Fall 2004

The Annual Newsletter of the Department of Geography and Geology at Western Kentucky University.

Continued from Section One......

inside...

Geoscience in the News ..............................

Faculty Activities..............................

Alumni News ..............................

Electronic Alumni News Form (SEND IT IN TODAY!) ..............................

Read previous Geograms...........................

         One of the big trips over this past year was the Department’s first-ever offering of a field course on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. The course, “Geology of the Bahamas” (Geol. 476/476G), was taught during Spring Break (March 19-27) and was led by Dr Fred Siewers with assistance from Drs Mike May and Ouida Meier (Biology). Twenty-two students took the course, representing the range of the Department’s degree programs in geology, geography, and geoscience. Included in that mix were six introductory-level students who, because of their interest in geology (and, yes, sunny tropical destinations!), decided to make the trip. The purpose of the course was to introduce students to the limestone geology and karst of San Salvador Island in order to advance their understanding of the Paleozoic geology of south-central Kentucky and the large-scale processes of global environmental change. Students learned about modern carbonate depositional environments and processes through field trips and small-scale research projects. Topics covered included carbonate sediment production, sedimentary structures, carbonate diagenesis, Quaternary sea level history, paleocurrent analysis, tidal processes, paleosols, island hydrogeology, cave and karst development, and coral reef formation. Students were required to write a research paper prior to taking the trip and to submit a final paper, project, or web site after returning from San Salvador. Details about the trip can be found at the course web site, which was entirely constructed by the students (see http://geoggeol.wku.edu/bahamas).

The Study Abroad Group in the Bahamas

         The Geology of the Bahamas course is part of a new initiative by the Department of Geography and Geology to engage students in the learning process and to recruit new students into the Department’s degree programs. Although the Department has, for a long time, routinely offered field work and active-learning experiences within its courses, the Geology of the Bahamas is an intentional effort by the geology program to enhance the Department’s field offerings, particularly at the introductory level where an engaging field experience can really attract students to the major. Plans are currently underway to establish an annual or biannual presence on San Salvador Island through field courses and student-centered research projects. Support for the Department’s efforts on San Salvador, including considerable cost savings for students, came from a variety of University sources and applied research programs, including the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) Action Agenda Fund, the WKU Foundation, the WKU Office of Sponsored Programs, the WKU Climate Center, the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute, and the Department of Geography and Geology. Look for another geology field course on San Salvador to be offered during the 2005-2006 academic year.

Students at Grotto Beach, Bahamas

   KATIE ALGEO taught introductory classes in human geography and Geographic Information Systems during the 2003-2004 academic year. She also taught an upper division cultural geography course, using a variety of media and methods, including film, photography, travelers’ accounts, and the mall retail environment, to probe cultural identities and landscapes.
             Katie has been researching the historical geography of tourism to Mammoth Cave, and is pleased with the positive response garnered by her article "Mammoth Cave and the Making of Place," published in the Spring 2004 issue of Southeastern Geographer. A copy may be seen online at her web page. This summer she spent a month doing archival research in the Huntington Library of San Marino, California, which owns a large volume of materials related to Mammoth Cave, dating to the early nineteenth century.
             Katie continues to maintain the web site for the Rural Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers and invites everyone to take a look at it as sessions form for the annual meeting. Community service activities found Katie helping the Allen County Historical Society preserve court house records from the early twentieth century.

   JOHN ALL writes that his second year in the Department has been even more pleasant and productive than the first one. In addition to his major teaching focus in the Environmental Planning and Management track, John was able to teach Satellite Remote Sensing this past year. This new offering brought students from across the University, in addition to Geography and Geology students, and was well received. Dr All was able to lead numerous supervised student internships – topics included a spatial analysis of toxic waste sources in Warren County, Central Kentucky Cave Survey techniques, stormwater management in karst regions, and the monitoring of water quality in caves. Ten students presented the research from these projects at the Sigma Xi Student Research Conference at Western in April 2004. Dr All also helped his first two Master’s students complete their requirements for graduation as well. Jenna Medlin’s research concerned conversion of wetlands into residential communities near Charleston, SC, and AJ Iovanna worked with residential radon vulnerability in Warren County, KY.
             Dr. All was able to complete several funding proposals to the Kentucky Academy of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund, among others. The Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation fund award will especially benefit the Department as it will be used to purchase a 120-acre field research station adjacent to Mammoth Cave National Park. Working with Dr Chris Groves and Pat Kambesis, Dr All has secured the funding and now must negotiate the deal with the landowner. This project will provide protection to the last private, unmonitored entrance to Mammoth Cave. Locally, John has been very involved with the City and County as they struggle to meet Clean Water Act requirements for stormwater pollution. His law degree is proving invaluable for addressing CWA regulations. Dr All is also working on other projects such as the NSF-funded Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates in the Mammoth Cave/Upper Green River Watershed and the Technical Assistance Center for Water Quality, which is funded by the EPA. Finally, John is leading efforts to create a Geohazards Research Center using funding from the National Science Foundation. This new Center would tie together many research efforts already underway within the Department and create new opportunities and resources for collaboration.
             At the 100th Centennial meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Philadelphia this year, Dr All’s work was included in a publication celebrating geographic research called World Minds: 100 Solutions to Geographical Problems. His chapter is entitled "The Colorado River Delta of Mexico: ‘Endangered’ Species Refuge." This book was given to all participants and is now for sale from the AAG.
             In addition to the AAG meeting, Dr All and his students presented research results at the Kentucky Academy of Science, the Sigma Xi Research Conference, and the 16th National Cave and Karst Management Symposium. Dr All also lead groups of students to local high schools where they presented research on issues of local concern like water quality and sinkhole collapse. The purpose of these trips is to give Western students experience with public speaking in a low-stress environment while exciting the high-school students about what can be done with Geography and Geology, especially at Western. Dr All also attended a two-week course to learn the latest functionality in satellite remote-sensing software. This course convened in Washington D.C. and was too close to Christmas for comfort!
             Dr All helped host the Kentucky Academy of Science annual meeting and was elected Chair of the Geography Section. In the University Senate, he was re-elected to the Faculty Welfare and Professional Development Committee and has been pushing for better salaries, better health benefits, more realistic teaching loads, and better parking. John has also been working on the Ogden Space Allocation Committee to ensure that the Department doesn’t lose any space as the University grows, and he has worked to try and increase the lab space available to the Department as it continues to grow rapidly. He is also working on a University-wide committee to try and develop an Environmental Science program that potentially will include a PhD degree.
             Finally, John’s personal life has grown far more interesting and wonderful with the birth of his first child, Nathaniel Oakes All. John loves fatherhood and looks forward to a full nights sleep…sometime in about eighteen years. Sara and John have purchased land in Richardsville that he uses for student Natural Resource Management and Environmental Planning fieldtrips and where they plan to build a home in a few years. John and Sara’s roots are growing deeper in the community day by day and they look forward to many productive years at Western.

