YALE EARTH & PLANETARY SCIENCES NEWS

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Chair’s Letter

Dear Friends, Family andAlumni of Yale Earth& Planetary Sciences,

Surely one of the firstthings you’ll notice, espe-cially you alumni, is thatthe department changedits name. On July 1, 2020the department went fromGeology & Geophysicsto Earth & Planetary Sci-ences. This change hasbeen brewing for decades,through many cycles of

discussions, polls, and debates, and was finallymade official this year. This is not the first timethe department’s name has changed. Yale is oneof the first educational institutions in the countryto teach the science of the Earth, starting in 1804with a single faculty member, Benjamin Silliman, asprofessor of Chemistry and Natural History. In truth,departments at Yale didn’t exist in the modernsense until 1920, when the Department of Geologywas created. The Department changed its nameto Geology & Geophysics in 1968 to include newfaculty who studied the physics of the atmosphere,ocean and Earth’s interior . But our field constantlyevolves. Our new name reflects a broader, modernscope, beyond classical geology and geophysics, toinclude climate science, Earth system science, andplanetary exploration (including new discoveriesof other solar systems). The name strengthens ourties with other Yale departments and schools suchas Astronomy, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, andthe newly named Yale School of the Environment(formerly Forestry & Environmental Studies, whochanged their name at the same time we did).

Yale University I Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences FALL NEWSLETTER 2020

Since our last newsletter (in2018) we have added twonew faculty, Assistant Profes-sors Juan Lora and LidyaTarhan. Juan studies plan-etary atmospheres andclimates, and is one of theprincipal investigators on theupcoming NASA DragonflyMission to the Saturnian moonTitan. Titan is one of the big-gest moons in our solar sys-

tem, is the only one with a thick atmosphere madeof mostly nitrogen, and has a methane cycle similarto Earth’s hydrological cycle, which carries waterand heat around our planet. Juan also examineshow a warming climate on Earth affects watertransport through atmospheric rivers.

Lidya Tarhan works onancient environments, andespecially how the earliestanimal life, at and before thetime of the Cambrian explo-sion 540 million years ago,affected the marine environ-ment and climate. In particu-lar, she is an expert on “bio-turbators”, early animals wholived in marine sedimentsand whose motion not only

Juan Lora, AssistantProfessor

Lidya Tarhan, AssistantProfessor

Dave Bercovici

YALE EARTH & PLANETARYSCIENCES NEWS

INSIDE THIS ISSUEFaculty Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

In Memoriam—Memories of Brian Skinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

In Memoriam—Memories of George Veronis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Alumni in Memoriam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Recent Awards and Honors: Faculty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Recent Awards and Honors: Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Student News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Postdoc News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Retirement: Ronald B. Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Visitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Field Trips: Yukon 2019. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Alumni News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Brian Skinner Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

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YALE EARTH & PLANETARY SCIENCES NEWS FALL 2020

stirred and burrowed holes (and their fossil traces)in sediments, but changed how nutrients cycledthrough them. Lidya brings a multi-disciplinarytoolset to bear on this problem, combining fieldwork, sedimentology, stratigraphy, isotope geo-chemistry, and petrology.

Juan and Lidya have already made a major impacton the department and have received a numberof honors and awards; we’ll highlight their workin future newsletters. This year we highlight theresearch of another relatively recent hire, Assis-tant Professor Alan Rooney, who is a geochemiststudying the timing and causes of major geologi-cal and climatological transitions, such the global“Snowball Earth” event nearly a billion years ago,as well as deglaciation during more geologicallyrecent warming cycles, with relevance to our cur-rent climate. You can find out much more aboutthe breadth of discovery by Alan and his group inthese pages. (see page #)

The department as a whole has been a leadingunit in the development of the Planetary SolutionsProject, one of the Yale’s major science prioritiesguided by Provost Scott Strobel. This initiativefocusses on addressing our planet’s future, given achanging climate, stressed resources, environmen-tal degradation, and loss of biodiversity. The Plan-etary Solutions Project involves multiple depart-ments across Yale, and the EPS department hasbeen collaborating on its development since thebeginning. EPS provides the scientific back-bonefor understanding climate change, the water andcarbon cycles, and climate mitigation approachessuch as carbon capture and storage. We alsohave continued to explore new frontier areas ofscience with a series of exciting symposia, the firstof which, on “Planet Formation and Evolution”was held in the spring of 2019; two future ones willcover “Climate and the Polar Regions” (delayedfrom spring of 2020 because of Covid-19) and“Co-evolution of Earth and Life” (hopefully springof 2021 or 2022).

