails
from Haitian Boat Beach on San Salvador, Bahamas.
(Bahamas Class Research Project and Celebrating
Collaborations Poster)
Rahilly, Kristen (John Brady): The Forsterite-Anorthite-Albite
System at 5 kb Pressure (Honors Thesis)
Thibault, Nikki (Amy Rhodes) Grain-Size Analysis
and Mineral Weathering of Soils at the MacLeish Field
Station (Special Studies Research Project).
Thorpe, Caitlyn, Sundberg, Madelyn, Schultz-Baer,
Mia and Durkin, Kathryn (H. Allen Curran and
Bosiljka Glumac): Post-Hurricane Recovery Analysis
of East Beach and Hanna Bay Beach, San Salvador Island,
The Bahamas. (Bahamas Class Research Project
and Celebrating Collaborations Poster)
Weigand, Jessica (Sara Pruss): Analysis of biomineralization
in the late Ediacaran Omkyk Member 10

and Hoogland Members of the Nama Group, southern
Namibia (AEMES project)
Wise, Caroline (Amy Rhodes) Biodiversity and Aqueous
Geochemistry of Vernal Pools in the Mt. Holyoke
Range (Special Studies Research Project).
Departmental Events
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting
- with non-profit Friends of Trees in Portland, Oregon;
Shannon Ristau ‘99 - social worker in Portland; Sarah
Vorhies ‘06 - PhD student at Yale; Stephanie Moore
‘07 - PhD student at UT Austin; Madeline Weigner
‘09 and Jane Didaleusky ‘09 - prospective graduate
students; Roxanne Renedo ‘09 - with USGS at Menlo
Park, CA; Dina Venezky ‘92 - geologist at USGS
Volcano Hazards at Menlo Park, CA; Kate Whittaker
AC’90 - artist from Duluth, Minnesota; Julie Herrick
‘02 - graduate student at Michigan Tech; and Donna
Whitney ‘85 - geology professor at the University of
Minnesota. Thanks to all alumnae for coming to the
reception and for keeping in touch! To view all photos
from Portland please see our Departmental page on
Facebook.
2010 Interterm Course on San Salvador, Bahamas
This year the Bahamas course attracted the largest
and most diverse group of students, faculty and staff.
Nineteen students who took this 3-credit field course
are majoring or minoring in geosciences, biological
sciences, environmental science and policy, psychology,
chemistry, neuroscience, history, medieval studies,
architecture and government! Bosiljka Glumac and Al
Curran were co-teaching the course.
H. Allen Curran (Geosciences Professor Emeritus), Rachel
Grandpre ‘05, and Hali Kilbourne ‘98 at the Smith College Alumnae
Reception at 2010 GSA Meeting in Portland, Oregon. Photo
by Bosiljka Glumac.
Once again Smith Geosciences were well represented
at 2010 GSA Meeting in Portland, Oregon. Attending
were Professors John Brady (also as the President
of the Mineralogical Society of America), Al
Curran (Emeritus), Bosiljka Glumac, Larry Meinert,
Sara Pruss, and Engineering Major Katy Gerecht
‘10. Smith College participated in the group alumnae
reception. Among others in attendance were (with
their affiliations at the time of the meeting): Rachel
Grandpre ‘05 - graduate student at the University of
Rhode Island; Hali Kilbourne ‘98 - research scientist
at the University of Maryland Chesapeake Biological
Lab; Michelle Arsenault ‘01 - science assistant
with the National Science Foundation in Arlington,
Virginia; Ruth Indrick ‘08 - community stewardship
coordinator with AmeriCorps in Dufur, Oregon; Maya
Wei-Haas ‘09 - graduate student at the Ohio State University;
Whitney Dorer ‘07 (Psychology and ES&P)
January 2010 Interterm course on Sal Salvador, Bahamas. The
group is standing on the Holocene North Point eolianites. Photo
by Tony Caldanaro.
