Department of Geosciences
Newsletter- 2007/2008
 

Letter from the Chairman – Charlie Fitts

Greetings to all fellow USM geology buffs!  This is my first term as chairman, and it has been an eventful year in many ways. 

As many of you have heard or read in the newspapers, our program is among 26 that are being evaluated because of the USM budget crisis.  The administration has asked us to present our case for continuing the Geosciences degrees and for improving enrollments and finances.  We’ve been busy doing just that.  The key elements of our case are:

◦ Since revising our curriculum in 2005, our number of majors has grown to 30, up from around 20.
◦ Our program is among the strongest university geology programs in the northeast in terms of majors and    graduates.
◦ Our faculty are strong teachers, active researchers and contribute to university and public service.
◦ Our majors are among the strongest students at USM and go on to do well  in consulting, regulatory agencies, graduate schools, and teaching.

We submitted our case to the administration in April and expect a decision from them in July.  I feel confident that the administration understands our case and will continue to support and offer our program. 

Although justifying your existence can be interesting, a much more satisfying angle of this work is seeing our majors continue to grow and do well.  This spring, many havebeen working on and presenting their research at conferences such as GSA, Maine Water Conference, and at USM’s Thinking Matters program.  Our graduates of 2007 also did well.  Some found consulting jobs in the Portland area and one went to U. Maine for graduate work with a scholarship.

Wishing you all well,

Charlie Fitts

 
REU Students Present at NEGSA

Students in Professors Mark Swanson and Matthew Bampton’s National Science Foundation-supported effort Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program (REU), presented the results of last year’s field efforts at the March 2008 Northeast Section Geological Society of America Meeting in Buffalo, New York. Students presented 7 abstracts/posters on the following topics: the use of digital techniques for environmental analysis, data structure for digital geologic mapping, topographic analysis of glacially-modified landscapes to detect a change in local ice flow directions, development of a digital kiosk for dissemination of mapping results for Seguin Island, spatial analysis and interpolation of detailed fold data from Seguin Island in GIS, a description and analysis of the granite dike intrusions at Damariscove Island and an analysis of the late stage structural history of the largest granites and the role of structure in influencing a small scale granite quarrying operation at Damariscove Island.

Mark and Matthew also presented a poster on their digital camera-pole technique for detailed outcrop surface mapping which was used in the REU program to map syntectonic granite intrusion patterns.  The latest improvements get the camera to just over 40 feet.  Poker chips included in the images and surveyed with RTK GPS allows the images and mosaics to be georeferenced in GIS where on-screen digitizing can then add to the developing map project. Mark and Matthew, in collaboration with GIS Director Vinton Valentine, have submitted an ambitious proposal for new mapping equipment to NSF’s Major Research Instrumentation Program.  Decisions on funding are expected some time this summer.

Alumni Focus- Sandy Schumann, BA '96

As has been our practice since the inception of our department newsletter, each issue contains information on one of our graduates. In this issue we take the seemingly unusual approach of  highlighting a career of someone who chose not to pursue Geology. Sandy Schumann’s journey took her away from Geology into another fascinating direction. She provides some insight into how the major helped out in her career path. It supports our notion that a Geology major can amply contribute to many unanticipated goals.

After graduating from the Geology program in 1996, Sandy immediately began studies in the Clinical Counseling program at USM, and graduated in 2000 with a Master's degree. She began a private psychotherapy practice and, at the same time, spent a year as a Chaplain Resident in the CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) program at Maine Medical Center. While there, she provided spiritual counseling to patients in the ER and Oncology. After that, in addition to maintaining her private practice, she also did in-home Family Therapy for Sweetser Children and Family Services for several years. That involved family therapy with children who were (for a variety of reasons) at risk of removal from the home.