   JAMES BINGHAM  writes THIRTY-NINE GOING FOR FORTY—REFLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS FROM THE HILLTOP.
             It really is true in many instances that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The major problem in 1965 when Jim came to WKU to start his teaching career was PARKING and it is still the major problem today. Contrary to what some may say, WKU basketball is nowhere close to as exciting and competitive at the current time as it was in the 60s and 70s. Haskins, the Smith brothers, Mac, Glover, Rose, and Perry, to mention a few, have not been matched in recent years.
             Have you heard the HILLTOPPERS recently? Songs that have lyrics that mean something. A CD should be available soon if you liked their music.
             R. PAUL TERRELL, Department Head when Jim came to WKU, and a person that he’s sure many alumni from the 60s will remember, passed away in January 2004. No, he did not walk that way because his toes were frozen off during the Korean War.
             Jim must be aging because he notices that some distractions in the classroom are starting to bother him now--DAMN CELL PHONES.
DIM LIGHTS HIDE THE MILEAGE
CLAIROL HIDES THE GRAY
AND HE WON'T MENTION ANYTHING
TO GIVE HIS OLD AGE AWAY
Foster/Rice
             Jim’s teaching continues to involve Economic Geography, Urban Geography, Geography of North America, Resource Management, Geography of Kentucky, and Planning. Recently, he has taught both on campus and at WKU's Owensboro Center. Currently, Jim has several research projects underway including some that are short-term and some that are long-term. Among the projects are:
1. Food Deserts: Do They Exist in Kentucky?
2. The Diffusion of Wal-Mart Supercenters in Kentucky.
3. The Impact of Wal-Mart on the Retail Structure of Small-Town Kentucky.
4. Free Blacks and Agricultural Communities in Western Tennessee Prior to the Civil War.
5. The Role of River Landings in the Early Economic Development of the Lower Tennessee River Valley.
6. Field Peas and Cornbread: A Spatial Analysis of Southern Comfort Food.
7. Fried Pies and Cobblers: Regional Variations in the South.
8. Grits: Regional Variations in the South and Midwest.
             Jim plans to teach a while longer if his health holds up. It appears that his congestive heart condition is no worse but he does notice that he does not get around like he once did. Jim has always heard that one will know when it is time to retire--he has not reached that point. In fact, Jim feels like his mission has not yet been accomplished.
DR. "TINK", KEEP ON ROLLING WITH THE FLOW !
PLEASE COME TO SEE US FOR HOMECOMING AND STAY TUNED FOR NEXT YEAR'S REPORT.

   WILL BLACKBURN  has completed his first year as a full-time instructor. Will’s main responsibility is to cover the geography classes offered at the Glasgow campus. These classes currently include Kentucky Geography, World Regional Geography, and North American Geography. In the future, he hopes to include Introductory Meteorology, Physical, and Human Geography as the need arises.
             Will schedules his classes for Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and maintains an office at the Glasgow facility for his and student convenience. He additionally keeps an office in EST to continue his work at the Bowling Green campus on Mondays and Fridays. This gives him the opportunity to maintain close ties with the Department to keep in touch with departmental and university issues and changes.
             This past year he presented research at the Kentucky Academy of Sciences and presented a poster, along with Debbie Kreitzer, at the annual AAG meeting in Philadelphia. In the summer, he participated in the British Isles study-abroad program that took students into the field to study both cultural and physical landscapes. He claims to have learned as much as the students.
             His family, wife Stephanie and daughter Abby, gets as much of his spare time as possible. He constantly has to explain to daughter Abby that taking horseback riding lessons does not mandate horse ownership. He continues to care for Black Walnut tree groves, works on the restoration of an antique jeep, takes advantage of the Barren River Reservoir, and occasionally beats the dust off the guitar strings.

   KEVIN CARY   completed his second year as a faculty member in the Department of Geography & Geology. He serves as the GIS Facilities Manager for the Department, while supervising students on GIS projects and GIS internships in the state-of-the-art GIS Facility. During the recent academic year, he taught World Regional Geography, GIS Analysis & Modeling, GIS Application Development, and Internet GIS. The GIS Facility is the center for GIS at WKU. It is currently engaged in projects with Facilities Management and Network Services. Those projects include parking lots, tree inventory, underground conduits and telephone wires. The next project is to establish an Internet mapping service for the campus community by utilizing ArcIMS®.
             During the 2003-2004 academic year, Kevin presented research at Kentucky’s 2003 GIS Conference, 2nd Annual Middle Tennessee Forum on GIS, and at WKU’s GIS Day. Over the summer, Kevin had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion led by Lynne O’Connor (Governor’s Office for Technology) on ESRI’s University Site License at the ESRI Conference in San Diego, California.

   GLEN CONNER  had another active year of retirement. The abstract of his paper "Kentucky’s Climate During the Civil War" was published in the Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science in Fall 2003. He presented that paper to the Allen County Historical Society in October. His article titled "Why not Observer History?" appeared in the premier edition of The Climate Station Chronicles, published by the Midwestern Climate Center in Fall 2003. In November, he presented a paper titled "What Smithsonian Records Can Tell Us" at the annual meeting of the Kentucky Academy of Science held in Bowling Green. In January 2004, he presented "Nineteenth-Century Weather Observers: A Whodunit" to the American Meteorological Society’s Applied Climatology Conference in Seattle. The article was published in the Combined Preprints of that conference's papers. In March, he presented a paper titled "Weather During Kentucky Civil War Battles" at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Philadelphia. He was the Chair of a session on Climate and Agriculture as part of the same meeting. His article on "The Observer as a Scientist" appeared in The Climate Station Chronicles, published by the Midwestern Climate Center, in May 2004. Glen is now working on developing climate station metadata under a contract with the University of Illinois.
             He attended the American Association of State Climatologists annual meeting held in Portland, Oregon, in August 2003. Glen visited the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC, in October 2003 to continue research in its library and archives for metadata for 19th c. Kentucky climate stations. He attended the Extreme and Hazardous Weather Conference sponsored by the American Meteorological Society convened in Champaign, Illinois, in October. Glen continued research on Dr Samuel D. Martin, a Smithsonian Meteorological Observer in Kentucky from 1865-1875. Glen taught Aviation Meteorology during the Fall 2003 Semester, as he has each Fall since his official retirement in 2000.

   NICK CRAWFORD writes that during the spring of 2003, he and his wife, Whit, combined a sabbatical with a dream that began in 1978 when they bought their first boat. The dream was to navigate the 6,000 mile Great Loop. The Great Loop consists of interlocking passages of water, including the Inner Coastal Waterway and major rivers, and encicles the eastern half of the U.S. They weighed anchor from a marina in Nashville, Tennessee, cruising down the Cumberland River almost to Paducah, up the Tennessee River and through the state of Tennessee, then through the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to Mobile, Alabama. They cruised the Intercoastal Waterway across the Panhandle of Florida and then took a side trip up and down the Suwannee River. From there they headed south toward Ft. Meyers where they then headed east across Florida by way of Lake Okeechobee to Stuart on the east coast. After following the Intercoastal Waterway northward to Jacksonville, Florida, Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, they left their boat at Charleston for the winter, returning to Bowling Green in August to begin the fall semester.
             This was the adventure of a lifetime, sometimes cruising the Intercoastal Waterway and sometimes cruising in the open ocean, observing firsthand the many differences in wildlife, landscape and cultures. It was a great adventure going through the various locks and learning to navigate one of the greatest waterway routes in the world. Nick and Whit hope to return in the summer of 2005 to continue the second leg of the 6,000 mile journey, docking their vessel somewhere in Canada for the next winter. The final destination is, of course, to return to the marina where they began in Nashville, thus creating the “Great Loop.”
             Nick learned a great deal about water resources and river and ocean navigation throughout the journey. Although nautical charts were used, GPS greatly facilitated navigation. The trip was not all pleasure, however. Nick returned home to teach the Karst Hydrology course and wrote several papers, grant proposals and reports along the way.
             During Fall 2003, Nick taught two sections of Introduction to the Physical Environment and the Geoscience Field Methods class. One of the highlights of the Field Methods class was a GPS exercise on Percy Priest Lake provided by the USGS. This allowed the class to use GPS to map a hypothetical wildlife preserve and also to map the lake bottom using USGS recording sonar instrumentation. Each student, with the assistance of Kevin Cary, prepared a GIS map of the proposed wildlife area. Water samples were collected and analyzed in the USGS laboratory.
            In the Spring 2004 semester, Nick taught two sections of Introduction to the Physical Environment and the 440 Hydrogeology course. A highlight of this course was a field trip led by Nick to Middle Tennessee. One day involved going upstream by canoe in Snail Shell Cave in Middle Tennessee, and then exploring Lost Creek Cave where they observed a large underground waterfall about one-half mile back in the cave. The trip also included Grassy Cove, probably the largest sinkhole in eastern North America and the source of the water that supplies Sequatchie Spring at the headwater of the Sequatchie River, which flows through a classic example of an anticlinal valley.
             In addition, Nick was heavily involved in research. In September, he presented two papers at the 9th International Sinkhole Conference in Huntsville, Alabama. Both papers were refereed and published in Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst, Geotechnical Publication No. 122, American Society of Civil Engineers. Nick also published an invited article on water tracing history in the Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst.
             Nick prepared on behalf of the CCKS, a map titled "Karst Groundwater Flow in the Vicinity of Bowling Green, Kentucky." This map was the result of numerous dye traces and groundwater-level investigations performed by the faculty, staff and students of the CCKS since 1976. Hundreds of students were involved over the years, developing information through class projects, student reports, MS theses, grants to the CCKS, fee for service contracts, public service projects, etc. The map was prepared to assist Bowling Green and Warren County with storm water management, emergency response to spills of hazardous materials, planning and zoning decisions, water supply and waste disposal issues, sinkhole flooding and sinkhole collapse, and future urban development, etc. The map is on GIS and will be frequently updated as more research is performed.
             Nick gave an invited paper on storm water management at the KAPA Conference in Bowling Green, and he gave a poster presentation at the Karst Water Institute’s Epi-Karst Conference in Shepherdstown, Virginia, in September 2003. During March 2004, both Dr. Raeisi and Nick presented papers at the Northeastern-Southeastern combined sections of the U.S. Geological Society of American Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Nick’s paper was titled "Hydrogeologic Investigation of Leakage through Sinkholes in the Bed of Lake Seminole into and through the Floridan Aquifer to Artesian Springs Located Downstream from Jim Woodruff Dam."
             Nick also wrote numerous grant proposals and obtained grants and contracts for the Center for Cave and Karst Studies for karst investigations. Annie Croft and Scott Roach were project managers for most of these projects. The scientific research performed for these projects led to over 40 professional reports co-authored by Nick, Annie Croft, Scott Roach, and graduate and undergraduate students. The largest grant received by Nick was for $225,000 over three years from the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation to develop robotic instrumentation for obtaining karst subsurface microgravity and resistivity data. Dr. Stacy Wilson, Electrical Engineer, and two of her students are heading up the robotics grant.