Prof. Laura Katz (Biological Sciences) visited us in
the field and her PhD student Laura Parfrey helped
with the course. Also with us and working with Al
Curran on trace fossils was Koji Seike, a postdoctoral
fellow from Tokyo, Japan. Ann Pufall helped with
course logistics before and during the course. As
always we appreciated the company and assistance
of Jane Curran and Tony Caldanaro. With 11

Bosiljka and Tony’s children Alex (6) and Yelena (4)
we were a group of 29! We are all thankful to Kathy
Richardson who did so much behind-the-scene work,
and the students appreciated financial support from
the Marshall Schalk Fund. In the field the students
worked in groups on individual mini-research projects
and many presented their results as posters at Celebrating
Collaborations this April.
Organizer and leader of the Departmental Fall field trip, Mark
Brandriss, sharing with the students his knowledge of the geology
of northwestern Massachusetts. Photo by Tony Caldanaro.
January 2010 Interterm course on Sal Salvador, Bahamas. The
students snorkeling in the Pigeon Creek delta. Photo by Bosiljka
Glumac.
2009 Berkshire Mountains Field Trip
The Geosciences department once again kicked off
the new academic year with a weekend field trip for
anyone and everyone who wanted to see a bit more of
the world. This time, on the 12th of September, it was
an all-day excursion to the Berkshire Mountains of
Massachusetts. The weather was cool and refreshing
(some might say foggy and drizzling) as we journeyed
from Dalton to North Adams and Williamstown, deciphering
the record of Ordovician mountain building
that was written in stone during the first great pulse of
Appalachian orogeny.
Following in the footsteps of literary giants, we visited
the famous marble natural bridge in North Adams
(described by Nathaniel Hawthorne in letters chronicling
his travels) and also the summit of Mount Greylock
(the highest point in Massachusetts, described
by Henry David Thoreau in his book “A Year on the
Concord and Merrimack Rivers” and visible to Herman
Melville from his office window as he wrote
Moby Dick). The geology and scenery were marvelous,
which explains why those authors of yore
took the trouble to write their glowing portraits of
the landscape. Based on Thoreau’s description of the
expansive view from Greylock’s summit, however, it’s
obvious that he wasn’t fortunate enough to share our
wondrous experience of strolling peacefully through
the muffled silence inside the clouds that blanketed the
peak. After descending, the trip ended with a barbecue
dinner at the Williamstown house of Mark Brandriss
and Ronadh Cox.
Technically Speaking
Tony Caldanaro (Former Technical Services Specialist)
For the last 12 years I have had the good fortune to be
the Technical Services Specialist for the Department
of Geology, now Geosciences. I feel I truly lucked out
getting a position with the best department at Smith
College and one of the best Geology departments in
the country. I want to thank the Geosciences Faculty
for this opportunity, and I hope that I was helpful
keeping things running and making jobs easier. I always
tried my best to keep the Faculty out of trouble,
but as you know some of them just attract trouble : )
I want to thank all the students (current and alumnae)
who have cycled through the department during my
time. You all truly made it fun, and assisting Geo
students is one of the things I will miss the most.
A true perk of the job! I plan to stay involved 12

though and to participate in various Departmental
activities: field trips, talks, reunions, etc. So I will
definitely see you around.
On paper I am now a Systems Administrator (OS X)
for the Computing and Technical Services (CATS)
group serving the entire Science Center. This includes
Geosciences of course. So as Geosciences is
mostly an all-Mac department, I will still be heavily
involved with the Department. I also will continue
maintaining the Department’s Listservers and Facebook
page and assisting with its website. I will always
consider Smith College Geosciences my second
http://127.0.0.1/ (computer humor for “home”).
It was definitely a difficult decision to leave my Geo
tech position, but one made easier when I learned
about my replacement. With that in mind I would like
to welcome Mike Vollinger - the new technical assistant
for Geosciences. I look forward to working with
Mike, through the transition period and beyond.