Sandy’s counseling interests now center, predominately, on the human-animal connection. That is, she enjoys counseling clients who are grieving the loss of a companion animal, and she is studying Animal-Assisted Therapy and Equine-Assisted Therapy. Both therapies incorporate the clinician's companion animals into the therapy session. Sandy has also been involved with the Brunswick C.G. Jung Center for Analytical Psychology for a number of years. The Center's main focus is providing to its membership, and the community in general, programs and discussion on Jungian topics. She is currently on the Board there, and is the Chair of the Program Committee. (This is strictly a volunteer position.) 

Non-professionally, she and her husband have adopted a wonderful Australian Shepherd - Nellie - and a great, little sorrel Quarter Horse - Eddie. Nellie, a rescue dog, is a true joy, and she has absolutely blossomed due to their play/work in Dog Agility and Canine Freestyle (a.k.a. Dancing with your Dog.) Edward (as she prefers to call him) provides them with a great deal of mental and physical stimulation - and he is so totally grounding. Sandy says: “Anyone who has ever had a relationship with a horse knows: 1) they somehow connect with that wild and spiritual part of the psyche, and 2) when you're working with a 1200 pound animal you can't afford to have a wandering mind. Consequently, you have to be completely in the moment.”    

Sandy added: “Even though I went on to a totally different career, that career benefited tremendously from my Geology education. My ability to think logically, rationally, and scientifically - all of which were developed/sharpened in the Geology program - bring another dimension to my counseling. I can draw on both the feeling side and the logic side when I work with clients - an extremely useful ability in the therapy world.”     

 
Alumni Notes

Dan Glaser - '00
Dan writes that he has many fond memories of time spent at USM.  He has worked for hydroGEOPHYSICS, Inc (Geophysical Consulting) since 2004.  Currently, he is a project manager for their Missoula, MT office.  Since he was at USM he has gotten married (wife is Nicole, a native to Phoenix, AZ) and they have two children, Gwyneth (age 3), and Grafton (5 months).  Last year, he submitted his thesis, and graduated with a Master's Degree that he had started with Lee Slater at the University of Missouri Kansas City, back in 2000. He and Nicole met while Dan was in graduate school. Congratulations!

Justin L. Rich - ‘06
Justin is an MS student (pending 2008) in the Geology Department at the University at Buffalo. At USM he received his bachelor’s degree and a Certificate in Applied Geographic Information Systems. Currently he is working on a North Slope, Alaska, investigation of the permafrost table through multi-resolution object oriented Fuzzy Analysis. At Buffalo he is a teaching and research assistant.

Jim Perlow - ‘99
Jim and his wife Nancy (they got married in January) have joined the Peace Corps together and are in language training in South Africa!! They have set up a blog for themselves to keep everyone in the loop, but haven't been able to update it yet:

http://nancyandjim.blogspot.com/ 

They will be in the Zeerust region in South Africa, and as of the week they left (around July 11, I think) they didn't really know what their assignment was going to be, but that it was probably in healthcare. Knowing Jim, he'll become the MacGuyver of South Africa and fix every water pump system within 300 km.

Molly Zogby - ‘05
Molly started working in the Mining Unit at the DEP as a seasonal employee in 2003 while she was still in school.  She received a full time position with the Mining Unit in the summer of 2005.

Her position is field oriented and her primary responsibilities include the investigation and inspection of mining facilities (gravel pits and quarries) to ensure environmental compliance with applicable statutes and rules.  In addition, she processes and manages permit applications to make sure that mining operations are operated with minimal environmental impact and, in cases where impacts have occurred, she carries out the appropriate enforcement actions and oversees environmental restoration at the site.

Molly gets to look geology in the face every day that she is in the field and understanding the geology of the area can help her to determine what an operator's best plan of action may be at a particular site.  However, she says that she puts her geology knowledge, particularly hydrogeology skills, to use most often when she is reviewing applications to mine gravel or rock from below the elevation of the water table.  Sometimes operators will wet-mine the material, but other times they need to pump the water out of the area of excavation to extract the material.  Either way, Molly determines the possible water quantity and quality impacts to adjacent natural resources and water supplies by investigating the site and reviewing groundwater analysis reports.  Another skill she puts to use is aerial photograph interpretation.  She uses stereo pairs of older aerial photographs to determine the jurisdictional area of gravel pits and quarries as well as possible environmental impacts to natural resources.

