2017-11-21 - Crunchflow, a powerful and multi-functional software package for modeling groundwater flow, solute transport, and subsurface chemical reactions, has received a prestigious R&D 100 award from R&D Magazine. Crunchflow has been created and maintain by lead developer Dr. Carl Steefel at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Prof. Jenny Druhan is a co-developer, having created...

2017-11-14 - On November 3rd, 2017, Prof. R. James Kirkpatrick (PhD ’72), Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at Michigan State University, was presented with the department’s Alumni Achievement Award. Jim is well known to many current and former members of the department, having served UIUC for nearly 30 years as a faculty member, department head (9 years), R.E. Grim Professor, and executive associate...

2017-10-31 - NOVEMBER 4TH, 2017 Please join us for a grand event to mark the re-dedication of the Natural History Building!  Geology alumni from all over will be converging on NHB for a re-dedication ceremony, tours, and plenty of socializing to celebrate the completion of this once-in-a-lifetime renewal of the traditional home of Geology, on the quad.  9:30 - 11:30...

2017-10-10 - Prof. Jim Best will be the 2018 awardee of the Lamarck Medal from the European Geosciences Union!  The Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal is established by the EGS Division on Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Paleontology in recognition of the scientific achievement of Jean Baptiste Lamarck. It is reserved for scientists for their exceptional contributions to either Stratigraphy,...

2017-10-08 - In Spring, 2018, the Geology 415/515 Field Course will return to Scotland!  After a semester of lectures and student presentations on the historical significance of Scottish geologists and localities, Professors Anders, Gregg, Stewart and Burmeister will lead a group of 22 students on a 10 day excursion from Siccar Point on the Dunbar coast in the southeast through the Isle of Skye and the...

2017-07-12 - Department of Geology faculty and grad student offices have moved back into the Natural History Building.  Faculty offices and the department central office are now located on the east side of the third floor.  The building looks and feels wonderful! The building retains its historic character, but now the layout of offices and classrooms and all of the infrastructure are new, and...

2017-07-03 - The department is very happy to congratulate Prof. Emerita Sue Kieffer, who has received the 2017 “Marcus Milling Legendary Geoscientist Award” of the American Geosciences Institute (AGI). "The Marcus Milling Legendary Geoscientist Medal is given to a recipient with consistent contributions of high-quality scientific achievements and service to the Earth sciences having lasting, historic value;...

2017-07-03 - Jessica Conroy has been named a 2017 Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences. As part of this honor, she will participate in the Indonesian-American Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium that will be held July 18-21, 2017 in Ambon, Indonesia. The Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium series is the National Academy of Science's premiere activity for distinguished young scientists. Kavli...

2017-06-30 - Dr. Jackie Wittmer Malinowsky, our lecturer in Paleontology and Sedimentary Geology for the last three and a half years, will be moving on to a tenure-track position at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo.  We wish Jackie well as she embarks on the next phase of her career, and we are very grateful for her boundless energy and many contributions to our programs during her time...

2017-05-03 - Gary Parker, the W. Hilton Johnson Professor of Geology and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences! Gary has been a key member of the Geology faculty since he moved to Illinois in 2005. He has brought great visibility to the UIUC sediment dynamics program that spans CEE, Geology and GGIS, has helped us build faculty strength in...

2017-04-25 - A paper just published in Nature Geoscience documents a case of river piracy in the Canadian Yukon that occurred in May 2016, and has rerouted the course of one river into another. Jim Best and colleagues report on how and why this piracy occurred, and on its cause due to glacier retreat as a result of...

2017-03-17 - The department began a nationwide search for a Lecturer in Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, and/or Paleobiology in March, 2017, with applications expected in early April, and interviews in late April.  Applications will be accepted through the university's hiring system:...

2017-03-02 - Ralph E. Grim Professor and Dean of the College of LAS Feng Sheng Hu has been selected as a 2017 Fellow of the Ecological Society of America. Fellows are "members who have made outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields served by ESA, including, but not restricted to, those that advance or apply ecological knowledge in academics, government, non-profit organizations, and the broader...

2017-02-20 - The Department of Geology Alumni Board met on November 11th, 2016. Board members reconnected with campus, toured the Natural History Building, were briefed about current operations of the department, and discussed trends in geoscience and employment.   Left: Board members and faculty visiting one of the new classrooms in NHB, which is in the final stages of a complete renovation. From left...