DEPARTMENT OF
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences AT CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY News for Alumni and Friends of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Central Michigan University, Summer 2019
College of
Science & Engineering Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
From the Department Chair: Greetings from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences! The 2018-19 academic year was one of terrific accomplishments for Geology, Meteorology, and Environmental Science faculty and students alike. We hope you will enjoy this newsletter highlighting some of our many recent accomplishments. EAS faculty were honored for their teaching, research, and service activities. Dr. John Allen received the College of Science & Engineering Award for Outstanding Research. At the same time, Dr. Daria Kluver received the CSE Award for Outstanding Teaching. Dr. Mona Sirbescu was nominated by CMU for the Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year award. And Dr. Wendy Robertson received the 2018 International Association of Hydrogeologists International Service Award. It is gratifying to see our exceptional faculty acknowledged in this way! EAS students were also recognized for outstanding achievements and potential. Carly Hoeft received a prestigious American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) national award. Dennis Weaver was selected as a 2019 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hollings Scholar. And Olivia VanBuskirk achieved two notable firsts – she received the first ever American Meteorological Society (AMS) Women in Science Scholarship and the inaugural Pamela Grozdon Endowed Scholarship in Meteorology at CMU. You’ll find more information about these and other student achievements in this newsletter and our online EAS newsfeed. As a Department, we are committed to delivering a rigorous and student-centered education program. This includes classroom instruction, field trips, and research experiences for our undergraduates. EAS faculty also mentor seven graduate students in the interdisciplinary Earth and Ecosytem Sciences doctoral program. Last year, EAS spent fifteen thousand dollars on course related field trips and an additional three thousand dollars in student travel support for meetings such as AMS, GLMC, GSA, and AGU. Contributions from our alumni help us to provide these incredibly important opportunities to our students and we are grateful for the support you provide! If you choose to donate to the Department, please note that you can designate a specific fund. 100% of your contribution will go to the designated fund (CMU does not redirect a percentage of your donation to the university or college). Your contribution may be tax deductible, and if your employer provides matching funds, it can multiply the benefits from your gift. Last year, matching funds increased donations to EAS by more than 40%! A strong and connected alumni base is an asset to our current students and the future reputation of our Department. Please stay in touch by letting us know what you’ve been up to and stopping by Brooks Hall on your next trip to Mount Pleasant. Cheers and thank you! Larry Lemke Professor and Chair Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences w
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JOHN ALLEN
It has been a busy year for the severe convection and climate group here at CMU. Highlights include Emily Tinney, Maria Molina, and Dr. Allen presenting their research at the American Meteorological Society Severe Local Storms Conference in Vermont; our first Ph.D. graduate; and awesome summer research experiences for Daniel Macha (hail climatology), Elizabeth Wawrzyniak (tornado environments) and Daniel Butler (TORUS tornado field campaign). Add to that publications with collaborators from around the world, and it has been a very exciting year! After spending three years at CMU, Dr. Maria Molina successfully defended her Ph.D. Dissertation in April 2019. It was an impressive effort to finish so quickly, even while travelling to Antarctica for three weeks in January as part of the 2019 Homeward Bound leadership initiative for women in science as she finished her dissertation! Maria will be leaving the group at the end of this summer to begin a prestigious NCAR Advanced Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship in Boulder, Colorado. Congratulations Maria! In the year ahead, there is more excitement to come, with opportunities for undergraduate and graduate research on hail supported under the NSF-funded PREEVENTS: Improving High-Impact Hail Event Forecasts by Linking Hail Environments and Modeled Hailstorm Processes project.
Dr. Rohrssen taught Earth History, along with two classes that were new for her: Isotope Geochemistry and Biogeochemical Cycling in the Environment. The Biogeochemical Cycling in the Environment class worked with a lot of real-world air and water chemistry data, produced some data of their own, conducted smelly experiments, and tried their hands at earth systems modeling. Not bad for a single semester!
MEGAN ROHRSSEN
Several environmental science students in Dr. Rohrssen’s class and the Community of Future Environmental Scientists (CFES) took their knowledge and skills out into the community to work with two classes of Sacred Heart 6th graders. Dr. Rohrssen’s research program continues to build, with recent publications in Quaternary Science Reviews, Science of the Total Environment, Geobiology, and Nature Ecology and Evolution.