Mike Vollinger(Current Technical Services
Specialist)
My name is Mike Vollinger, and I started as the new
geology technical assistant in January, 2010. I earned
a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University
of Massachusetts in 1993. After a couple of years
off, I went back to work in the X-ray Fluorescence
(XRF) Lab at UMass where I’d worked briefly during
my senior year as well as for other professors in the
Geosciences Department. My duties included preparing
samples for XRF analysis, hand picking mineral
separates, and training various 5 College personnel
(mostly students) in sample prep and lab protocol
for the XRF Lab. I also have been on two research
cruises to study the evolutionary history of Mauna Loa
Volcano, Hawaii.
In addition to my duties as the department technician
at Smith, which involves trying to keep on the scientific
equipment running and helping the faculty and
staff in any way needed, I am working on completing
my Master’s at UMass. I hope to finish before the end
of the year. The topic of my thesis is “The Oxidation
State of Hawaiian Magmas”. It is widely assumed in
the literature that Hawaiian magmas are close in oxidation
state to the oxygen buffer, quartz-fayalite-magnetite
(QFM). My research shows that this is not the
case, and that the magmas are more reduced, similar
to basaltic magmas from mid-ocean ridges. This has
wider relevance to our understanding of the oxidation
state of the mantle and mantle plumes.
Geology Club
Our efforts this term were indoors
To become a chartered Smith Org
Our stalactite is done
and in The Cave will be hung
Next semester we hope to do more
Alexandra S. Breus
Siobhan R. Duffey
Francesca E. King
Sarah A. Motti
Kristen E. Rahilly
Nikki C. Thibault
Geology Graduates
Class of 2010
Alumnae News
From the Department
We ‘ve learned that 3 recent Geoscience graduates
have received NSF Graduate Fellowships for 2010.
They are:
Mayer, Kristin
kamayer@stanford.edu
Geosciences – Geochemistry, Stanford University
Wei-Haas, Maya Li
mweihaas@gmail.com
Geosciences - Environmental Geochemistry, The
Ohio State University
Winsor, Kelsey
winsor@wisc.edu
Geosciences – Paleoclimate, University of Wisconsin-
Madison
13

A current Smith senior (Engineering Major), has also
been awarded an NSF Fellowship in Geosciences:
Gerecht, Katelyn Elizabeth
Geosciences - Hydrologic Sciences, University of
Texas at Austin
From Our Alums
Mary Rea, ‘39
You are doing a great job, but I’m afraid that any news
from the class of ‘39 wouldn’t have much geological
interest! Practically every thing I learned in college is
out of date, and what I’ve learned since has been from
my travels to the Antarctic, Africa, and time spent at
sea with Lindblad. I wish you the best of luck and
keep up the good work!
Judy Hamilton, ‘61
I’ve just started working for FEMA on an on-call basis
for disaster mitigation. I’ll be primarily in the Rocky
Mountain area (Region VIII), but we’re paired with
the Atlanta region so I may be doing some work there
too.
Sally (Stanton) Hasted, ‘67
I’ve got a very dull year to report. In Oct 2008 I
changed jobs after nine years, to escape from a vicious
supervisor whom no-one could stand. I took
a job teaching 15 teenage girls in a residential rehab
program, having been promised the job did not require
physical restraints on the students. When I arrived to
begin work, the administrator who had hired me (a
very nice person) had either been terminated or “persuaded”
to leave, and I was told the job did require
physical put-downs!! I offered not to take the position,
but was begged to stay because of my special
education experience and ability to teach just about
any subject I can read up on. So the 2008-9 school
year was spent working with a great co-teacher, turning
around the lives of some wonderful young women.
Since I am philosophically opposed to physical restraints
on children, and have trouble with my knee,
right arm, and spinal osteoporosis, I disciplined them
through mutual respect, kindness, and by piling on
honors-level academics of a challenging and engaging
nature, individualized to their tastes and abilities.
The result was a happy, absorbed classroom, excellent
learning, and widespread acknowledgement that ours
was the happiest and most achieving room in all the
Connecticut branches of this particular school. We
stressed Math (my co-teacher’s specialty) and sciences
(heavy use of my minerals and fossils, and of
bio materials we both provided), lots of great reading
and writing, and oral reports to develop personal
expression. History was fascinating for them, and we
got in plenty of global perspectives on cultural and
sociologic issues. The kids adored it all. Personal
result: one week from term’s end, I was told I was not
being rehired because of my inability to chase and put
down our students, who weighed up to 240 lbs and
were considered potentially violent. The fact that they
NEVER acted out violently when we two were in the
room, but only when other teachers came in to find out
why we had such a happy classroom, didn’t matter.
