2021-11-12
- Congratulations to this years Alumni Achievement Award winner, Dr. Jack Sharp!
Dr. Sharp is the Dave P. Carlton Centennial Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a past president of the Geological Society of America and studies hydrogeology, generally in carbonate systems.
Dr. Sharp gave a fantastic talk on November 11th (which you can see on our ...
2021-11-09 - As the cool autumn weather moved into Illinois, the Department of Geology returned to its “Flannel Friday” tradition: Many students, faculty, and staff wear their flannel shirts each Friday. Here, a flannel-wearing group gathered on the North steps on a crisp Friday afternoon as the trees were just beginning to turn colors. Alumni, send us your Flannel Friday photos at geology@...
2021-10-13 - Professor Emeritus Alberto S. Nieto, 83, passed away Aug. 30, 2021 at his home in Champaign. Alberto taught Engineering Geology in the department for 25 years and retired in 1999. Prof. Nieto was born in Tacna, Peru, but he left South America to earn his M.S. at Washington University in St. Louis. He then came to Illinois for his Ph.D. in Geology. When he completed his...
2021-08-18 - Take a minute to check out the September 2021 edition of Scientific American for a look at Prof. Bruce Fouke's work on kidney stones! Click here to see the article Dr. Fouke's work is a great example of all the ways geology touches our lives!
2021-08-11 - Dr. Gillen Wood was recently awarded a 2021 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship for his project 'Oceans 1876', a look at the famous HMS Challenger, which was the first vessel to catalog the species, currents, and climate zones of the world’s oceans. This project will collect and digitize the vast records collected on the...
2021-07-11 - Prof. Trish Gregg’s research on submarine volcanoes is featured in the PBS Changing Seas episode "Alvin: Pioneer of the Deep”! The episode highlights the amazing discoveries made by the HOV Alvin submarine and looks to the future of research in the abyssal ocean, which will be made possible by Alvin’s new upgrades. The episode also features video filmed by Trish and her colleagues during the 2016...
2021-06-02 - Geology may play a part in solving one of the medical world's most painful problems! In a collaboration between the University of Illinois and the Mayo Clinic, researchers have shown that understanding the principles of rock formation can help us understand how kidney stones form and dissolve. Dr. Bruce Fouke, a Geology Department Professor and Director of the Roy J. Carver Biotechnology...
2021-05-20 - PhD candidate Jon Golla has just published the first chapter of his thesis research in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters with his supervisor, Dr. Jenny Druhan. Human reliance and influence on natural resources have motivated vital research into how the Earth’s surface systems interact to store freshwater, sustain life, and regulate climate. This “critical zone” of the Earth, from...
2021-04-15 - New research by Dr. Jeffrey Kwang (UMass Amherst, formerly a graduate student at the U of I), Dr. Abigail Langston (Kansas State), and Dr. Gary Parker (U of I) has led to new insights into why rivers form tree-like, dendritic patterns in their drainage networks. Today, river systems often form patterns that look like tree branches when viewed from far above. However, these patterns have been...
2021-03-24 - The Geology Department is happy to announce that Senior Rishi Chandra has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship! Rishi will graduate this May with a B.S. in Planetary Science, the very first awarded from UIUC. The Planetary Science B.S. is a special degree program developed by Rishi and approved by LAS as an independent joint major in both ...
2021-03-09 - We are happy to announce that Geology and Plant Biology Prof. Wendy Yang has been selected for the LAS Dean's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Wendy has devoted a huge amount of effort to improve methods and engage students in IB 100 ONL, has implemented innovative and effective methods in her Ecosystem Ecology course, has mentored an astounding number of undergrad...
2021-01-20 - Professor Lijun Liu has been selected to be an Associate of the UIUC Center for Advanced Study (CAS) for academic year 2021-2022, pending Board of Trustees approval. CAS Associates are tenured University of Illinois faculty members whose proposals are selected in an annual competition. Only about ten Associates are selected each year,...
2021-01-13 - Assistant Professor Jennifer Druhan has been selected by the College of LAS to be a 2021-2022 Helen Corley Petit Scholar! Mrs. Helen Corley Petit, a deceased alumna of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, provided an endowment for the development of the scholarship and teaching of early career faculty members in the College. Petit scholars are selected on the basis of...
2020-12-11 - The Geology Department is pleased to announce that Assistant Prof. Jennifer Druhan has received a NSF CAREER Grant entitled: Unlocking the isotopic signatures of weathering recorded in rivers through isotope-enabled reactive transport. Her work, largely centered around the Eel River in Northern California, has been pivotal in understanding how rock, water, and chemical systems interact....
2020-11-12 - What do the Yellowstone hot springs and kidney stones have in common? Both create rocks through biological processes! New insights into the formation of kidney stones by Geology Professor Bruce Fouke, in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, are leading to new techniques to prevent and treat kidney stones in people. Check out this fascinating research by watching ...