Water quality measurements in the Chippewa River with a great team of Sacred Heart 6th Graders (left) and volunteers from the CMU environmental science program (right: Alison Veresh).
MARTY BAXTER
Marty Baxter continues to teach the Synoptic Meteorology sequence, along with the sequence of first-year courses for new meteorology majors. Dr. Baxter completed the third and final year of work on his grant from the National Weather Service to investigate how new, highly detailed computer model forecasts might best be used to predict snowfall that occurs in narrow bands. Results from the project are beginning to be disseminated. Two undergraduate students presented posters at the American Meteorological Society’s Annual Student Conference, and an MS student with his collaborator on the project at North Carolina State University defended his thesis. Dr. Baxter has also been working hard at organizing improvements to the undergraduate meteorology program, including a revised curriculum that allows students to take more electives, such as a new course in broadcast meteorology.
Meteorology program establishes first endowed scholarship The Pamela L. Grozdon Meteorology Endowment was established in 2018 by a generous gift from Pamela Grozdon, a 1977 graduate of CMU’s mathematics program. Ms. Grozdon selected the meteorology program because she felt it would benefit the most from her donation. She visited with faculty, students, and alumni during our Alumni Career Day, and we could not be more pleased that she chose meteorology. Thank you, Ms. Grozdon, we look forward to a long relationship with you! Award recipients must have a signed major in meteorology, a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.25, and a demonstrated financial need. Preference is given to students entering their junior or senior year. The first winner of the Grozdon Scholarship was junior Olivia VanBuskirk of Port Huron, MI.
Meteorology students win prestigious national scholarships Sophomore meteorology major Dennis Weaver of Trenton, OH was selected as a 2019 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hollings Scholar. The undergraduate scholarship program accepts about 130 students each year from a variety of disciplines that are part of NOAA’s activities. Over the past 10 years, CMU’s meteorology program has had five Hollings recipients. Dennis will receive up to $9,500 for the next two years and a 10-week, full-time paid internship at the NOAA office of his choice. Junior meteorology major Olivia VanBuskirk of Port Huron, MI won the 2019 Women in Science Scholarship from the American Meteorological Society. The scholarship is in the amount of $10,000, and includes lodging and registration at the society’s 100th annual meeting in January 2020. Olivia is the first recipient of the Women in Science Scholarship, which was initiated and funded by a group of female scientists who wanted to help support the next generation of women. Olivia plans to pursue a Ph.D. upon graduating from CMU, and has an interest in improving society’s ability to make effective use of weather forecasts in the protection of life and property.
LARRY LEMKE
Academically, I spent an enjoyable year teaching Hydrogeology in the fall and Structural Geology in the spring semester. In Hydro, we used data from Woburn, Massachusetts to investigate TCE groundwater contamination made famous in A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr. In Structure, we focused on applied problems with an emphasis on interpreting geologic maps. Our field trip to Baraboo, Wisconsin, was a great way to tie maps and field geology together!
CMU and Wayne State University geology students at Van Hise Rock in Abelman’s Gorge, WI, during our joint Structural Geology field trip – April, 2019.
MONA SIRBESCU
Research wise, EES doctoral student Leah Jackson continued her investigation of 1, 4-dioxane attenuation in the Gelman Sciences site beneath Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her presentation of initial results at the Michigan AIPG Environmental Risk Workshop was very well received. I published a paper on air quality in Detroit and have dipped my toe (figuratively speaking) into the emerging world of PFAS contamination in southwest Michigan groundwater. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) promise to be an issue of environmental concern for many decades to come.
The past year has been unusually full of new developments. As the wave of meteorite inquiries quieted down, we developed several new projects involving multiple students and collaborators. Since last Fall there have been record numbers of Geology majors researching high-temperature processes, ore deposits, and lithium-rich pegmatites with me including Kammie Hauger: gemstone deposits in Maine; Lindsey Stone and Carly Hoeft: fluid inclusions and mineral textures from a Manitoba lithium ore deposit; and Krystyna Doran: using portable-XRF in pegmatite exploration. Nolan Gamet and Jarrett Humpula have just gotten started.