This last year has of course been challenging onseveral fronts. The Covid-19 crisis brought theentire university to a stand-still in March of 2020,and students and faculty have worked hard toadjust to the new way of working, teaching andlearning. Kline Geology Lab has, for the most

part, been kept to a skeleton crew of necessarystaff and researchers, and our highest priority istheir health and safety. The Department and theUniversity are fully committed to weathering thiscrisis and supporting the well-being of all ourcitizens until the time, one day soon, when lifereturns to normal.

Yale, like campuses everywhere, has responded tothe moment of national reckoning with the racialinjustice that has plagued our country. EPS, alongwith our fellow Yale departments, has looked hardat ways of improving inclusion, equity and diver-sity in our discipline and in our own departmentalcommunity. Our departmental IDEA Committee,made up of faculty, students and researchers, hasalready developed community activities to facili-tate education, outreach and progressive action,including town-halls, reading clubs, seminar series,and public lectures, in addition to participating inthe broader university effort.

Our loyal department staff have, as always, contin-ued to make the department run like clock-workwith a renowned (within Yale certainly) collegialenvironment, despite all the recent challenges.While I can’t mention everyone, I will highlight afew. First, Melissa Wojciechowski is our neweststaff member (as of 2018) and is our lead BusinessAdministrator. Melissa is a true gift to the depart-ment, keeping an iron grip on spend-thrift chairs(well, she’s worked with just the one so far, soguess who?) while also being a hero and ally to usall. Becky Pocock, the Chair’s Senior Administra-tive Assistant, has been a gem in the departmentsince 2007, and has worked her magic and madeus Chairs look good, much more, I’m sure, thanwe deserved. Becky is also 99% responsible forgetting this very Newsletter completed, despitethe distractions and procrastination of the cur-rent Chair. Dave Rossman, our Computer Supportperson has done a heroic job during the Covid-19crisis of diligently keeping our computers run-ning. And lastly, Pam Buonocore, our OperationsManager, has been the department rock (no punintended, well maybe a little) for decades, hold-ing together the department by sheer force ofwill (and anyone who knows Pam realizes how aptthat description is). Pam is retiring at the end ofthis year, and we’re not entirely sure what we’ll dowithout her. To all the other staff members who

CHAIR’S LETTER

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I’m not naming (and I’m sorry I can’t), and espe-cially those serving as essential support in our labsduring the Covid-19 lock-down: the departmentcould never work or thrive as it does without you!

I’ll also note some other transitions in our depart-ment. First, Ron Smith, the Damon Wells Profes-sor, retired this year, effective July 2020. Ron wasa pillar of our department, starting at Yale in 1976,and serving as department chair from 1991 to 1997.He was an immensely popular instructor at Yale,as well as renowned and award-winning meteo-rologist. Because of Covid-19 we couldn’t havea proper farewell celebration for Ron. So insteadwe managed a surprise Zoom party for him, withall the department and a wonderful showing fromhis former students, postdocs and colleagues; andsurprisingly (to us), the surprise worked! Withthe number of faces and the lovely reminiscencesof Ron’s mentorship, friendship and adventures,it was as good if not better than we could havehoped. Ron will continue to be present in EPS as aresearch professor, but for the time being he andhis wife Sigrid are enjoying their new boat!

George Veronis, Professor Emeritus and formerlythe Henry Barnard Davis Professor, passed awayin June 2019. You will find in this newsletter a

memorial tribute to George (see page #), whowas a giant in the field of physical oceanography,a founder of the renowned Geophysical FluidDynamics Summer School in Woods Hole, and amember of both the National Academy of Sci-ences and American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Brian Skinner, Professor Emeritus and formerly theEugene Higgins Professor, passed away in Augustof 2019. Brian was a pioneer in mineralogy andeconomic geology, and a highly influential educa-tor and instructor, both with his incredibly popularintroductory geology class (which inspired manyYale undergrads to become geology majors) andhis famous series of textbooks. You will find anhomage to Brian in these pages (see page #).Moreover, a group of friends, family, and alumnihave been working with the Department to starta new fellowship in Brian’s memory, already withamazing progress, and it’s also described withinthis newsletter (see page #).Lastly, I’ll bid my own farewell as Chair of theDepartment. To all the family and friends of Earth& Planetary Sciences, Geology & Geophysics,Geology, and Natural History, it has once againbeen my pleasure and honor to serve our depart-ment, and especially the wonderful people in it.