   MARGARET CROWDER writes that it has been an amazing first year as a full-time member of the faculty here at Western. She knew as a student here that she loved the Hill, and this past year has only reinforced her belief that Western offers a truly unique and wonderful experience for everyone who is fortunate enough to be a part of its extended family.
             Within the Department, Margaret spent this past year teaching primarily Introduction to Geology sections and Physical Geology Labs. She also was able to assist Dr Siewers in teaching an on-line course in Earth System Science for Educators during the spring semester. She says it was hectic, but also very rewarding.
             In other university-related activities, Margaret helped judge the Southern Kentucky Regional Science Fair for middle and high-school students, and lead a Super Saturdays course offering through the Center for Gifted Studies. The course was called "Hollywood Geology," and she guided twelve fourth and fifth grade students from the region through the process of creating their very own movie with geological events as the central theme. A great time was had by all, and the students left the class not only with a better knowledge of geology, but also with their very own copy of their movie!
             Margaret also participated in the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching (FaCET) cover design contest and received a third place finish for her original design.
             Outside of the university, Margaret has continued her foster work with the BG/Warren County Humane Society, and has become a bit of a political activist by volunteering her time with a local grassroots organization. In her spare time this summer, Margaret traveled to Montreal to take in four Mets/Expos games and she would like to report that she did indeed receive Mike Piazza’s autograph!

   RICHARD DEAL has completed his third year at Western Kentucky University. This past year he taught several sections of Human Geography and Data Analysis and Interpretation. He also taught Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for the first time.
             While his research on local and regional government continues, he has developed an interest in the Pacific. Richard presented two papers based on last year's field work: "The Political Impacts of Depopulation in Niue" at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting in Philadelphia and "The 'Pacific Solution' on Nauru" at the Political Geography Specialty Group Conference in Atlantic City.
             He continued to write questions for the World Geography Bowl, a geography trivia contest for students held at the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers Meeting each fall. He also served as a moderator for the event. Dr Deal has been elected to office in several professional groups, most recently as Vice President of the Southern Kentucky GIS Users Group, an organization of local people, mainly in local government and at Western, who use GIS.
             This past year Richard went on two separate trips. The first was to China, as part of the Western China Faculty Development Seminar. This was delayed from last year due to the 2003 SARS outbreak. The trip consisted of six people from WKU. Together, they experienced the culture, history, and geography of China in a number of spots, including Beijing, the Great Wall, Xian, Chongqing, and the Three Gorges. While one purpose of the trip is to introduce Western faculty to China, the other purpose is a faculty exchange with the Chongqing Business and Technical University. Several days were spent at the university meeting faculty and administrators. Dr. Deal gave a talk entitled "Regional Differences in American Local Government" to a group of students. As an aside, Chongqing is the world's largest city by some measures, with over 30 million people. In 1997, a 32,000 square-mile region was declared the Municipality of Chongqing, which is how the city can make the claim, despite the vast majority of the population living in rural areas.
             The second trip was to the South Pacific. Dr Deal visited two countries for the first time – Tokelau and Tuvalu. Tokelau has a population of 1500 and is currently a territory of New Zealand. It has no airport and is a 2-day boat ride from Samoa. He was the only tourist in the country at the time, although there were several visiting New Zealand civil servants helping to prepare for the devolution that occurred on July 1. It proved to be a very good time for a political geographer to visit. Tuvalu is a relative giant, with 10,000 people. Recently, Tuvalu has attracted much attention due to the fact that the islands are disappearing, possibly due to sea-level rise from global warming. The main event while he was there was the opening of the new government office building, the only three-story building in the country. The Tuvaluans held a gigantic traditional feast, which was accompanied by several traditional dance troupes, so it was a fascinating cultural experience. After visiting Tokelau a mere year after stating in the Geogram he would eventually like to go, he has now put Pitcairn at the top of his list of small, isolated islands to visit. As Pitcairn is even harder to get to than Tokelau, this may not happen for several years.

   SCOTT DOBLER  is always trying to help in anyway he can. During his first semester at Western, the academy tried to its best to slow down his enthusiasm. The first attempt was to assign him to a large task of unfathomable proportion: clean up the map room, and categorize each map based on age, type, theme, and use for the department. For those of you who have entered the map library in the past, you can easily take pity on his soul.  For those of you who have never been in the map library, be advised that this was not a very nice thing to do to him.
             Scott is interested in geographic education, geohazards, and outreach to the P(K)-12 schools. He is still taking classes with the hope of earning his doctorate before his retirement party scheduled for 2030. He is affiliated with the Kentucky Climate Center, and has been bringing a number of K-12 classes to the Department to study weather and graduate-student phenomena.
             As mentioned above, Scott has been slowly restructuring the map library over the last four years. He has been responsible for re-cataloging all the maps and USGS 7.5 minute quadrangles (topographic maps). To make the challenge more interesting, the Department received a donation of 50,000 additional maps from the US Census Bureau. We believe Scott is in there somewhere, due to a large heap of material appearing by the map library trashcan each morning.
             Scott has located a number of interesting items in the library that range from original national park wall maps to a mummified mouse found next to desiccated limburger cheese (hypothesis). As technology changes, so does the Department, and we have a number of wonderful wall maps that are no longer used in the classroom. These wall maps are still in wonderful shape, and we will be selling some of them shortly to interested buyers. If you would like to find out more information about this, please contact Scott by email (scott.dobler@wku.edu) or at 270-745-7078. We are charging a nominal fee to cover shipping and handling, and the rest of the profit will be donated to the geoscience clubs.
             The Department is also going to have a number (at least 10,000 duplicates) of topographic maps cut up into stationary and envelopes to sell for the geoscience clubs. We have not decided on the value of this wonderful opportunity, but we will have a link placed on our web site that will inform you about pricing. If you would like to know more about this project, you can contact Scott - he reads his email daily but, if you call, we have to send three graduate students to “fish” him out of the library. (This is not that unusual, we need one to read a compass, one to operate the ropes, and one to administer the pry-bar.)

