Department of Geosciences | Programs in Geology, Geography, & Earth Sciences

UMass Geography Club wins 2020 World Geography Bowl

Congratulations to students from the UMass Geography Club for winning the 2020 World Geography Bowl at the American Association of Geographers New England-St Lawrence Valley Division Meeting, November 13, 2020.

This was the fifth recent win for the UMass team, which also won with the top score in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, and placed 3rd in 2018 and 2019. Several team members will represent the New England region in the national competition in Spring 2021.
Dr. Julie BG and Dr. Steve Petsch on warming Arctic

Dr's Julie Brigham-Grette and Steve Petsch published a piece in The Conversation about the warming Arctic, their paleoclimate research on past warm climates, and the implications for our future. Read more...
Dr. Michele Cooke recognized for leadership in inclusive teaching

The International Association for Geoscience Diversity recently named Dr Michele Cooke, geosciences, as the recipient of its 2020 International Association for Geoscience Diversity Inclusive Geoscience Education and Research Award for her work as a “foundational leader in accessible and inclusive geoscience teaching in both the classroom and field for over 20 years, all while maintaining a successful research career in geomechanics and structural geology.
Department launches Dr. Sheila Seaman student reseach fund

A little over a year ago our beloved faculty member, Dr Sheila Seaman, lost her long and valiant battle with cancer— To honor her dedication to education, research, and the betterment of students, we are launching the Sheila Seaman Student Research Fund. This endowed fund, administered by the UMass Foundation, will, in future years, provide monetary support for Geosciences student research. Although preference will go to students in the fields of mineralogy and petrology, other students will be able to benefit from
NSF grant to ensure sustainable & equitable energy transition

Dr Rob DeConto is part of a U-Mass team that has received grants from the NSF EELEVATE program to explore and develop pathways so that the transition to sustainable energy also promotes the socioeconomic equity of communities.
Dr. Forrest Bowlick publishes guide for teaching cloud-based GIS courses

In a new paper this week in the Journal of Geography in Higher Education, geographer Dr Forrest Bowlick and colleagues at Texas A&M offer first-hand accounts of what is required for GIS instructors and IT administrators to set up virtual computing specifically for providing state-of-the-art geographic information systems (GIS) instruction. Read more
Dr. Christine Hatch in The Daily Hampshire Gazette on quarantine and the environment

Dr Christine Hatch reflects on COVID-19, and the resulting quarantine's, effects on the natural environment for the Daily Hampshire Gazette's Earth Matters column: Read it here...
Dr. Julie BG named GSA Distinguished Lecturer

The Geological Society of America’s (GSA) Continental Scientific Drilling Division (CSD) has named Dr Julie Brigham-Grette as one of its two Distinguished Lecturers for 2020, which means she will be available to give online seminars on her Arctic drilling research to geologists anywhere in the world by request this fall and into spring 2021.
DeConto part of team to drill under Greenland's Ice Sheet

A team of climate scientists and geologists including Dr Robert DeConto recently received a five-year, $7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to drill through the Greenland Ice Sheet and into the bedrock below, where they will be able to evaluate how long it has been since the last ice sheet retreated from the continent. Read more...
Faculty receive USDA grant to to take stock of 'Blue Carbon' in salt marshes

USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has awarded a two-year, $300,000 grant to Dr. Brian Yellen to develop tools to estimate the mass of carbon stored in salt marshes.
Department faculty and post-docs create Fort River Watershed Association

Dr.'s Brian Yellen, Christine Hatch, and post-doc Dr. Will Daniels are involved with the formation of the Fort River Watershed Association in Amherst, MA. The Daily Hampshire Gazette recently featured water quality testing they are performing along the river in coordination with the Connecticut River Conservancy in response to high nutrient levels within the watershed. Read more...
Dr. Stan Stevens retires from teaching

Dr Stan Stevens retired this month after a 33 year-long career of teaching, 25 of them at U-Mass Amherst— Dr Stevens research and teaching explores society/nature interaction via political and culture ecological approaches and collaborative fieldwork with indigenous peoples. Find out more about Dr. Stevens, his teaching, and his work here...
Dr. Julie BG collaboration on Mass MOCA exhibit

Dr Julie Brigham-Grette is one of several Arctic scientists who recently colllaborated with Artist Blane De St Croix on his current exhibition How to Move a Landscape, currently at MassMOCA. This exhibition involves years of research-intensive pieces involving years of fieldwork and collaboration with scientists, and includes large-scale installations that incorporate recetn research about the effect
Geomechanics lab studies energy budgets in accretionary wedges

Recent alum Dr Jessica McBeck and professor Dr Michele Cooke are senior authors on a recent paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters studying how the mechanical energy budget in accretionary prisms, a fundamental geological structure at tectonic plate margins, scales from analog models in the lab to real-world examples and its implicat
Studying trace metal release from historic mines in Western Mass

Graduate Student Justin Mistikawy is senior author of a paper with collaborators (including Dr. Justin Richardson) recently published a paper in Environmental Geochemistry and Health