CHAIR’S LETTER

Yukon Field Trip, June 2019, Investigating a dried riverbed near Kluane Lake – see page 40.

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FACULTY RESEARCH

The history of life on Earth is much more thanjust the story of biological innovation and op-portunism. Integral to the story are the forces ofplate tectonics, the changing chemical budgetsof our atmosphere and oceans, highly dynamicclimate states and catastrophic impacts. The abil-ity to “tell time” in the geosciences is critical tounderstanding this rich tapestry. Our lab employsgeochronology and isotope geochemistry to un-derstand the temporal linkages and interactionsbetween tectonics, crustal evolution, geochemicalcycles, the cryosphere and life on a range of timescales. In particular, the Rooney Group employsthe rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) geochronometerand radiogenic systems such as Rb-Sr and Sm-Ndand the platinum-group elements (PGE) to inter-rogate the rock record. Although it had its begin-nings as a geochronometer for sedimentary rocksat Yale in the 1980’s, the Re-Os geochronometeris a relatively new technique that has tremendouspotential to provide a temporal framework for thebiological innovations, climatic catastrophes andgeochemical upheavals that punctuate the Pro-terozoic (2500-541 Ma [million years ago]) andPhanerozoic eons (541 Ma-present).By combining fieldwork, sedimentology andstratigraphy with isotope geochemistry and geo-chronology, the Rooney Group examines the rockrecord during critical transitions in Earth history.Near term research interests are centered on threemain areas: 1) refining Earth history records, par-ticularly Archean and Proterozoic tectonic reorga-nizations and eukaryotic diversification and radia-tions in the Paleozoic; 2) combining geochemicalproxies with microfossil and sedimentologicalanalyses from modern-day glaciated regions tobetter understand the external and internal forces

acting on ocean-ice sheet dynamics and; 3) in-tegrating the Re-Os geochronometer into theEARTHTIME organization and leading internation-al efforts for inter-laboratory standardization andthe development of data-reduction software.

EARTH HISTORY RESEARCHThe Lomagundi-Jatuli Carbon Isotope ExcursionThe Great Oxidation Event (GOE) was an irrevers-ible increase in the presence of oxygen in theEarth’s atmosphere during the early Paleoprotero-zoic (approximately 2.3 billion years ago) and wasa critical transition in the lead-up to the evolutionof macroscopic life. The Lomagundi-Jatuli event,the largest and longest-lived positive carbonisotope excursion in Earth history, followed theGOE, and may have lasted as long as 260 millionyears. These carbon isotope signals indicate highamounts of primary productivity in the oceans,which would result in an increase in carbon burial.The amount of carbon burial required to generatethis long-lived carbon isotope excursion wouldresult in large-scale oxygen production, andthus may be expected to coincide with dramaticchanges in chemical weathering and nutrientfluxes to the oceans, ultimately providing an idealenvironment for evolving eukaryotes. Determin-ing the tempo of the Lomagundi-Jatuli event anddeciphering the resultant impact on global redoxconditions and biological processes is critical forefforts to unravel the evolution of complex life.However, despite decades of investigation, thetemporal framework for the Lomagundi-Jatulievent is extremely limited. As a result, major ques-tions remain unanswered regarding the durationand synchroneity of the carbon isotope excursion.Collaborative research with a former lab member

Alan Rooney and the lab’s ThermoFisher Thermal Ionization MassSpectrometer “Talisker”

Isolation of osmium (the 2nd rarest element in Earth’s crust) in theRooney Group Clean Lab using the solvent-extraction technique

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FACULTY RESEARCH

paleontologists, sedimentologists, and struc-tural geologists from various universities andinternational governmental agencies who havecomplementary research interests. Postdoctoralresearcher Tim Gibson is working on refining thestratigraphic correlations of Neoproterozoic stra-tigraphy across Svalbard and Northern Canada.