   STUART FOSTER recently completed his 16th year at Western. He attended the annual meeting of the American Association of State Climatologists held during August, 2003 in Portland, Oregon. In November, he presented research on drought assessment at the Kentucky Academy of Science meeting. Dr. Foster serves on the Mammoth Cave Biosphere Reserve Advisory Group and participated in a U.S. Man and the Biosphere Workshop held during May in St. Louis. He also represented the Kentucky Climate Center at a recent National Weather Service Central Region Sub-Regional Climate Services Meeting hosted at the University of Missouri.

    CHRIS GROVES along with his students and colleagues, continued to make progress on the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute’s karst water resources research program in southwest China. The group made two trips to China this year, the first by Deana and Chris who traveled in December and January to their traditional base at the Karst Institute in Guilin, as well as a new cave project area in far western Hunan Province. There, they met with Chinese scientists and government officials and visited several sections of a huge, remote cave system, with passages as wide as 300 feet in places, to negotiate details of an expedition to the area in April. Most of the area’s caves are still unexplored because of deep pit entrances. The trip also had a second purpose in extending Chris and Deana’s deepening personal relationship to China--after the cave expedition, and two previous years of paperwork, they traveled by train to Changsha in eastern Hunan to adopt their new one-year old baby daughter Lillian Jane Zhao Ying Groves, who is now happily adjusting to life around the Groves household back in Kentucky to the great joy of all involved!
             In April, an eleven-member team, led by the Hoffman Institute’s Pat Kambesis, returned to Hunan for a three-week expedition to explore and map caves. They assisted the government there with planning for an underground reservoir to make water more accessible to about 50,000 residents of villages on the plateau above the cave system, with additional benefits of flood control and power generation. This included the first American cave diving ever in China, which meant exceedingly complex planning. An interesting twist was that the folks in the small village housing the expedition spoke the Miao language rather than Mandarin Chinese, and thus all communication went from English to Mandarin to Miao. This made more interesting the efforts of Geoscience graduate student Mark Graham, who conducted research surveys with the local population on perceptions of water availability and quality of life in the remote area.
             The first peer-reviewed publications from the Chinese research, with Mammoth Cave Hydrologist Joe Meiman, were published this year with “Hydrochemical Variations During Flood Pulses in the Southwest China Peak Cluster Karst: Impacts of CaCO3–H2O–CO2 Interactions" in Hydrological Processes, and "South China Karst Aquifer Storm-Scale Hydrochemistry" in Ground Water.
             Other events during the year included an invitation by the National Forest Service to address about 40 Forest Service hydrologists and fisheries managers in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. The goal was to help the federal managers better understand karst hydrology in general, and how these concepts relate to protecting the ecology of Tongass, America's largest national forest at 17 million acres. A nice fringe benefit was that the trip coincided with recent intense solar storms that filled the Alaskan night sky with especially spectacular displays of the northern lights.
             During the summer Chris was appointed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Sedimentary Geology at the University of Kentucky, which should lead to excellent geology research collaborations between WKU and UK, bringing together strengths of both Departments.
             Unfortunately, for Chris at least, in August 2003 Deana finally graduated from the University of Hawaii with a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science, ending a string of four summers for them there at the University. She was subsequently hired into a faculty position as the cataloger for the WKU Educational Resources Library in the fall.

    DAVID J. KEELING reports that his eleventh year in the Department, and third as Department Head, brought challenges, excitement, and great students, with several productive research trips, many fun classes, informative conferences, and hard-working students to keep him hopping.
             Travel continues to be an important part of Dr Keeling’s professional and personal life, and over the course of the past year he enjoyed some fabulous research and lecture trips to the four corners of the planet. In August 2003, Dr Keeling drove 2,500 miles across the northeast, visiting Chicago, Cleveland, New York City, Washington DC, and Cincinnati, evaluating changes in the urban landscape. He’s particularly interested in waterfront development projects. November found him winging across the Pacific for a week in Hawaii, testing the softness of the sand on Lanikai Beach and visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. In December, Keeling spent 10 days in Manchester, England, evaluating waterfront redevelopment projects in Salford Quay and throughout the downtown area of the city.
             In March 2004, Dr Keeling headed across the Atlantic once again, this time to Dakar, Senegal, in West Africa, for a series of lectures on an American Geographical Society educational tour. The 16-day journey visited Goree Island, the Cape Verdes, the Canaries, Agadir, Taroudant, and Casablanca in Morocco, Gibraltar, Arcos and Jérez de la Frontera in Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal. After the end of the Spring semester, David headed south to Guatemala for a week to attend the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers meeting convened in Antigua. Finally, he crossed the Atlantic once again in June to help lead the Department’s annual Study Abroad program, visiting Liverpool, Manchester, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Moors, Chester, Aberystwyth, rural Wales, Inverness, Skye, Oban, Ft. William, Belfast, Limerick, Dingle, and Galway. In between all of the international trips, Dr Keeling managed several flying visits to New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Akron for a variety of meetings, conferences, lectures, and personal activities.
             David participated in several conferences and workshops during the year. In March, 2004, he gave a paper titled "Qualitative Research Methods and the Puerto Madero Project, Buenos Aires, Argentina" at the annual conference of the Association of American Geographers convened in Philadelphia. In May, Dr Keeling presented "Pinochet’s Folly: Development and Change in Patagonian Chile" at the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers convened in Antigua, Guatemala.
             Within the community and on campus, Dr. Keeling gave several talks on issues ranging from globalization in Latin America, biodiversity, and enlargement of the European Union, to U.S. foreign policy in Africa and the political-economic situation in Iraq. He appeared several times on WKYU-FM’s Midday Edition, provided information about Africa on WBKO television, gave talks at the Rotary Club and Barnes and Noble, and contributed lectures to a number of departmental courses. Dr Keeling continues to serve as a National Councilor for the American Geographical Society, and as the webmaster for the Society (visit www.amergeog.org).
             As Department Head, Dr. Keeling attended way too many meetings, but during the year he contributed to the ongoing development of the Leadership Studies Committee and to the International Education Council. Department Head duties have severely restricted his ability to write and publish research, but during the past year Dr. Keeling had a co-authored chapter titled "Latin American Geography," published in Gary L. Gaile and Cort J. Willmott (eds.), Geography in America at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Oxford: Oxford University Press. He also made some progress on his book Geography Rocks!, a geographical analysis of the development and change of popular music in American society, and wrote a commentary titled "The Challenges of Geographic Illiteracy" for Ubique: Notes from the American Geographical Society.              As always, Dr Keeling encourages past, present, and potential students to come by and share travel stories, information, and geographic tidbits. He can be reached easily in cyberspace at: david.keeling@wku.edu or by phone at (270) 745-4555. Also, visit Dr Keeling's homepage on the World Wide Web - just enter:
http://www.wku.edu/~david.keeling/index.htm.

   STEPHEN KENWORTHY had a busy first year teaching, pursuing research, and getting to know the faculty, staff, and students in the Department (some of whom are still glad that they hired him last fall!). When he wasn’t teaching or attending stimulating departmental meetings and social functions, Steve and his spouse Renae Speck spent time getting to know Bowling Green and Nashville better. One of the highlights was a canoe trip down the Green River in Mammoth Cave National Park with Steve’s parents who, along with Renae, pledged never to let Steve plan a family outing ever again!
             The Green River has become Steve’s local research focus. In addition to becoming a part of the Upper Green River Watershed Watch (a regional volunteer environmental monitoring group), Steve is collaborating with faculty in the Center for Water Resource Studies and the Center for Biodiversity Studies at WKU on development and implementation of an environmental monitoring plan for the Upper Green River Basin. Steve also received funding from WKU and from the US Geological Survey to support preliminary field studies of sediment supply and storage in the Green R. These funds made it possible to set up the beginnings of a sediment laboratory and to support students working on the project. Over the summer, graduate student Scott Schoefernacker worked with Steve on the river collecting sediment samples and surveying deposits, and in the lab processing samples and analyzing data. Steve is looking forward to a lot more exciting work on the Green R. in the near future!
             This summer Renae accepted a position as Proposal Development Coordinator in the Office of Sponsored Programs at WKU. Steve and Renae are very pleased about this opportunity and look forward to moving closer to Bowling Green someday soon. On the vacation front, in August Steve and Renae a enjoyed New England/New France getaway that included visits to Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, Quebec City, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire. They returned home safely to the relief of their beloved cats Nixon and Isabel. Both Steve and Renae are anticipating a challenging and fun fall semester at Western.