As a result, I have been unemployed this winter, other
than being a substitute on call at another school for
emotionally needy students.
I am still seeking a teaching job with “difficult kids”,
a field which really suits my interests and abilities.
Anyone who knows of one within commuting distance
of Wilton CT, please let me know!! At sixty-four and
a half years old, I’d hoped to retire by now and take
small jobs or do volunteer work in the environmental
field, or get back somehow into Geology. But my
mother (102+) must now be supported, and my husband,
so it’s “off to work I go”.
I’d love to work in a museum, nature center, or school,
doing enrichment education in Geology and the natural
environment. I will equally happily sort maps,
fossils, and dust rocks. Any ideas?
Margaret Dein Bradley, ‘73
I am still working for the Rhode Island Department
of Environmental Management, where I have been
involved in the investigation and remediation of
hazardous waste sites. With every site being different
and new investigation and cleanup techniques always
being developed, it remains interesting.
Much of my free time I spend really enjoying my
choral music (soprano) and violin. Indeed, just last
weekend I participated in the 125 anniversary celebration
of the Smith College Glee Club on campus.......a
very intense and deeply satisfying two-day rehearsal
and concert schedule.
14

Amanda Stiff, ‘79
My Geology Major at Smith College has enriched my
life many times over. I am forever grateful to those
patient professors who tolerated a Government Theory
major in their midst. (Code for yikes she has NO science
background!) I live in Southwest Florida and fortunately
am able to enjoy where I live so much better
as a result of my Smith education. I teach Finance and
Investing at Eckerd College in St Petersburg Florida
(Adjunct) and have a small financial advisory and
brokerage business.
Who knew that organizing “On the Rocks” my senior
year would lead to my being chairman of the Sarasota
Reading Festival for three years, a nationally recognized
event celebrating the power and the joy of the
written word!
Please let me know if you find yourselves in my neck
of the woods, do come to see the wonders of real
Florida………….. Paynes Prairie Preserve, Corkscrew
Swamp, Siesta Key Beach and the River of Grass.
With best wishes from the land of sand, shells and
karst topography…..
Carol Birney de Wet, ‘81
My eldest son is a geology major at Bates College.
This is great fun for his parents as we are both geologists.
It must have been all those summer field
research trips we took, cleverly disguised as family
adventures! Middle child, daughter Emily, starts at
Wheaton College in MA this fall and the youngest is
in high school.
I’m serving as an associate dean of the faculty for the
next couple of years, still at Franklin & Marshall College.
It is an interesting transition to full time administrative
work but I find helping both new faculty and
department chairs manage their particular challenges
quite rewarding.
I’m continuing my research on carbonate tufas with
new collaborations on material from Chile and east
Africa. I also enjoying working on a comparative
project with Cambrian carbonates in PA and NW Scotland
that were once part of the same Laurentian shelf
system.
I keep in touch with Nancy Davis ‘82. You saw her
picture in the latest Alumni Quarterly where she was
visiting with John Brady’s daughter in Alaska.
Donna Whitney, ‘85
I am a Distinguished McKnight University Professor
of Geology & Geophysics at the University of Minnesota.
My research is in metamorphic petrology as
applied to problems in continental tectonics. In addition
to my long-term field sites in western North
America and Turkey, I have also recently started working
in Switzerland and Norway.
