IDENTIFYING METEORITES AND MINERALS: A GLACIAL GEOLOGIST IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

The Environmental Studies (ES) Department at Gettysburg College is composed of faculty with doctorates in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. I am the only tenured geologist in the ES department, and the purpose of this study is to discuss my role as the only geologist on campus. There is an interdisciplinary curriculum for Environmental Studies majors, and I teach the one required Earth System Science course for our majors. Students complete either a bachelor of science or a bachelor of arts in Environmental Studies, and they choose an area of concentration within the major. I am a glacial geologist, and I teach upper level courses including Glacial Geology, Geomorphology and/or Geologic Disasters for the Earth System Science concentration. These courses are taught on a two year rotation. One of my colleagues teaches Geographic Information System (GIS) courses, and students can take up to three classes focused on GIS and/or remote sensing. However, traditional geoscience course offerings are limited. One of my biggest challenges is helping students find graduate programs and internships that will accept them without traditional geologic training. Fortunately, I have my own research lab, and my equipment includes a muffle furnace and drying oven, freeze dryer, magnetic susceptibility meter, sieve shaker, balances, and other equipment used for basic sedimentology analyses. Students have worked with me in my lab and in the field as research assistants in Iceland and Maine. My research students are co-authors on many of my conference presentations and publications. One of these students won the Goldwater Scholarship, and a second student was an honorable mention Goldwater scholar.

As the only geologist on campus, I am asked many questions, such as, “Is this a meteorite?” and “Why does the Earth’s magnetic field move?” In 2005, I gave a campus-wide lecture on tsunamis, and I am not a seismologist or oceanographer. I was also asked by the Provost to display and organize a wonderful mineral collection that had been in storage for more than 40 years, and I have no advanced training in mineralogy. Being the only geologist on campus is sometimes challenging, but I enjoy working with undergraduate students, teaching them about the wonders of the Earth, and conducting research with them.