Expanding Re-Os– Geochronology ofBanded Iron FormationsBanded iron formations are distinctive sedimen-tary rocks that were deposited almost exclusivelyin the Archean and Proterozoic eons. Theseenigmatic units represent a fascinating recordof changes in ocean and atmospheric chemistry,Earth’s oxygenation history and global climatechange in “Deep Time.” However, our understand-ing of their formation is hampered by the lack ofage constraints for many of them. Graduate stu-dent Alexie Millikin is actively working to expandthe use of the Re-Os geochronometer to dateiron formations. Because of their use as regionalmarker-beds, radioisotopic ages from iron forma-tions would greatly improve stratigraphic correla-

Annie Bauer (now an Assistant Professor at Uni-versity of Wisconsin, Madison) centers on gen-erating absolute age constraints using Re-Os onglobally distributed sedimentary sections for thiscritical interval. These age constraints will helpto understand the interplay between chemicalweathering, ocean redox chemistry, biogeochemi-cal cycles and the evolution of aerobes in thePaleoproterozoic.

Calibrating the NeoproterozoicSedimentary RecordThe Neoproterozoic was a dynamic interval ofEarth history in which significant changes to thebiosphere were inherently linked to tectonics.Set against the backdrop of the rifting Rodiniasupercontinent, isolated basins with diverse redoxstates and changes in the continental weather-ing flux have been invoked to explain turnover inprimary production and eukaryotic diversifica-tion during this interval. Furthermore, enhancedCO2 drawdown due to weathering of rift-relatedbasalts has long been proposed as a mechanismfor initiating the Neoproterozoic Snowball Earthevents. Despite the broad appeal of the Neopro-terozoic, fundamental research has been hinderedby the lack of a temporal framework primarilydue to the lack of materials suitable for traditionalgeochronometers e.g., U-Pb on zircon. Re-Os geo-chronology, in conjunction with radiogenic isotopepaleoweathering proxies, has the potential to illu-minate both the timing and causes of Neoprotero-zoic events.Graduate student Alexie Millikin’s research focus-es on applying these tools to the sedimentary re-cord in Svalbard, where a combination of tectonicprocesses and recent glacial erosion have exposeda near-complete and well-preserved record ofnearly the entire Neoproterozoic. This record pro-vides unparalleled opportunities to investigate thecoevolution of the biosphere and earth systemduring this interval. Current research goals centeron providing radiometric ages to resolve ques-tions surrounding the tempo of eukaryotic evolu-tion, and investigating the causes of the SnowballEarth events.To go from a precise numerical date to a geologicage requires a robust stratigraphic framework. Assuch, all labwork done in the Rooney Group is ac-companied by extensive field-mapping and strati-graphic logging. To provide the strongest geologiccontext, the group collaborates with

Rooney Lab members in the mass spec suite (L-R: Alan Rooney;Lexie Millikin; Erica Evans and Sierra Anseeuw)

tions and enhance our capacity to parse out thesedimentary record, especially in the Deep Timewhere biostratigraphy is of limited utility.

Paleozoic Glaciations & Biodiversification:Interrogating the Role of TectonicsThe Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event(GOBE) and Ordovician Radiation define a criticalinterval for Earth’s biosphere, during which life ex-panded and diversified concomitant with increas-es in ecosystem complexity. These changes oc-curred against a backdrop of ocean oxygenation,intensification of continental weathering andtectonic shifts. It has been suggested that tectoni-

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cally-mediated global cooling and formation of icein the southern hemisphere drove establishmentof thermohaline circulation and increased nutrientflux to continental shelves, priming the planet forrapid biodiversification.However, establishing the precise timing and dura-tion of the physical drivers that drove this stateshift in earth’s systems has remained elusive. Forthis project, graduate student Erica Evans is work-ing to: 1) leverage the Re-Os and U-Pb geochro-nometers to refine age constraints for siliciclasticsections which contain essential biotic and geo-chemical records and, 2) generate high-resolutionOs and Nd chemostratigraphic data through theGOBE and Hirnantian Glaciation in order to in-terrogate the role of tectonics and continentalweathering as drivers for the expansion, prolifera-tion and contraction of life through this interval.Current efforts are focused on generating datafrom the western margins of Laurentia and Baltica,utilizing a combination of drill core and outcropsampling from sections exposed in the Yukon Terri-tory (Canada), Nevada (USA) and Scania (Sweden).