Maria Honeycutt, ‘95
2010 finds me still working at NOAA’s Coastal Services
Center, based out of the DC area. I’m working
on climate adaptation policy and related projects
to increase the resiliency of coastal communities to
climate and weather hazards. Although my travels this
year won’t bring me to Northampton for my 15-year
Reunion, I did just return from a vacation to Death
Valley. It was great fun to finally revisit many of the
same areas that we explored on the Five College trip
back in 1993, which was my first time seeing the desert
and spectacular mountains of the Southwest. My
geographer husband was a good sport as I went geology-crazy
and snapped a million pictures. Truth be told,
I think he’d be the first to admit that the Racetrack
is pretty darn cool (2 fighter jets flying low through
there during our visit certainly helped!). Although I’ll
always be a coastie by trade, it was that ‘93 DV field
course that made me love the western U.S. and drives
me to visit as often as I can. Years later, I still appreciate
the efforts of the faculty, especially Bob Burger,
and my classmates to pull off such a great trip -- thank
you!
Sarah Smalheer, ‘97
I’m still at my job as a science dissertations editor for
UMI/ProQuest. Seven years and counting! In a few
days I will be heading to Boston to run the Boston
Marathon next Monday, April 19. This is an event almost
a year in the making as I ran my qualifying time
in May of 2009. This will be my fourth marathon, and
I am very excited! (and more than a little nervous.)
Kelly H. Kilbourne, ‘98
I’m keeping busy in Maryland between my relatively
new job (

ley trip in 1997) and Lora Harris (Ben Greenstein’s
research student in 1994-1995). Anne was teaching
Philosophy at McDaniel College when I worked there,
and Lora is a colleague where I work now! In the
mythical space known as “spare time” I love to garden
and have been visiting the farmers market to buy
locally what I can’t grow in my small veggie plot or
between the flowers and shrubs.
Heather “Cricket” (Sawick) Kennedy, ‘99
I’m living in San Francisco and working full-time
in pathology research at Genentech; I also do a little
modeling work in my spare time. In November, I
married my husband Adam, a scientist. We actually
eloped in Reno but we’re still planning a “real” wedding
ceremony for this coming winter. I made it out
to the Class of ‘99 10-year reunion this past summer
and had a chance to catch up with Al Curran and Jim
Smith, and I’d love to reconnect with any other Geo
people out there if I haven’t already! Give me a holler
on Facebook, www.facebook.com/weehollywood!
Lena Fletcher, ‘99
After finishing an MS in forestry last May, I (and wife
Lex (Smith ‘02)) welcomed our fourth son to our family.
I am currently working half-time as a research associate
at UMass while my baby is young and will be
starting a PhD program in forest hydrology at UMass
this coming fall.
Maryann M. Ashworth, ‘00
I am living in Malta, NY, a town north of Albany,
with my husband and three children. This February
we welcomed our third child, Marcus, into the world.
My daughter Malia is 4 and will be starting preschool
in the fall. She loves projects and being read to. My
son Miles is 2 and loves playing with balls, riding his
tricycle, and playing with trains. I am working parttime
as an environmental engineer for an environmental
consulting firm. Recently I have been designing
and permitting stormwater management systems and
working with industrial clients to help them remain in
compliance with the State Pollution Discharge Elimination
System permits. I am looking forward to catching
up with geo-alums at Reunion.
Michelle Arsenault, AC ‘01
I just finished a 3-year contract at NSF, where I was a
Science Assistant in the Geosciences Directorate, and
I just started a new job as a Grants Specialist in the
Office of Education at NOAA in DC. The job at NSF
was great: I met some really great people, got to know
the geoscience community-at-large, and did lots of
networking. The new job at NOAA promises to be as
equally fun and rewarding. The office is located directly
across from the White House in downtown DC, so I
plan on spending my lunch hours on the mall!
Elizabeth Moreland, ‘01
I taught Earth Science in New Jersey after graduation
and earned my M.A. at Seton Hall University. Currently,
I am a High School Assistant Principal and am
working on my Ed.D. at Teachers College, Columbia
University.
Kimberly (Cheney) Hess, ‘02
I am a MH-60J helicopter pilot in the USCG. I am
currently stationed at USCG Air Station Clearwater,
FL and have been in the CG since 2004. I’ve been
married for 3.5 years (to another Coast Guard pilot
-JD Hess) and we just had our first kiddo. A little boy,
John Mark, he is 6 months old, and having him has
been really amazing! Not too much geology in my
world other than being so fortunate to always have a
great view of it! Hope all is well!