   DEBRA KREITZER spent a very productive year teaching, researching, and planning new geographical experiences. Her greatest challenge has been revising the Cartographic Design for GIS course. This course is not only a requirement for all geography majors, but also for those seeking a GIS Certificate.
             Debbie attended the Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, and presented a poster in conjunction with William Blackburn titled "High Ground-Level Ozone Concentrations at Mammoth Cave National Park." The research presented is part of an ongoing effort to understand why Mammoth Cave National Park has such high ground-level ozone concentrations. Will and Debbie looked for correlations between Park visitation and ozone concentrations. Although some weak relationships were found, it is evident that more research needs to take place to solve this mystery.
             Along with David Keeling and Will Blackburn, Debbie coordinated a study-abroad trip to the British Isles during the month of June. For almost a month, nine students were exposed to the many cultures and landscapes of this beautiful region. The group spent seven days in the Liverpool/Manchester area, six days in Wales, six days in Scotland, two days in Northern Ireland, and six days in the Republic of Ireland. Students were able to experience natural wonders like the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales in England, Snowdonia National Park in Wales, the Isle of Skye in Scotland, and the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. Currently Debbie is working on the 2005 study abroad trip to northern Argentina and Chile.
             Debbie is still the advisor to the Geography Club. Her goal for the club this year is to triple the membership, include more students in departmental activities, build camaraderie between faculty members and students, provide public service opportunities, and provide geographical experiences through field trips.

   KENNETH KUEHN writes Good Greetings Geo-alums! For Dr Kuehn, the past academic year was a very busy one in research, curriculum, and professional development activities. Ken and Dr May co-authored two professional presentations. The first, "Road Hazard Ahead: The Dishman Lane Karst Collapse, Bowling Green, Kentucky," was given at the Appalachian States Coalition for Geohazards in Transportation held in Lexington and the second, "Earth System Science, Mammoth Cave National Park, and the Proposed Kentucky Trimodal Transpark," was presented in Seattle at the national meeting of the Geological Society of America. Dr Kuehn was also co-author on an invited paper, "Petrographic Response to Oil Agglomeration of Coal," presented in an international forum in Utrecht, The Netherlands. This concerned some coal technology research he conducted together with colleagues at the University of Kentucky.
             The big event last fall was Ken’s organizing and co-leading the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists annual field conference together with 1997 WKU Geology alumnus, Keith Milam. The conference focused on evidence that the three-mile-wide basin that holds the city of Middlesboro, Kentucky, was formed by an ancient meteorite impact. If you are not familiar with the fascinating geologic story of Middlesboro and Cumberland Gap, an excellent visual summary (including maps and waypoint data) of the field trip has been provided on-line by Brandon Nuttall of the Kentucky Geological Survey. The field guide "Geologic Impacts on the History and Development of Middlesboro, Kentucky" (which includes two articles by Keith and Ken, and one by Dr Algeo of this department) also is available on-line. Part of the conference included a formal ceremony wherein the town of Middlesboro was designated by the Society as a "Distinguished Geologic Site" in the Commonwealth (the third such site in this ongoing series).
             Turning to matters of curriculum, the new Geology degree program is now going through its final approvals across campus and should be officially rolled out in Spring 2005 (see related GEOGRAM article). The Department has created four new paths to the baccalaureate degree that are designed to better serve our pre-professional majors as well as attract a new clientele. Review of the current curriculum began in earnest in Fall 2002, exactly ten years since the present degree program was inaugurated. Part of the revision process took Drs May and Kuehn to Frankfort, Kentucky, to sit for the day-long ASBOG (National Association of State Boards of Geology) examination. Now that more than 30 states, including Kentucky, require this exam as part of their professional geologist registration process, Ken and Mike wanted to experience it first-hand with an eye toward whether or not they were teaching "the right stuff." He is pleased to say they both came through it successfully and the experience was very helpful in regard to the curriculum revisions.
             In spring 2004, Ken began a new activity serving as the Faculty Associate in the WKU Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching (FaCET). In this capacity he works with professors and graduate teaching associates from every corner of the campus to help improve the process of teaching and to help meet University goals of quality enhancement and student engagement. Thus far, he’s attended three professional meetings on these topics, one of which included a visit to the Center for Educational Excellence at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado – a very enlightening experience. This Fall Ken will present a related workshop at the annual conference of the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education to be held in Montreal.
             One final issue, one Dr Kuehn needs your input on, concerns a statewide committee he is chairing for the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists. It is called "KSPG 2013" and the committee is tasked with forging a long-range vision for the geology profession. Where and how do you see the discipline of geology in 10 years time? Ken would like Kentucky geologists to have a permanent address and presence in Frankfort, just as the registered engineers do today. What are your ideas? Please keep in touch and have a great year!

   REZAUL MAHMOOD  had another productive year. As usual, teaching and research activities kept him quite busy. This year he successfully offered a much-needed new course, Dynamic Meteorology. In addition, Rezaul continued to teach meteorology, weather and forecasting, and spent significant time helping to expanding the climate and meteorology program. Much of his research time was occupied by soil-moisture modeling (as it relates to climate), impacts of land-use change on long-term climatic records, hydrometeorology of flash flooding in eastern Kentucky and the Appalachian region, and monsoon dynamics. It is particularly satisfying that a number of students (two graduate and four undergraduates) are currently involved in these research activities and thus gaining hands-on experience. Rezaul published results of his research in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Hydrometeorology, International Journal of Climatology, Journal of Hydrology, and Applied Geography. He is delighted to report that some of his work has been used as key citations in a forthcoming report to be published by the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences.
             As in the past, he was involved in several multi-departmental and multi-institutional grant-writing activities for extramural funding to support research here at Western. This year Dr Cathleen Webb (Dept. of Chemistry) and Rezaul received $254,000 competitive grant funding from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) program. This project helped them to recruit eight extraordinary undergraduates from all over the nation to come to WKU for 10 weeks to conduct research. Seven other WKU faculty, including two from our own Department (Drs Groves and All), participated as faculty mentors for these students. The team has successfully completed the first part of this three-year project. Participating students focused their research on hydroclimatology, hydrology, water quality, and water chemistry issues around the Mammoth Cave National Park and the Upper Green River watershed. These activities allowed students to gain hands-on research experience in a close one-to-one mentoring environment. It is expected that students will present their research at various national meetings, and selected works are going to be published in peer-reviewed journals with the students as co-authors.
             Additionally, Rezaul received competitive research funding ($10,000) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study hydro-meteorological aspects of an Eastern Kentucky flash flood. Currently, two students (Christina Henry and Daniel Champlin) are working in this project. This funding helped to initiate a collaborative research partnership with the National Weather Service (NWS). In fact, recently Ms. Henry was invited by the NWS (Jackson, Kentucky, office) to present her research. It was a great experience for her. Rezaul is also currently running the MM5 meso-scale meteorological model as a part of this project. WKU is the only institution in the state running this large state-of-the art atmospheric model.
             This year Rezaul and Dr Trapasso received funding ($24,000) to purchase a NOAA-Port and a 3.7-meter dish antenna. This will allow the Department to receive real-time meteorological data (from minutes to an hourly time scale) for the whole North American continent through satellite feed. It is expected that this facility would significantly improve teaching and research capabilities in climatology and meteorology. Rezaul and Dr Foster received $24,000 to establish three mesonet sites in and around Bowling Green. Each of these sites will measure temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, and soil moisture at four depths (10, 25, 50, and 100 cm). Measurements will be completed every 5-minutes and reported on a real-time basis through the Kentucky Climate Center’s web site. In addition, Dr Foster and Rezaul received funding ($25,000) to acquire the SMARTS system from University of Delaware. WKU and Kentucky will be the first University and state, respectively, in the nation to operate this system outside Delaware. The system dynamically adjusts bias in radar-estimated precipitation and provides the most accurate assessment. It will open up significant opportunities in hydroclimatic and hydro-meteorological teaching and research here in the Department. Also, the WKU research council funded Rezaul for his activities in soil-moisture modeling ($5,000) and small-scale precipitation variability ($1,000). The latter funding allowed him to maintain the high-density rain-gauge network (funded last year for instruments) in and around the Mammoth Cave National Park
             Rezaul has continued to review papers for prestigious academic journals, including International Journal of Climatology, Climate Research, Physical Geography, International Journal of Environmental Pollution, and Journal of Spatial Hydrology. Moreover, he went to Philadelphia, PA (AAG annual meeting) to organize two special sessions in hydroclimatology. He chaired one of these sessions and presented a paper. Rezaul mentored two graduate students, Daniel Taylor and Christina Henry, who presented papers at this meeting. He also traveled to the National Science Foundation to explore funding opportunities for his research. On a personal note, Rezaul and his wife Rawnak have become proud parents of their first child, a baby boy Onjoy. It has been the most wonderful experience. As you can imagine, parenthood keeps both of them quite busy.