Tracing the Ice: Deciphering the Dynamicsof Ice Sheet Loss in a Warming WorldPolar ice sheets wax and wane with Earth’sclimate, playing a critical role in global sea level,ocean circulation and weather patterns. Despiteintensive research, a key limiting step in predictingthe effects of global climate change dependson accurately forecasting rates of ice sheet loss.In many current predictions, sea level rise willhave catastrophic environmental and economicconsequences, however, many of these modelshave large uncertainties for sea level rise. A more

precise and mechanistic understanding of icesheet dynamics is urgently required to understandsea level rise in a warming world. The Plioceneepoch, 5.3 to 1.8 Ma, is a robust analog for modernand near-future climate conditions. Studies onthe Mid-Pliocene Warm Period (3.3-3.0 Ma) revealthat polar ice sheets possibly underwent rapid andcatastrophic collapses, under a climate state withatmospheric CO2 comparable to today’s values(>400 ppm), and global temperatures similarto those predicted for the end of this centuryby the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange. Classically, studies of paleo-ice sheetdynamics rely on oxygen isotope proxy data frommicrofossils in sediment cores. However, oxygenisotope data has several shortfalls; measurementsare often taken at sites far from the highlydynamic ice sheet margin, and the implicationsfor ice volume are complicated by factors suchas salinity and variable ocean chemistry. Thus, aninability to acquire empirical data addressing therelevant mechanisms and time-scales of Plioceneice sheet loss has resulted in poorly constrainedice sheet and sea level models.An overarching goal of the Rooney Group is torevolutionize our understanding of ice sheetdynamics using osmium isotopes to generate un-paralleled empirical records with the critical reso-lution necessary to capture the mechanisms anddynamics of Pliocene ice sheet loss.Specifically, we will measure the rates of ice sheetcollapse with unprecedented temporal resolu-tion; deconvolve the links between northern andsouthern hemisphere ice sheet fluctuations; anduncover the nature of ice sheet loss during a pe-riod of warming oceans and rising atmosphericCO2. This work represents a cutting-edge applica-tion of osmium (Os) isotope profiling, leveragingthe lab’s analytical strengths and mechanistic un-derstanding of Os isotope systematics to addressthe fundamental and urgent question of how icesheets behave in evolving climates. The RooneyGroup laboratory is uniquely positioned to pursuethe trace (femtogram) isotopic measurements us-ing novel methodologies that we are developingat Yale. This research program will deliver the firstdirect evidence of past ice sheet coverage andpast episodes of ice sheet retreat – when, where,and how rapidly – providing highly informativeempirical data to enable predictions for comingdecades and centuries. The outcome will be a ma-jor advance toward answering longstanding ques-tions: Does ice sheet destabilization occur linearly

Graduate student Erica Evans isolating and purifying rhenium priorto column chromatography and analysis via mass spectrometry

FACULTY RESEARCH

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or exponentially – is it gradual or pulsed? Howdo collapsing ice sheets in opposite hemispheresinfluence one another? Which ice sheets are mostsusceptible to rapid collapse? The research isgrounded in three fundamental principles: 1) thePliocene is a robust analog for Earth’s future cli-mate; 2) Os isotope signals are transferred intothe sedimentary record during intervals of glacialadvance and retreat and; 3) drill cores of marineseafloor sediments adjacent to retreating icesheets can retrieve these Os signals, providinghighly-resolved (potentially decadal-scale) re-cords of ice sheet dynamics.

Mid-Pleistocene TransitionThe nature of what type of material lies beneathan ice sheet has a large control over the rates oferosion and flow. Determining how changes inbasal substrate from bedrock to regolith or fromregolith to bedrock can drive increases in massloss is difficult due to the limited accessibility ofbasal ice interfaces, and lack of preservation ofolder subglacial deposits. In order to address howbasal conditions affect ice movement, graduatestudent Erica Evans is working to test the hy-pothesis that the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (anenigmatic change in ice sheet volume that oc-curred between 1.2 Ma-650 ka) was triggered bythe removal of deformable regolith by ice sheetsthus exposing hard, crystalline bedrock beneath,which permitted Northern Hemisphere ice sheetsto become thicker and therefore less responsiveto shorter-term orbital forcing. This project lever-ages analysis of osmium isotope ratios from IODPsediment cores from the North Atlantic in con-junction with studies of basal bedrock geology.

Fieldwork in Svalbard, 2018. Group members Lexie Millikin, Tim Gibson and Alan Rooney alongside colleagues from Dartmouth Collegeand Oxford University.

FACULTY RESEARCH

Data generated from this project will shed lighton how substrate conditions influence the paceand tempo of ice sheet movement on millennialand centennial timescales. Nadia Grisaru’s under-graduate thesis work characterizing the osmiumisotope composition of bedrock from the Cana-dian Shield complements this research by refiningestimates of the integrated Os isotope composi-tion of weathered material delivered to ocean ba-sins during glacial erosion.