New collaborative projects are underway with Dr. Niels Hulsbosch, a visitor from KU-Leuven, Belgium who will stay at CMU until the end of August and Stephan Hlohowskyj, a low temperature geochemistry PhD student who wanted to encounter a bit of the “hot” side of geochemistry. Together we visited the Black Hills, home of world-class lithium-rich pegmatites. We had an extremely productive field trip! With this large group and variety of topics, we’ll represent CMU with three different presentations at GSA this September in Phoenix. I hope to see many of you there. Please stop by our Group Alumni Reception at GSA on Monday, Sept. 23, 7-9:30pm, in the Sheraton Grand Phoenix, to catch up. If not, your emails with life/career news are always so very welcome!
It’s been another great year in the West lab! Last Fall, we welcomed PhD student Miles Reed, who joined us after finishing a master’s degree at West Virginia University. Between our lab and visits to the University of Vermont Cosmogenic Radionuclide Facility, Miles has been learning, refining, and developing cutting edge laboratory methods to isolate and extract cosmogenic radionuclides from non-traditional minerals to inform mineral supply and erosion rates in northern California and Costa Rica. In his first year, he was awarded a seed grant from the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping to fly LiDAR (light detection and ranging) to create high resolution topographic models of his field site in the Klamath Mounains, CA. Congrats Miles!
NICOLE WEST
Undergraduate researcher Kailey Gray was one of three Geology students awarded the Bailiwick Award, which recognizes students with outstanding promise in geological research. Kailey has finished up her work here after presenting at the 2018 Geological Society of America National Meeting, and graduated at Spring Commencement 2019. Congrats Kailey! Dr. West is serving as Co-Principle Investigator on a team with collaborators from Colorado School of Mines, University of Kansas, Penn State, and Tulane University that was just awarded a ~$500K grant from NSF to develop a Critical Zone Research Coordination Network! The primary objective of the network is to improve and promote diversity in Critical Zone Research, with a specific focus in linking data gatherers with modelers to drive innovative and interdisciplinary research in earth surface science. The Research Coordination Network kickoff coincides with this year’s Goldschmidt Meeting in Barcelona, Spain!
WENDY ROBERTSON r. Wendy Robertson received the 2018 International D Association of Hydrogeologists U.S. Chapter’s International Service Award. The Award recognizes the efforts of hydrogeologists based in the United States who have shown an outstanding commitment to assisting the international community with groundwater-related needs. Wendy was recognized for her work with Well Aware, an international nonprofit organization that provides drinking water systems in areas of water scarcity. Her work as lead hydrologist led to the installation of clean and sustainable water systems for 52 communities and over 220,000 people in east Africa. The Award was presented to Wendy during the Hydrogeology Division Luncheon and Awards Ceremony at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana in November 2018.
The EAS geophysics program is steadily expanding. Nine students completed a revamped Intro to Geophysics course in Fall 2018. Students learned the foundations of a wide variety of geophysical methods and practiced data acquisition using ground-penetrating radar with EAS alumnus Bill Henderson. They also explored wave phenomena by building their own wave machines, and interpreted 3D seismic data with specialized software. Undergraduate student Chelsea Thibodeau presented her petrophysical research at the GSA and AGU national meetings. Next year, our team will grow with the arrival of a postdoctoral fellow and a new PhD student, and more new and exciting undergraduate research is underway.
NATALIA ZAKHAROVA
The Geophysics and Geomechanics (G2) laboratory was launched in May 2019 with the installation of WOMBAT, a multi-sensor test bench for continuous acquisition of high-resolution images, strength, sonic velocity, and laser topography data on core. Among other things, WOMBAT screens large core volumes for basic petrophysical properties and assesses heterogeneity in cores of diverse lithology. The G2 lab will become fully operational next year with the arrival of instruments for evaluating density, porosity, permeability, sorption isotherms, confined strength and acoustic velocities of rocks and sediments. My current research projects, all of which are open for student participation, apply geophysics to a variety of geoscience problems, from rift basin development to energy resources, in settings as diverse as Oman ophiolites and the Gulf of Corinth. We are starting research projects in the Michigan basin, focusing on petrophysics of unconventional reservoirs, and the state of stress and pore pressure throughout the basin. Consequently, next year promises to be another exciting and productive one for the growing geophysics program at CMU! EAS alumnus and Geology Alumni Advisory Board (GAAB) member, Bill Henderson, explains ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data acquisition to students in the Intro to Geophysics class, Fall 2018.