   MICHAEL MAY has enjoyed his 8th year in the Department and has most especially enjoyed new field adventures this past year, thanks to his colleagues who provided innovative learning experiences for students and faculty. One of the great field experiences included Mike as a participating faculty member, guiding and teaching students among modern carbonate environments on San Salvador Island, Bahamas, during the March spring break. This unique learning opportunity was spearheaded by Dr Fred Siewers in the Department and it was wonderful to also have WKU Biology colleague, Dr Ouida Meier, a Holocene coral reef specialist, participate as well (see also Dr. Siewers’ article on the Bahamas adventure in this issue). Another field highlight saw Mike heading off to Park City, Utah, and environs to aid Dr Andrew Wulff for a couple of weeks. Andrew directed this six-week-long geology field camp for students from about half a dozen Big 10 universities and WKU (see also Dr. Wulff’s article on field camp). Yet another travel adventure had Mike trekking off to Seattle last fall for the national Geological Society of America meeting, along with all of his geology colleagues. Mike and Dr Ken Kuehn presented a poster on the lack of a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process or geological characterization associated with thousands of acres earmarked for the proposed Kentucky Trimodal Transpark in Warren County, Kentucky.
             Also last fall, Dr May traveled with the majority of his geology colleagues to an excellent Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists (KSPG) field conference to the Middlesboro, Kentucky, area. This trip featured study of an ancient meteor impact structure, Appalachian structural geology, engineering geology of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel and other interesting sites. It was nice to see WKU geology alum, Keith Milam (presently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville), as one of the key leaders of the field conference (see also Dr Kuehn’s article on the Middlesboro field conference).
             In addition to meetings, field camp, field courses, and field conferences, Mike also reached a few milestones this past year. His environmental and geological education efforts extended for the general public and schools, service on the Bowling Green Storm Water Advisory Committee, and participation in drafting statutes and guidelines on behalf of the Commonwealth’s Environmental Cabinet on Brownfield sites were just some of the accomplishments that propelled him to be selected for the 2004 Ogden College Public Service Award. Dr May was also pleased to get his and a co-author’s paper titled “Introducing Students to Environmental Geophysics in a Field Setting” published in the May 2004 issue of the Journal of Geoscience Education. This paper chronicles the field geophysics short course that was offered a couple of times at WKU and Lost River Cave. It remains to be seen when the EPA-WKU joint course will be conducted again. Mike also took and passed both the fundamentals of geology and practice of geology ASBOG (National Association of State Boards of Geology) exams in Frankfort last fall. By passing these exams, Mike could practice (as of this date) in 29 states as a licensed geologist if he desired to fill out paperwork and pay license fees for a given state. He is, however, registered for the Commonwealth and Indiana. This should aid the geologists in aligning some of the geology curriculum and student experiences so students will be more successful when they choose to sit for their own ASBOG exam (see also WKU press release.
             Over the past spring and summer, Mike also re-established ties with the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, teaching a week-long environmental regulations course in Norfolk, Virginia, with former WKU engineering technology colleague, Dr. Rod Handy (now at Purdue University). The May family enjoyed this trip to the Chesapeake Bay area this past July. The May family also enjoyed travel to the Colorado Rockies over the summer to visit Mike’s wife Beth’s family and enjoy MLS games, mountain biking, and hiking. Any spare time Mike has is dedicated to organic gardening and, along with Beth, running sons Kevin (almost 10) and Peter (11) to soccer, basketball, cross country, and academic team meets. This upcoming academic year, Mike is looking forward to continuing to work with MS Geoscience student, Scott Schoefernacker (B.S. Geology, Vanderbilt) on outcrop and subsurface aspects of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian rocks north of Bowling Green and using digital Geological Quadrangles and software that aids in producing stratigraphic columns for correlation. Scott and Dr May will be presenting some of their research at the upcoming Geological Society of America (GSA) meeting in Denver later this fall. Other projects Mike continues to work on include the origin of terra rossa in the karst areas of Indiana and Kentucky (Academy of Science presentation last fall in Bowling Green) and collaborating with colleagues from the Indiana Geological Survey and Lake Superior State University in Michigan on conodont biostratigraphy in Mississippian (Chesterian) and Pennsylvanian rocks in south central and western Kentucky (paper presented at GSA regional meeting in St. Louis this past spring).

   FRED SIEWERS' enjoyed a very full and productive year at Western Kentucky University. He offered courses in Historical Geology, Paleontology, Earth System Science – specifically as an on-line course for pre- and in-service teachers - and, for the first time, a new field course on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Of those courses, the “Geology of the Bahamas” course made the most “waves” and is the focus of a companion piece in this year’s GEOGRAM.
             Fred was quite active on the research front, both with his own work and the work of his students. He continued to devote time to basic geology research and to his research efforts in geoscience education. His geology research was focused primarily on problems in carbonate sedimentology; specifically, the diagenesis of carbonate minerals in Pennsylvanian coal-ball concretions. Recent work has involved the textural and geochemical characterization of magnesian calcites and proto-dolomites occurring in those deposits, which basically translates into a lot of transmitted-light microscopy and SEM time! Results from that work were presented this past year at the annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) in Dallas, Texas and at the annual meeting of the Kentucky Academy of Science (KAS) in Bowling Green. His work in geoscience education – mostly related to his NASA based on-line course for teachers in Earth System Science – resulted in a presentation at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco.
             Fred directed two undergraduate research projects during the past year: a project conducted by Pat Allen on fine-scale correlations of Pennsylvanian sandstones in the Shanty Hollow area (north of Bowling Green) and a project conducted by Adam Smith on the mineralogy and formation of geodes in the Mississippian Salem and Warsaw Formations of south-central Kentucky and northern Tennessee. Both Pat and Adam’s work resulted in presentations at the annual KAS meeting. Adam gave additional presenta-tions on his work at the North Central Regional Meeting of the Geological Society of America in St. Louis, and at the annual WKU Student Research Conference sponsored by Sigma Xi. Adam’s excellent presentation at Sigma Xi qualified him to compete against 4 other top presenters for the best undergraduate presentation award of that meeting. Although he did not take the top prize, the fact that he was asked to compete against the top undergraduate researchers at WKU speaks volumes for the quality of his work and his presentation skills.
             Fred worked hard on his own professional development this past year, including three trips to San Salvador Island for the purposes of course development, teaching, and the establishment of a new research initiative in Quaternary geology and global environmental change. He also advanced his expertise in geochemistry by taking a short course in geochemical modeling in association with the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Seattle. Although not directly related to his geology work, Fred also advanced his interest in traditional roots music (bluegrass, country, blues, folk, etc) by co-hosting the popular weekend radio program Barren River Breakdown for Western’s public radio station WKYU-FM. Traditional music fans throughout western Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and northern Tennessee have been catching Fred’s shows throughout much of this past year. All reports indicate his shows have been popular and a big success! Roots music fans outside of the listening area can catch Barren River Breakdown on the web, 12 noon CST, 1 p.m. EST.
             Like other faculty in the geology program, Fred was actively involved in the restructuring of the undergraduate geology major (see companion article) and with numerous service activities for area schools. Of particular note in this regard was Fred’s work with Dr Andrew Wulff, faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and faculty in the School of Education, who all collaborated on a NASA-supported initiative to advance middle-grade teachers’ understanding of geological and cosmological time. The initiative entitled “How Old is Your Universe: Workshop for middle-grades science teachers” was offered this past June and will be offered again during the 2004-2005 academic year.
             Finally, Fred is pleased to announce that he received tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor during this past academic year. Congratulations Fred! As always, Fred loves to hear from interested students, past students, alumni, and anyone interested in geology and geoscience education. Send him some e-mail or, better yet, stop on by. His door is always open!