OSMIUM IN THE MODERN ENVIRONMENTThe use of Os isotopes as a paleoweathering proxyin deep-time research requires knowledge of howthis element behaves in the modern environment.Trina White, an undergraduate doing her seniorthesis in the Rooney Group, is working to charac-terize the Os concentration and isotopic composi-tion of sediments and porewaters from Long IslandSound, as well as seaweed samples from the Arc-tic, to better understand how complexation, withand degradation, of organic matter affects Os.As our current understanding of the fluxescontributing to the Os isotopic mass balance inmodern and ancient seawater has been predomi-nantly determined through observational data ofmodern natural systems, our understanding of howOs becomes mobile into fluids is limited.Flint postdoctoral fellow Drew Syverson usesexperimental isotope geochemistry to elucidatehow physiochemical processes govern the fate ofdissolved Os upon water-rock alteration of conti-nental and oceanic crust. These data are integral tomass-balance models for elemental budgets dur-ing intervals of enhanced continental and/orreverse weathering.

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Brian was a pioneer in mineralogy and eco-nomic geology and a legendary educator whoinspired numerous students to pursue geol-ogy with careers in academia, government andindustry. He was a Professor at Yale since 1966,served as Department Chair soon after arriving,from 1967-1973, and became the Eugene HigginsProfessor of Geology & Geophysics in 1972. BrianJohn Skinner was born in Wallaroo, South Austra-lia on December 15, 1928. He earned a Bachelor’sdegree in geology and chemistry, with a minor inphysics, from the University of Adelaide in 1950,and then went to Harvard where he earned aPhD in geology in 1955; during that time he metand married Catherine Wild, who we all know asour own Cathy Skinner. Brian was then a Lec-turer in Crystallography back at the University ofAdelaide from 1955-1958 (during which time Cathycompleted her PhD) before returning to the USas a Research Geologist at the USGS, where hebecame the Chief of the Branch of Experimen-tal Geochemistry and Mineralogy from 1962-1966.In 1966, Yale recruited him away from the USGSwith an eye to his heading the Department ofGeology & Geophysics. Brian’s scientific careerwas both eclectic and prolific. He was one of theworlds leading experts on the crystallography andgeochemistry of metallic ores. While his work wasinvaluable in the mining industry, he also wroteextensively about resource management andsustainability. He was an expert on sulfide mobil-ity from ores to brines to lava lakes in Hawaii, didextensive work on the mineralogy of sea floorrocks, and performed some of the first analysis oflunar rocks returned from the Apollo 11 mission.Brian was the author of numerous papers andnotably the author or editor of some 20 books.

His textbooks included ones on economic geol-ogy and resources, and several famous and popu-lar introductory texts such as “Blue Planet,” “TheDynamic Earth,” and “An Introduction to Physi-cal Geology,” which were read by thousands ofstudents over the years. Brian was an immenselypopular instructor, especially for his class G&G 110Introduction to Geology (and various incarnationsthereafter), for which he was filmed as part of the“Great Teachers Series.” He served the scientificcommunity as President of the Geochemical Soci-ety (1973), the Geological Society of America(1985) and the Society of Economic Geologists(1996), and as Editor of the journal, EconomicGeology. His honors included Fellowship in theGSA, the Mineralogical Society of America, theConnecticut Academy of Science and Engineer-ing, the Silver Medal of the Society of EconomicGeologists, the Geological Association of CanadaMedal, the Neil Miner Award from the NationalAssociation of Geology Teachers, and two honor-ary doctorates, from the Colorado School of Minesand the University of Toronto. With Brian’s passing,Yale and the geological community lost a scientificleader and a beloved educator. But we are proudand lucky to have been able to call Brian Skinnerour colleague and friend.

Dave BercoviciChair, Yale Earth & Planetary Sciences

MEMORIES OF BRIAN SKINNERBy some of his Students and Friends

I am so sad to learn of Brian’s passing backin August.