EAS Geophysics students explore the fundamentals of wave motion with their own wave machines.
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WOMBAT test bench in Geophysics and Geomechanics (G2) laboratory for continuous acquisition of high-resolution images, strength, sonic velocity, and laser topography data on core.
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Bonjour! Dr. Anthony Chappaz just returned from a sabbatical spent at the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adours (UPPA) that is located in the southwestern part of France, close to the Pyrenees range, the Atlantic Ocean, and Spain. He was involved in a large European project called MARSS, a French acronym that stands for Center of Excellence in Mass Spectrometry for Reactivity and Speciation Sciences. Dr. Chappaz used two new prototypes of powerful analytical instruments (pictured below) to characterize trace element molecular geochemistry in Artic and Great Lakes sediment cores, Archean rocks, and pegmatite samples.
ANTHONY CHAPPAZ
In addition, he is working to establish a collaboration between CMU and UPPA for our students. Stay tuned for exciting news next year! Finally, for those using twitter, you can follow Dr. Chappaz’s scientific adventures at @moleculargeochm.
EAS FOOD DRIVE The three EAS Student Organizations combined forces to take on the EAS Faculty and Staff in the Food Drive competition again this year. Together, we collected 799 pounds of food and supplies for the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen. For a second year in a row, the students triumphed over the faculty: 414 lbs. to 385 lbs. Dr. Lemke vowed that the faculty would avenge this loss next year!
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DARIA KLUVER
My research focus over the last year has been on long-term climate modeling of precipitation in the Great Lakes region and working with students to maintain/ analyze data from in-situ weather stations throughout the state. Our students were busy this year getting hands-on experience with meteorological research!
Adam Batz worked with me this year to analyze the capabilities of the new GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper during thundersnow events. He also presented his work at national and regional conferences.
Geological Society of America 2018
It was great seeing all the students, faculty, and alumni who attended our alumni reception at the Geological Society of America (GSA) meeting in Indianapolis last fall. If you’re attending this year’s GSA meeting in Phoenix, make sure you join us at the group alumni reception Monday evening.
Kayla Lemke completed a project analyzing air mass types over a data-sparse area of the Michigan Lower-Peninsula and presented her research at national and regional conferences. She also helped train other undergraduate students who may continue her work in the future.
Kyle DeLong continued working on the hydroclimate monitoring stations on Beaver and Garden Islands in conjunction with the CMU Institute for Great Lakes Research, which involves multiple trips per year to collect data in the wetlands of the Beaver Island archipelago.
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What an exciting first year at CMU! In addition to teaching courses in dynamic and physical meteorology, I’ve had a blast involving CMU students in my field research on coastal meteorology and thunderstorm outflow airmasses. Thanks to support from the College of Science and Engineering, meteorology students have the opportunity to work with our very own mobile mesonet – the only weather research vehicle in the state! This vehicle is outfitted with instruments on a mast mounted at the front of the vehicle that sample wind speed and direction, pressure, temperature, and humidity while the vehicle is driven across any meteorological phenomena of interest. The mobile mesonet allows us to investigate fine-scale features at the surface that may MET program students Alec Kownacki and Haley Scott, and MET alum Nick Bogen in the field studying thunderstorm outflow be missed by the network of fixed Automated Surface airmasses with the mobile mesonet on July 15, 2019 Observing Stations (ASOS) that are typically located at airports. Every passenger seat is equipped with a workstation so students can monitor mesonet data in real time and utilize radar and mapping software to navigate to areas where the team can sample any feature of interest.