The Mining Unit is a busy and important unit in the Maine DEP and we are delighted to see one (two really – Mark Stebbins ‘84, is her boss!) of our geology graduates there.
 

Collections Donated to the Department
John and Mary Kesseli of Gorham, Maine, donated a collection of geodes that had been in their family for more than 40 years.

Helen Foss, a USM employee at the Muskie School of Public Service, has been an amateur rock hound for many years and is about to begin a new adventure in her life. She donated a portion of her personal collection of rocks and minerals collected mainly in the southwestern states.  Helen wrote and said; “Although it will sadden me to part with them, I would like to send them to a good home. The samples represent the things I enjoy doing most - travel and rocks…”

We thank Helen and Mr. and Mrs. Kesseli for thinking of us!

CAS Scholarships & Awards
The following students received an award at the annual CAS Student Recognition Day Scholarships and Awards Ceremony held on April 22, 2008.

   Luke Sturtevant- Robert N. Miller Earth Science Scholarship.
 
   Richard Silver- James W. Pendleton Award.

   Eric Wood- Louis B. Woodward Award.
 

Faculty-Staff Notes

Charlie Fitts
Charlie is writing up a journal article about years of research into groundwater flow simulation techniques for modeling complex aquifer systems with heterogeneity, multiple layers, and leakage between the layers.  The mathematics can get pretty ugly, but the resulting methods should be useful.

Charlie has done occasional consulting work simulating the impacts of pumping on sand and gravel aquifers in Maine.  He presented his work on the Fryeburg aquifer at the Maine Water Conference in 2007.  It is clear that some smaller aquifers are near their limits for sustainable rates of pumping.  We’re not Arizona, but some places are starting to feel the pinch!

During the last couple of summers, the Fitts family built a small cabin up in Bingham, Maine.  This place is rustic: no electricity, wood stove heat, and a composting toilet/outhouse.  There is a man-made perched sand aquifer located uphill of the cabin, so gravity can supply running water, in theory.  If this scheme works well, it could be the basis for a journal article and further research.  Charlie and Claire now have one son beyond college, one at USM, one at SMCC, and two at home. Time’s fun when you’re having flies (anon. frog)!

Irwin Novak
This is Irwin’s 37^th (yikes!) academic year at USM and he is still having a heckuva time. He is particularly proud of the department’s graduating students and the positions they have found at graduate schools, consulting firms and in regulatory agencies. Those that wanted to stay in Maine seem to have been lucky enough to be able to do so. Though a relatively small department (though large by comparison to other New England Geology departments), we have been particularly successful in attracting bright and motivated students, he says.

He and his wife Mary Snell continue their Greek Odyssey with annual trips and USM classes to the lovely island of Lesvos. There are now 4 grandchildren (with one due in September) – wow!

Steve Pollock
Doings this year included getting funding for two of our students, Wyeth Bowdoin and Robert Treat, to do some mapping in the China Lake 7.5’ quadrangle.  Actually, the mapping involved the entire quadrangle.  With good outcrops and good weather we were able to resolve the stratigraphy and structure with confidence.  The Silurian meta-shale – meta-sandstone units displayed good metamorphic transitions from chlorite to sillimanite zones. That was a pleasant surprise.  Another one of our students, Roland Charles, is studying thin sections of the rocks to confirm and enhance our knowledge of the mineral assemblages.

Wyeth used the GIS lab, and with the help of Michele Tranes (GIS Lab Manager), produced a fully digitized version of the China Lake quad.  It looks really good!  He and I presented at NE GSA in Buffalo last  March with a reprise and additional data presented at the spring meeting of the Geological Society of Maine at Bowdoin.  Bowdoin at Bowdoin…a good match!!  We hope to get the map out as an open file map through the Maine Geological Survey some time later this year or early next year.