Even though our lasting friendship and his won-derful mentorship dates a ways back in the Holo-cene, I had not checked in with him for sometime nor did I factor in the layers of sedimentthat undoubtedly had formed since our last gettogether. Brian was one of the best teachers ayoung, bright-eyed Freshman G&G student couldhope to have at Yale. He was so inspiring andexciting to have as a professor and even more funout on a field trip. Although the equally amazingJohn Rodgers was my thesis advisor, Brian tookgreat interest in my topic which covered the bed-rock, glacial and industrial history and ecology of

IN MEMORIAM

Brian Skinner (December 15, 1928 – August 21, 2019)

Eugene HigginsProfessor Emeritusin the Departmentof Geology &Geophysics

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STARLING CHILDS ‘76 G ‘80

Brian Skinner was my PhD supervisor. After I leftYale our friendship grew during his trips to Aus-tralia. Brian was a rare gem-quality individual and,like a well-formed crystal of a rare mineral, therewere many well-formed and sparkling faces to hischaracter. One face was his scholastic brilliance, highlightedby his first-class Honors Bachelor’s degree in geol-ogy and chemistry from Adelaide University andhis PhD from Harvard. Another was his athleti-cism that led to the famous Australian Antarcticexplorer, Sir Douglas Mawson, Brian’s GeologyProfessor at Adelaide University, advising him tofollow in his footsteps and become an Antarcticexplorer as he had the necessary intellect andphysique. Brian didn’t follow this advice much tothe benefit of all who knew him at Yale. Anotherface was his talent for administration which firstshone brightly at the USGS in Washington DC, andlater at Yale as Chairman of G&G for ten years. Another face was showmanship – those of my eraat Yale will never forget G&G’s 1976 Grad StudentSkit night when, in the year of the USA’s bicente-nary, Brian arranged for all the faculty to come inappropriate period costume and be led into themain lecture theatre by the New Haven Fife andDrum band. Showman Brian had the temerity tocome finely-attired as George 3rd of England, withCathy by his side dressed even more splendidly asQueen Charlotte.

Curiosity was a critical face. Brian had an insa-tiable and eclectic curiosity that was aided by akeen observational eye. A hand lens accompaniedhim 24/7 and was used not only to inspect rocksand minerals, but also to study in detail every-thing from a faulty ballpoint pen to the head ofan ant that had just bitten him while picnicking inthe Australian bush. Outdoors, Brian’s binocularscompeted with his hand lens. They were used pri-marily for birding and geology and for whateverelse caught Brian’s attention. When he didn’tfully understand his observations, he’d ask any-one within earshot for explanations, irrespectiveof whether they were friends, students or totalstrangers. Responses not to Brian’s liking, par-ticularly those coming from strangers, often ledto “interesting” incidents! One I remember well

Canaan Mtn here in NW CT. Another dear profes-sor, Robert Gordon, eventually wrote a book aswell that covered some of that early history of thecolonial iron works.

Brian and Catherine along with John Rodgers wereregular visitors to my home town of Norfolk formany years after I graduated Yale, and we enjoyedthe Yale Summer Music Concerts often precedingthe evening’s event with a fun picnic supper on thelawn beforehand.

If I had one funny story to tell and there are many,it was when I was researching the thorny issue ofdisposal of spent nuclear fuel for a paper in gradu-ate school at Yale’s School of Forestry& Environ-mental Studies. I decided Brian would be a goodsound voice to help me illustrate why bedrock dis-posal and interstate shipments could be so prob-lematic. Little did I know that he had long beforeserved on a presidential science advisory commit-tee on that very subject, and his recommendationto that committee was that they could dispose ofall of the country’s nuclear waste in the seismicallystable and very ancient crystalline rock forma-tions right here in Connecticut. I was shocked tohear that though I knew he was probably rightdepending on which formations one chose todrill into! When I asked him what the response tothat suggestion was, he simply said the commit-tee discarded it outright because his estimate ofthe drilling costs to dispose at necessary depths(>2 miles) would have required billions of dollarseven in the 1970’s. His take on the whole problemin a nutshell was that no one in Washington DCwanted to face up to the costs associated withspent fuel and spend the necessary amount ofmoney to put the waste deep enough into stablebedrock for all time. His take on it was that untilthey were willing to spend the necessary money, itwon’t ever get done.

Brian always went right at the obvious truth andreality of any situation. He was a pragmatic andpatient man who had a contagious zest for under-standing and sharing his knowledge of the manywonders of this world. His devotion to Catherineand his family was rock solid and never wavered.We have lost a great man, but his teaching, hislegacy, and fundamental truths will live on foreverin our hearts.