JASON KEELER
Meteorology majors Dan Butler, Kyle DeLong, Alec Kownacki, and Haley Scott, and recent alum Nick Bogen were the first to work with our mobile mesonet. Dan and Kyle played an active role in wiring the mobile mesonet’s instrumentation, and then joined some of my collaborators in operating their equipment during the Targeted Observations by Radars and UAS of Supercells (TORUS) campaign across the Great Plains. Back in Michigan, Alec, Haley, and Nick were the first students to participate in my new CMU Student Training for Observational Research in Meteorology (CMU-STORM) program. Through CMU-STORM, our students are being introduced to field research in lake breezes, thunderstorms, and more. The team is excited to have Christian Boyer join us this fall as a new Ph.D. student at CMU.
CMU-STORM participants Nick Bogen, Alec Kownacki, and Haley Scott pose with the mobile mesonet as seagulls scatter in advance of an approaching thunderstorm gust front in Muskegon, MI on July 20, 2019
My research in the last year has also focused on the use of unmanned aircraft to sample density currents, the convective boundary layer, and supercells, with publications appearing in Sensors and the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. My group is currently working to expand its efforts in this area, including the procurement of our own unmanned aircraft system to add to the CMU-STORM fleet.
What excites me about the 2019-2020 academic year is the opportunity to add Severe and Unusual Weather to the list of classes I teach, getting more students involved in field research, and expanding my group’s community outreach. If you see us out and about in the mobile mesonet, please say hello – we’d love to hear from alumni, and anyone interested in learning about the weather!
STUDENT ORGANIZATION NEWS The Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (SCAMS) CMU meteorology students had a great year! In addition to AMS, SCAMS members attended the Severe Storms & Doppler Radar Conference in Ankeny, Iowa and the Great Lakes Meteorology Conference in Valparaiso, Indiana. Meteorology students gave a weather presentation and cloud demonstration to more than 100 3rd and 4th graders at Renaissance Academy and Sacred Heart Academy in Mt. Pleasant. SCAMS also organized a joint snow tubing adventure with CFES and AIPG. American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) Student Chapter CMU geology students were highly active last year, sending 11 AIPG members to the GSA meeting in Indianapolis and 8 members to the AIPG national meeting in Colorado Springs. The group held three rock sales to raise funds and expose other CMU students to geology. They also provided weekly tutoring for introductory geology classes. Social activities included a March Madness scavenger hunt and Geopardy! game, as well as a joint snow tubing outing with SCAMS. CMU was named the AIPG Michigan 2019 Student Chapter of the Year – Congratulations! Community of Future Environmental Scientists (CFES) Membership in CFES is growing to keep pace with an increasing number of activities. Last year, CFES sponsored a networking and career advice event with the Michigan Association of Environmental Professionals, helped to educate the public on climate change, and hosted presentations from six environmental science students who described their internship experiences. Environmental Science students also worked with 34 6th graders at Sacred Heart Academy to sample water quality in the Chippewa River and later analyze the chemistry of their water samples.
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 Permit No. 93
College of Science and Engineering Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science Brooks 314 Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI 48859
Thank you to all of the alumni and friends who helped support the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences over the past year! Mrs. Pamela Howson (Lackie) Mr. and Mrs. Eric Wallis Mr. and Mrs. Michael Pennington Mr. Eric Branum Mr. and Mrs. James Armbruster (Kesl) Mr. Richard Dudek II Dr. Lawrence and Mrs. Wendy Lemke Martin Steinbis Pamela Grozdon Brandi Boyd Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Krueger Mr. James John Student Mr. David Mazurek
Ms. Kristin Herndon & Dr. Martin Baxter Mr. and Mrs. Morris Langworthy III Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Mr. David Erway Ms. Emily Steinbis Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Ellis Ms. Kimberly Hartmus Mr. Gregory Corwell Mr. and Mrs. Charles Grant BP Foundation Inc. ExxonMobil Mr. Jesse Schreiner Mr. Michael Wagner
CMU Geology and Meteorology Alumni – Where are you now? What are you doing? We genuinely would like to know! Please send a letter to the department or an email to our chair (L.D.Lemke@cmich.edu) and fill us in on your whereabouts, your career, and your achievements. Let us know if you would like to share your experiences during Alumni Career Day or if you are interested in serving on one of our Alumni Advisory Boards. Thank you for helping us to keep in touch! se.cmich.edu/eas
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College of
Science & Engineering Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
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