While Wyeth and Robert were mapping in China Lake, I was two quads over trying to figure out the structure and stratigraphic sequences in the Liberty quad.  With luck this will be finished this summer.

Nate Hamilton, in Geography – Anthropology and Dick Boisvert, with the New Hampshire Division of Historic Resources and I had an article appear in Geoarchaeology in March.  This paper deals with the archaeological geology of a dike in New Hampshire outside of the city of Berlin.  I continue my interests in this area.

My position as Secretary – Treasurer of the Northeastern Section, Geological Society of America continues.  The NE Section is the second largest of the GSA divisions with slightly more than 4100 members.  I have been working with the Geological Society of America Foundation on a five year long endowment building project.  At the end of fiscal 2008 (June 30) we should be reasonably close to 20% of the $500,000 goal.  The endowment is primarily being built to support students in geology.  A few of you have been the recipients of NE GSA funds in the past.

Mark Swanson
Professor Swanson has been continuing his work in digital mapping and structural analysis of parts of the Maine coast under the NSF’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program.  His on-going project in conjunction with Matthew Bampton (Geography/Anthropology) is funded by NSF through the summer 2009 field season.   The latest version of this REU Site project is titled   “Digital Mapping, GIS Database Construction and Geospatial Analysis of Regional Strike-slip Shear Zone Deformation”.  Last year’s crew mapped out on Seguin Island off of Georgetown at the mouth of the Kennebec River and on Damariscove Island off of Boothbay in mid-coast Maine. 

Mark has continued his digital mapping efforts in Fall 2007 with a “Digital Mapping Applications” course as a semester long mapping effort at Wolf Neck Woods State Park.  These efforts have produced the first detailed shoreline maps of granite and basalt dike intrusion patterns exposed along the southeast shore of the park.  The Spring 2008 “Digital Mapping” class has been trained and is now putting things together in a mapping and compilation study of Sohier Park in the town of York at the tip of the Cape Neddick peninsula, host to the Cretaceous-age Cape Neddick Gabbro intrusion with views of the historic Nubble Lighthouse.

Margaret Vose
Margaret continues to teach introductory labs in Oceanography and Geology and enjoys every minute. She has also been honing her GIS skills, most recently taking classes in Remote Sensing and Digital Mapping Applications.  As a tangible result of her efforts, she presented a poster she produced in Remote Sensing at the biannual "State of Maine Beaches" conference at Southern Maine Community College last summer.  She continues her work as a volunteer team leader with the Southern Maine Beach Profiling Monitoring program, now in its tenth year.  On a personal note, Margaret has visited the Netherlands twice in the past year, where 60 percent of the country's population lives below sea level.  The Dutch recognize the importance of natural dunes to the existence of their country, both as a barrier to rising sea levels and as a source of fresh water.   And if you think the ocean in Maine is cold, try swimming in the North Sea.
  
 

The department encourages graduates to get in touch and let us know what you are doing. Send information to Irwin Novak at Novak@usm.maine.edu or by mail to the department.

Alumni and Friends - You Can Help
Reminders...1) you can make a tax-deductible contribution to the Department through the USM Annual Fund. 2) You can even designate that your donation be targeted for a specific purpose (e.g. student scholarships; field trip support; professional meeting attendance for students; equipment; map, fossil, rock or mineral purchases; etc.).  3) In-kind gifts are also appreciated. This could be in the form of computer equipment or peripherals, software, field equipment. If you already make a contribution to the USM annual fund, please think about designating your donation to Geosciences. If you do not currently contribute to the Annual Fund perhaps you might consider doing so in the future. We appreciate the help we get from alumni and friends.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
The Geoscience Newsletter is distributed to alumni, friends, faculty, students and staff. Send requests for copies, changes of address and other communications to:

Irwin Novak, Editor
University of Southern Maine
Department of Geosciences
37 College Avenue
Gorham, Maine 04038

Phone: (207) 780-5025, FAX: (207) 228-8361, web: www.usm.maine.edu/geos