13 proxies in hydrocarbon systems with the goal of using them to evaluate depositional conditions. My student Ekenemolise Adigwe graduated from the Master’s program this past year, and her research into comparing the nitrogen isotope signatures of the Woodford Shale and the Caney Shale appear to indicate a distinct difference in the δ15N values between the two units. Based on her research, we believe that this difference to have resulted from deposition under different water column redox conditions: anoxic for the Woodford Shale, and suboxic for the Caney Shale, which is confirmed by what is known about the geologic history of these two units. As a result, I think that nitrogen isotopes can be a powerful proxy for depositional conditions even under highly altered conditions. My current graduate student, Keith Rivera, is continuing this line of research, looking at the effect of different levels of maturity on the nitrogen isotope proxy in the Woodford Shale. I look forward to assisting with the geochemical analyses for the new Mississippian Consortium and the planned Unconventional Hydrocarbon Center. I have continued to teach GEOL 1114 Physical Geology in the Spring, and GEOL 2254 Practical Mineralogy in the Fall. This past Fall saw record numbers of students in mineralogy, which made the class a challenge to organize and execute, but I also managed to introduce a new field trip to see the Glass Mountains and go crystal digging in the Salt Flats. Judging from the haul of selenite crystals brought back on the bus, the students had a great time. Along with the undergraduate courses, I also taught GEOL 5573 Marine Biogeochemical Cycles, which analyzes the interactions between geological processes, biological activity, and the chemical cycling for a range of elements in marine systems, including hydrocarbon-producing systems. In addition to teaching formal courses, I have also participated in several outreach opportunities, including National Lab Day, the Oklahoma EPSCoR Women in Science Conference, and the first annual Boone Pickens School of Geology Tech Conference. I also am working with an educational consultant and the School of Rock to create an interactive educational activity for secondary school students; we recently gave a couple of presentations about the creation and details of this activity at the AGU Fall Meeting. As always, there is never a dull moment in the Boone Pickens School of Geology. I am so happy to be working with the students, faculty, and staff here, and am looking forward to the year to come. Sandy Earls: This past August was the 16th anniversary of when I first started working for the School of Geology. On August first I received a promotion to Administrative Assistant for the School of Geology. I moved into the other office and the door is always open, no appointment needed. I took a couple of mini vacations. In May Pete and I took trips around the state to visit places we have not yet gotten to. There are still more that we want to see. In June, we traveled to Kansas for my family reunion. I had hoped to have someone else voted in as the Secretary/Treasurer, but that did not happen. They did not even accept other nominations. In November, we were able to take a week off and go to south Texas. I tried to time it while several of the faculty and students were attending GSA and SEG. We still want to make a trip to New Mexico and back to see family in Tennessee. I do not know that those will both happen this next year, but hopefully at least one will. Pete and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary in November 2013, so we may take one of the trips for that. We did not make much progress on the house renovations this year. We had other expenses that came up. Hopefully we will be able to get some things done this year. I have also been working on needlework to hang in the new office. It takes time, but will get there soon. We have a new full time person, Tabitha Schneider, working from my old desk and she will be working with the student records, graduate applications, and several other things once her training is complete. Having her has helped me out a great deal and allowed me to take off in November and will hopefully allow me to be able to take a little more vacation time off in the future. Tabitha Schneider: I am the new Administrative Support Specialist to the new Administrative Assistant, Sandy Earls. I came to the School of Geology in September 2012. Part of my duties in the office includes student filing, organizing graduate applications, and doing inventory but I am in the process of being trained in many other areas as well. I studied public administration at MidAmerica Christian University in Oklahoma City. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in December of 2011. I plan to begin a Master’s program in Higher Education Administration at the same college beginning in February of 2013. I am a native Oklahoman from Spiro, where most of my family still resides. My husband, John, and I have been married 7 years and moved to the Stillwater area in May 2012. We have two children, Ellijah, 7 and Allison, 5, and we live just south of Stillwater in Perkins. We are members of the First Baptist church in Perkins. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my family, attending Boy Scout meetings with my son, and reading as much and as often as I can. Tim Sickbert: The Devon Labs have byand-large reached maturity: the work the labs have required over the last year have mostly been maintenance: updating software, cycling in new computer hardware and migrating older computers to space the faculty provide for the students’ use in research and modeling. Time and use are taking their toll and some of the facilities: we are applying for one-time studenttechnology-fee grants from the college to replace worn-out whiteboards in classrooms and dead batteries in our instructional laptops. Long-term, our laptops will not have enough processing power for the software, and we will probably have to step up and build a computer-teaching lab. With increased enrollment; more faculty; and the ongoing, new, and proposed consortia, space for students, faculty, equipment, classes, labs, and samples is all at a premium. Again looking for funding internally first, we are also applying for another
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