I remember a geology presentation of what the major
had to offer in the way if future careers. My thoughts
at that time were how cool it was that so many were
doing random adventurous things, funny that now
I’m one of them. I certainly wouldn’t be in my shoes
without my Smith education; it truly opened the doors
to make my dream possible. Cheers!
Silvia (Newell) Bulow, ‘04
I am finishing my Ph.D. at Princeton and will defend
this June. After a well-deserved vacation, I will be
starting my postdoc in the Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology Department at Princeton, studying nitrogen
cycling in tropical soils in Panama and Costa Rica.
It was my pleasure to give a talk at one of the Smith
Brown Bags last fall on my doctoral work.
Erica Nichols, ’04
I am still working for Shell International in London,
in Contracting & Procurement of Engineering, Design
and Construction Services. What is more exciting is
that I’m getting married on 26 June 2010, to an Englishman
who studies past sea level and climate change.
16

We are very excited!!! If any geo alums pass through
London, please let me know!
Emma Anderson, ‘05
After completing a Masters in Geology from the State
Univerisity of New York at Buffalo, Emma Anderson
has been working at Baltimore Woods Nature Center
as an environmental educator. The primary focus of
her work with the Nature in the City program which
links urban school with neighborhood green spaces
through environmental education. Nature in the City is
in eleven of the Syracuse elementary schools teaching
three one hour science lessons to each Kindergarten
through sixth grade class. Emma is thoroughly enjoying
teaching hands-on minds-on science lessons on
subjects ranging from birds, to insects, to water, to
Mastodons and everything in between
Rachel Grandpre, ‘05
I am finishing up the requirements for my Master’s degree
in Environmental Science: Geosciences from the
University of Rhode Island. I was recently selected as
a Presidential Management Fellowship finalist and am
currently seeking employment with the federal government.
Lucy (Eckert) Kellogg, ‘05
I’ve now been a mom for 4 years and an environmental
consultant for 2 years and look forward to getting
back into academia soon. I’m continuing to enjoy
exploring the diversity of North Carolina.
Kristin Mayer, ‘05
I just wanted to let the Geosciences Department know
that I got the NSF graduate student fellowship! I’m
SO excited! I wish I could come and stop by the geo
department in May, but unfortunately I won’t be able
to make it to my 5 year reunion. I do hope I get a
chance to stop by and say hello at some point in the
not too distant future, though. Also, Caroline Harris
says hello! She was in the Tobacco Roots with Sarah
Carmichael (they were field partners) and now she is
running my advisor’s lab at Stanford.
Elizabeth Thomas ‘05
I began a PhD program in Geology at Brown University
and am studying organic geochemical proxies for
past climate in lakes in the Arctic and China. I’m looking
forward to my first trip to China in May, and to a
month of fieldwork on West Greenland this summer!
I have the pleasure of sharing an office with a fellow
Smithie (Danielle Grogan ‘09). I love living in New
England again, and in my spare time am planting a
vegetable garden and training for trail runs this summer.
Sarah Pistone, ‘06
I am about half way through with a MS degree in
Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford University
with a focus on geothermal energy. My department is
heavily rooted in petroleum reservoir simulation and
well tests, but I have broader interests in the geochemical
and geophysical aspects of geothermal reservoirs.
A recent course on the geomechanics of reservoirs was
very interesting and I may continue research defining
the specific stress state of a region in New Mexico. I
am lucky to have an advisor, Roland Horne, that is
willing to take his whole geothermal research group to
the World Geothermal Congress (WGC) in Bali, Indonesia.
If you’re in the area I’d be happy to show you
my favorite climbing spots or beach locales.
Stephanie Moore, ‘07
I don’t have any news to report in the Newsletter,
but I wanted to say hello from Texas. I’m in my third
year of my PhD and my research is keeping me interested
and busy. I saw John, Al, and Bosiljka last fall
in Portland along with a big group of Smith alums (I
think there were nine of us who went out to dinner).