   L. MICHAEL TRAPASSO is alive and well and doing his usual routine. He still teaches the introductory meteorology course (GEOG 121) and his favorite upper division course, GEOG 426 - Applied Meteorology/Climatology. Since his new physical geography textbook came out last Fall, he has been scheduled to teach more sections of GEOG 100. According to him, “It’s very gratifying to use your own book in class.” As a new teaching challenge, he was asked to revive and revise the old GEOG 222 (Observational and Analytical Meteorology). This course was last taught by the late Willard Cockrill. (You older alumni will remember Mr. Cockrill.) Dr Trapasso is excited about teaching the new and improved course. He says it will be a nice change of pace.
             On the professional front, Dr Trapasso is still active in research and publication. Last year he presented at the National Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Philadelphia. He has also given numerous talks and media interviews concerning weather/climate, and is still called upon to give expert testimony in court cases where atmospheric factors play a role. He has submitted some of his sabbatical research entitled “Tourism and the Ozone Hole: Varying Perceptions,” appearing as Chapter 16 in a new book titled Climate Tourism and Recreation (Channelview Press, London, England). This book will be published in December 2004.
             Dr Trapasso recently received some good news; evidently his textbook, Essentials of Physical Geography by Gabler, Petersen, and Trapasso, sold enough copies that the Publisher (Brooks-Cole) has approved the next edition. For the next few years, Dr. Trapasso will be back in the textbook-writing mode. He is very happy with the success of the book so far.
             On the travel front, Dr Trapasso is still fascinated with ancient cultures and civilizations. Last summer he visited the countries of Bolivia and Peru to visit more Inca and pre-Inca (Tiwanaku Civilization) sites (see story on p. 6). Having visited the better known Aztec, Maya, and Inca sites, he is now going further back in time to civilizations that pre-date the “Big 3,” as he refers to them. January found Dr. Trapasso back down in Mexico, this time in Oaxaca State. There he concentrated on Toltec, Mixtec, and Zapotec sites, which pre-date the Maya and Aztecs. He found an abundance of temples and pyramids with crawl spaces leading to subterranean chambers covered with symbolic art — doing some real “Indiana Jonsing-around,” as he calls it.
             In mid-July 2004, Dr Trapasso planned on heading northward to explore the land of the Vikings. He will first revisit Iceland; from there he will travel to Greenland, and later to Newfoundland, Canada. His theme is the Viking migration from their homeland of Norway (where Trapasso started this quest) and ending in North America, ca. 1000 c.e.
             On the Civil War front, Dr Trapasso is still considered a local Civil War expert. Last year he researched, wrote, and supplied imagery for historical interpretation signs at Reservoir Hill and at the Hobson House in Bowling Green. He has also been asked to research and work on the new brochure on the Bowling Green Civil War Driving Tour. He says he finds this type of research both fun and relaxing.
             There was some good news for Trapasso with respect to Civil War reenacting. After eighteen months of looking for a good warhorse to ride, he finally found a tall (16 hands high), dark gelding with lots of spirit. Trapasso has ridden him in two Civil War reenactments so far and the two are becoming a team. So, after a long hiatus, he’s ‘back in the saddle again’ and rediscovering his old hobby. Even now new adventures await him. He was recently contacted by the 10th U.S. Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) re-enactors in Colorado. They were in need of a white officer. Historically U.S. Colored Troops (so called in the 1800s) were always lead by white officers (according to Army Regulations of the time). So when the 10th U.S. Cavalry wants to reenact with historical accuracy, they need that white officer. Dr Trapasso was invited to play that part and rode with the 10th Cavalry in Denver, Colorado, in late August.
             To sum it all up … Trapasso is still up to his usual routines, but once again showed that an old dog can learn some new tricks. He’s curious to see what new tricks his former students are up to, and he loves to hear from alumni.

   ANDREW WULFF has been settling into life at WKU in the “hard-rock” side of the geology program. This past year was largely focused on building collaborations (within the Department, Ogden College, and outside the university), expanding the possibilities for field studies, and investigating ways to improve earth-science education and opportunities for K-12 students. Dr Wulff was a co-investigator on a proposal for a pilot study designed to enhance the development of rural middle-school science and mathematics teachers. Dr Wulff (along with Dr Siewers and members of the Astronomy faculty) co-led a series of workshops titled “How Old Is Your Universe,” designed to better prepare both pre- and in-service middle-school science teachers in central and western Kentucky. He has been pursuing affiliation of WKU with the NASA GLOBE program, and has been working with Drs Kenworthy and Dr Mahmood to initiate a soil-moisture sampling program in local schools in collaboration with the international GLOBE SMC program. He and the other geology faculty have been examining the existing Geology curriculum and have proposed a number of changes designed to give the degree program more flexibility, present more options for interested students, and increase the professionalism of graduating majors. Everyone is excited about the changes and is looking forward to seeing an immediate impact on the degree program. Drs Wulff and Siewers also served on an ad-hoc committee charged with proposing ways in which the Geology program could be enhanced, and they are writing a report to that effect.
             Dr Wulff authored or co-authored three grant proposals, requesting funding to support research on residential radon, the age and geochemistry of volcanic tuffs in Java, and volcanism associated with large-scale extension in the Mojave Desert. He was the recipient of an Oak Ridge Associated Universities Junior Faculty Grant (see http://www.wku.edu/news/releases04/may/awards.html) and is anxiously awaiting word on the other proposals. He and Dr Groves co-led a challenging and fun departmental fieldtrip centered on a traverse across central California, examining the geology of the southern Sierra Nevada, Great Valley, and central coast, alternative energy sources (geothermal, solar, wind, water), the caves and quaternary features of Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park with the Friends of the Pleistocene – and much more! Details may be found online. Dr Wulff is planning another departmental field course with Dr Deal to explore the geology and cultural features of Hawaii in May of 2005.
             Andrew has been active with his various research interests and had a paper entitled “Using Inquiry-Based Methodologies to Ease the Pain of Learning Mineral Formulae and Analytical Techniques” published in a special issue of the Journal of Geoscience Education. Another manuscript will be published in the Journal of Geological Resources soon. He hopes to have at least two other manuscripts accepted early this semester. Andrew chaired a session on “Arc and Continental Magmatism” and presented a paper at the international meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Two of his undergraduate students (Mollie Laird and Jessica Campbell) presented their research (on Chilean volcanics and Li-rich micas respectively) at the national meeting of the Geological Society of America, two students (Patty Chalmers and Mark Graham) presented research at the combined SE-NE GSA meeting (on geothermometry/geobarometry of pelitic schists and the development of a new interactive GIS for examining geologic quads), and two students (Cody Holbrook and Rusty Bell) submitted an abstract dealing with the geochemistry of tuffs in Java to the Sigma Xi conference held at WKU.
             Andrew has also been working to improve the undergraduate research facilities in the Department and has been expanding the rock and mineral collection housed in EST. He received and inventoried a rock and mineral collection graciously donated by Pat McCubbin to honor her late husband who taught Industrial Arts at Bowling Green High School for thirty years. Dr Wulff (along with Drs May and Siewers and several students) packed, moved, and inventoried a most generous donation of field records, books, samples, and other wondrous memorabilia from the Gildersleeve family. Dr. Benjamin Gildersleeve worked as a geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Kentucky for years, publishing 15 maps and numerous reports. He lived in Bowling Green and is survived by two sons who oversaw the moving of materials and generously gifted $50,000 (matched by state funds) to the geology program. Dr Wulff welcomes any other additions to the departmental collections – from anywhere!! He also purchased six computers to be used for geological modeling purposes, received a grant to purchase a Nikon digital camera for use on the student petrographic microscopes, and was able to relocate two large stainless steel sinks to the Department from Grise Hall.
             Dr Wulff completed his second year as Director of the Wasatch-Uinta Field Geology Course. This has been one of the premier field-geology courses in the country since its inception 39 years ago. The best students from five Big-10 research universities attend and the top students are offered USGS and NAGT internships, in addition to cash awards and scholarships. Four students from WKU (Laura DeMott, Patty Chalmers, Amanda Mullen, and Adam Smith) have been able to take advantage of this opportunity and have represented WKU Geology very well. This past summer, Dr May also joined the course as an instructor for the first session. This has also been a year of involvement in the community and Andrew made a number of presentations on rocks, minerals, volcanoes (you name it!) at local schools, served on the Science Committee at Potter-Gray Elementary School, played bass and sang around town in a rock band, directed a play, and was the coach of the WKU men’s lacrosse team. A busy year to be sure!

