Microsoft Word - Final_OSU Geology_Newsletter 2013.docx

2 sedimentologist. His research interests are in environmental geology, causes and effects of sea-level and climate change, geology and geomorphology of coastal and aquatic environments, Quaternary geology and geochronology. He has conducted research on the effect of climate change on coastal systems and infrastructure, paleostorm history of NW Florida, northern Gulf of Mexico sea-level change and the evolution of coastal barriers in the northern Gulf of Mexico and on sedimentary environments and paleogeography of the Florida Inner Continental Shelf. Dr. Pashin joined the School as a Professor and the Devon Chair of Basin Research in January 2013. Dr. Pashin’s research interests are in sedimentary geology, coalbed methane, shale gas, conventional reservoirs, geologic carbon sinks, structural geology and basin analysis. He has conducted research in a variety of fields, most notably in unconventional gas exploration and development (coal and shale), conventional hydrocarbon reservoirs, and geologic CO2 storage. In addition to his research in energy and CO2 storage, he has also conducted research in structural geology, basin analysis, hydrology, petrology, and geochemistry. In addition to the new faculty we are also expanding our research capabilities with the addition of two postdoctoral fellows and one research scientist. Dr. Dave Bridges is a new postdoctoral fellow in the Geophysics and Tectonics Research Group working under the supervision of Dr. Abdelsalam. Dr. Igor Broun is a microbiologist working in the Biogeophysics Laboratory with Dr. Estella Atekwana. Dr. Gamal Abdel Aal is a research scientist working in the Biogeophysics Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Estella Atekwana. In the immediate future, we are concentrating on filling the new position of the Head of the School. The position is open, and we hope to fill it before the 2013 academic year. Undergraduate enrollment took a jump this year to 145 students working toward the B.S. degree in geology. We currently have 54 M.S. students, up slightly from 52 in 2012. The enrollment in our Ph.D. program continues to climb and now stands at 13. We continue to improve the quality and caliber of our graduates and expect them to be successfully integrated into the work force or continue on to graduate school. This year, applicants to our graduate program came from many different States and several countries aboard. The completed applications number more than 75 at the moment of this writing. Many of the applicants have excellent credentials; however, we are limited by funding and can only admit about half a dozen or so. The number of B.S. degrees awarded in Geology dropped to 17 from the high of 24 in 2011. We anticipate increasing this number in the near future as enrollment increases. We graduated 21 students with M.S. degree which is up from 14 in 2012. This mostly reflects our efforts to help those who have been “hanging around” to complete their degrees. We graduated no Ph.D. students in 2012; however, we have 2 Ph.D. students expected to graduate in the next year. Geology faculty were awarded about $700,000 in new grants between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012. Although this is down about $300,000 from last year, we expect the number to increase significantly with the addition of our 4 new faculty hires. On the other hand, grant expenditures (amount of money spent on research) increased from last year by 100,000 to slightly above 600,000 and reflect increase research productivity of our faculty and students. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Number of Students Calender Year Enrollment Through 2013 Undergraduate Masters Doctoral 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Degrees Granted Calender Year Degree Granted Through 2012 BS Degrees MS Degrees Ph.D. Degrees 0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000 1,000,000 1,200,000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Dollars Calender Year Grants Through 2012 Grants Awarded Grant Expenditures

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