Austin had a nice, cold winter so I’m hoping that trend
will roll over into the summer and we won’t have such
a long stretch of 100+ days this year. I miss the east
coast and especially New England. I always think of
the crocuses that come up on the Smith campus letting
you know it’s finally spring.
Marie McLane, ‘08
Next week, I will be deploying to Summit Camp,
Greenland as Field Coordinator. Through the end of
August I will be living above 3200m of ice and 400km
from the nearest point of land...at the apex of the
Greenland ice sheet, as one of up to 55 researchers and
support staff from around the world. More information
can be found about the research station at summitcamp.org.
I’ll have internet and would be more than
happy to chat with students looking for more info on
polar research or science support.
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Merilie Reynolds, ‘08
I’m still working in the gold mining industry of northern
Nevada. My job duties are currently focused on
mapping high wall in the huge Goldstrike open pit.
Outside of work, I’m enjoying forays into skiing and
rock-climbing, If you’re ever in the neighborhood,
give me a call and I’ll arrange a mine tour. Barrick
Gold, the company I work for, offers a number of
summer internships (with excellent pay!) for undergraduate
and grad students. Please contact me for
more information. It would be great to have more
Smithies out here! Also in 2009 I completed Indiana
University’s field camp. It was quite an emotional
challenge to return to the camp after being in a motor
vehicle accident there the previous year.
715-797-2450; merilie.reynolds@gmail.com
Danielle Schmandt, ‘09
I am currently at the Colorado School of Mines. I am
just finishing my first year of my Masters. I am writing
my thesis on a sedimentary-hosted copper deposit
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). I have
spent one field season in the town of Kolwezi logging
core and am getting ready for another! I saw the biggest
caterpillar of my life there! 5 inches and fuzzy!
and I ate some crickets.
Maya Wei-Haas, ‘09
I am currently at Ohio State University and my biggest
news this year is receiving the NSF Graduate
Research Fellowship. I will be working on a project
that is focused on determining the fate of flame retardants
(Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers or PBDE) in
the arctic environment. Specifically I hope to examine
the role of photodegradation and the influence of
dissolved organic matter in the break down of flame
retardants.
Late-Breaking News!
Spotlight Award
Kathy Richardson, our departmental administrative assistant,
is one of the recipients of the 2010 Smith College
Spotlight Awards. These awards are designed to
acknowledge staff members in the Smith community
whose contributions go above and beyond the everyday
scope. Kathy is recognized by the Department of
Geosciences for her superb overseeing of the departmental
field trip budget. This has not been an easy
task, especially lately with increasing costs, changing
policies, and limited funds competing with the imperative
of educating geosciences students in the best
laboratory possible — the great natural outdoors. Just
about every geosciences class has field trips ranging
from lab trips to day-long and weekend trips, to longer
interterm field courses in Hawaii and the Bahamas.
Kathy has been doing her job of keeping track of all
the anticipated and accrued expenses incredibly well!
Over the years she has been working with various
department chairs and Controller’s office personnel to
devise and implement efficient methods of handling
this complicated accounting. In addition, Kathy has
helped with many other logistical tasks such as making
lodging reservations, paying student drivers, and
coordinating with groups from the Five Colleges. Congratulations
and thank you Kathy for your dedication
to and good work for the Geosciences at Smith!
Whether I am currently pursuing a Master’s or a PhD
is up for debate, between NSF and my adviser’s funding
I have 4 years of full funding as a student, so if all
goes well I could potentially change my Masters to a
PhD! Hope that works as news!
The Spotlight Award recipient Kathy Richardson with Geosciences
faculty Bosiljka Glumac, Bob Newton and Al Curran at the
Award Ceremony in April 2010.
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Breccia (tectonic or synsedimentary?) in the Turners Falls Formation
(Jurassic) at Barton Cove, Massachusetts.
View of Poplar Hill Road in the fall, Ada and Archibald
MacLeish Field Station, West Whately, MA.
Bosiljka Glumac exploring a cave on an island in the Republic of
Palau (Micronesia) in search for the source rock of Yapese Stone
Money artifacts. Photo by Tony Caldanaro.
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