   Chandra Beyer (Geography 2002) just finished basic training with the US Army and is now considering her options. She wants to attend graduate school and ultimately work for NASA as an engineer or astronaut. Working at the Weather Channel would also be fun!

Michael Briggs (MS Geoscience 2004) works for the Mid-America Regional Council as a transportation planner. He enjoys living in Kansas City.

Gilbert T. Calhoun (Geography 1955) currently serves as a member of the Town of Hilton Head Planning Commission. Recently he returned to serve a 6-month tour with NATO’s command, control, and communications agency as a consultant.

Brandon Cowles (Geography 2003) writes that after finishing a seasonal job at Mammoth Cave Hotel, and a temporary internship at the Social Security Administration, he has taken a full-time position with the Graves-Gilbert Clinic.

Laura Demott (Geology 2003) is a Graduate Student at the University of Texas School of Geosciences in Austin and is working on her Master’s degree.

Corey Fogle (Geography 2001) is a helicopter pilot with the U.S. Navy and is based in Norfolk, VA.

J. Alan Glennon (MS Geoscience 2003) is a doctoral student in geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Mike Hill (Geography 1999) is a community planner with Oldham County Planning and Zoning Commission.

Joy Hinkle (Geography 2002) is working towards her MPA in Environmental Policy at Georgia State University. She works part time at the Georgia Conservancy with the Georgia Water Coalition on water conservation and supply planning issues. Joy co-presented a paper at the 2004 American Water Works Association Water Resources conference in Austin, Texas.

Kieran T. Hosey (Geography 2001) is employed as a geologist for an environmental consulting company in Syracuse, NY, and writes that he loves shoveling snow!

Joe Hughes (Geology 1960s) has retired to northern Arizona and writes that he and his wife still enjoy hiking trips into the remote areas of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim.

Jenna S. Medlin (MS Geoscience 2004) has found a GIS position with the Thomas & Hutton Engineering firm in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. She’s as happy as a clam!

Keith A. Milam (Geology, 1997) is a PhD candidate with the University of Tennessee Planetary Geosciences Institute. He was co-leader of the 2003 field conference of the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists, which visited the Middlesboro KY, meteorite impact site. He also presented a paper “Central uplift formation at the Middlesboro impact structure, Kentucky, USA” at the 35th International Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, for which he won a “best paper” award. Keith is featured in the April-May 2004 issue of Smithsonian's Air and Space magazine, in an article about meteorite impacts in the U.S. He provides the writer a tour and explanation of the Middlesboro impact site. Keith maintains a personal website.

Betty-Jane Stradtner NicholsM (Geography 1985) — aka “Charlee” — is a senior GIS technician for the Marion County Board of County Commiss-ioners in Ocala, Florida. Charlee, husband Tim, and kids Tim and Katie, are enjoying living in Florida’s horse country.

Bethany Overfield (Geology & Geography 2001) is a staff geologist with the Kentucky Geological Survey. She sends greetings to the Department and writes that she started graduate school this semester at UK. She is attending UK part-time so that she can continue to work at the KGS full-time.

Rhonda Pfaff (MS Geoscience 2003) works for Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the world's largest developer of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software, in Redlands, Calif., as an ArcGIS documentation product specialist. She recently had an article published in ArcUser (along with Alan Glennon—see WKU story online.

T. Scotty Pruett (MS Geoscience 2000) is a Challenge Course Coordinator for Campus Recreation at Middle Tennessee State University, and he also teaches World Regional Geography part time. Scotty recently proposed to his fianceé in the market place at Chichen Itza, Mexico.

Jerry Wallace Ralston (Geography 1969) completed his 4th year as superintendent of the Barren Country school system. He recently earned a Ed. D. in Educational Administration at the University of Kentucky. Jerry’s wife Marcella (WKU 1973) teaches 5th grade at Red Cross Elementary, daughter Laura (WKU 1999) teaches special education at Drakes Middle School in Warren County, son Jeff is a senior majoring in Agriculture at WKU, and son Ben is majoring in education at Murray State.

Timothy Rink (Geography 2003) is working as a GIS analyst for ARCADIS in Atlanta, GA.

Ryan Robinson (Geography 2001) works as a Planner for a Design/Building firm in Bradenton, Florida. He thanks Dr Crawford for inspiring him in Geography 100 some eight years ago.

Deven Carigan Tolliver (MS Geoscience 1998) is an Environmental Scientist II with the Division of Water, Watershed Management Branch, in Frank-fort, KY. She married her high-school sweetheart in March 2003 and is expecting their first child. Deven writes “I know it's still a really cool and fun department.”

Josh Van Duzer (Geography 2002) is pursuing a Master’s degree in planning and GIS in the Department of Geography at the University of Akron, OH.

Wesley T. Wright (Geography 2000) continues to enjoy his position as planner for the Hardin County Planning and Development office in Elizabethtown, KY

Fill out the Alumni Information sheet on the next page and mail it to the Department today. We want to know how your career and life are progressing. You can also attach a small passport-sized picture of yourself, if you like, that we can publish alongside your news.

I predict a fantastic 2005 if you send in your Alumni Information sheet right away............

To send your 2004 GEOGRAM News by email directly to the Department, just click on: SEND MY NEWS

GEOGRAM 2004

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Mail to: Dr. David J. Keeling, GEOGRAM Editor
Department of Geography & Geology
Western Kentucky University
One Big Red Way
Bowling Green, KY 42101-3576

YOUR PROFILE AND NEWS BELONG HERE!! To send your 2004 GEOGRAM News by email directly to the Department, just click on: SEND MY NEWS

GEOGRAM is designed, edited, and produced for the Department by Dr David J. Keeling.
david.keeling@wku.edu
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Copyright: Department of Geography and Geology, 2004
Posted on 9/29/04