IN MEMORIAM

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IN MEMORIAM

occurred during a visit to Canowindra in centralNew South Wales where many species of Devo-nian fish fossils have been unearthed and are dis-played in the local Age of Fishes Museum. Whileviewing an exhibit comprising a huge slab of localsandstone studded with many 10’s of fossil fishBrian asked a nearby museum volunteer what hadcaused such a massive fish-kill. Her reply was thatthe fish habitat was an ancient river in which thewater level begun falling, trapping hundreds of fishin a muddy water hole that eventually dried up,killing all the fish. By then Brian was on his handsand knees examining the host sediments with hishand lens. He looked up and said “… that’s utternonsense – just look at the grain size of the sedi-ments and this cross-bedding.” The volunteerstood her ground and repeated her explanation,paraphrasing the story given on the poster behindthe specimen. Later the volunteer came up to meand asked “Who does that bloke think he is doubt-ing my explanation?” I said, “don’t worry abouthim – he’s just a famous geologist who loves agood argument.” She smiled and said “Well I’m aretired kindergarten teacher and I sometimes hadto deal with kids just like him!”

A major face on the Skinner crystal was generos-ity. Over the years many people have been thebeneficiaries of Brian’s interest, support, advice,enthusiasm and attention. Brian gave generouslyof his time to students, post-docs, and colleagues,many learned and professional societies, as wellas to his family, and a large circle of friends andacquaintances across the world.

All of Brian’s character traits came together atYale to form a rare gem of an educator. His G&G110 “Rocks for Jocks” class was always popular aswere his more advanced resource-focused under-graduate classes. His graduate classes were com-prehensive and demanding, but always interesting.He challenged us to be original thinkers, to developnew ideas and to quantitatively test them. Thetextbooks he authored and co-authored extendedhis educational influence around the world.I treasure the memories I have of Brian and amvery grateful for the many ways he contributed tomy development.

NEIL WILLIAMS ‘76

Professor Skinner, Brian as he insisted I call himover the past several years, has always been andwill always be my favorite professor. He teased mefor three years about playing football while shar-ing his immense knowledge of economic geology,which I use to this day. I will miss him greatly.

KEN JENNINGS ‘76

I owe my career to Brian Skinner. When I took hisintroductory geology class in 1975, I was an unen-thusiastic physics major. Brian turned me on tothe wonders of geoscience, and it’s been a greatride ever since, although it took me awhile to set-tle on my own speciality of seismology.

PETER SHEARER ‘78

At the end of my senior year in 1979, I wasapproached by Brian, asking if I’d like to partici-pate in a research study based on his paper “ASecond Iron Age Ahead?” Little did I know howimportant this was, or how wide the repercus-sions would be in dealing with such a subject. Iembarked, for a year, as a research assistant tohelp with a look into a possible 50-year supply anddemand model for the element copper. Round-ing out the participation in this study were threeother professors, Tjalling C. Koopmans, William D.Nordhaus, and Robert B. Gordon. Well, what can Isay, how can I sum up my participation in such anendeavor with, frommy stature, such giants? It turned out that the“four horsemen,” as Tjalling jokingly nicknamedthe group, went on to write a book based on thisresearch titled “Toward a New Iron Age?: Quantita-tive Modeling of Resource Exhaustion” (1987).

And so, I’d like to note how this is an example ofhow Brian, I felt, was so prescient about things hewas very curious about, and how he passed thiscuriosity and wonder on to those who were taughtby and/or worked with him. There isn’t a day Idon’t think about my participation in this studyand all that it has taught me. There were othersmaller activities he asked me to participate in asa result of this study, but none made a strongerimpression than the work with this group. AndI believe it made a strong enough impression on

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IN MEMORIAM

Bill Nordhaus that it’s effect lasts to this day. I’llnever forgot how Brian commented, during an ini-tial meeting, on how in our presence was a Nobellaureate (Tjalling) and how he believed that it wasjust a matter of time before another member (Bill)would have that honor bestowed on him. It turnsout, some 40 years later, he was absolutely right!

I have great memories of my time at Yale and par-ticularly within the G&G community that existedat that time. Everything was so new to me. AndBrian encouraged me to revel in that newness andto further explore things that were discovered asa result. It is remarkable, after all these years, howthat thinking and attitude have stood the test oftime. Even now, things are unfolding whereby Bri-an’s insights from early on are proving to be quiteforetelling relative to some very important presentday investigations. Brian was fond of saying hethought that “geologists would lead the way” tohelp uncover answers to some of our most press-ing issues. There is still much to learn and ponderbut in the long run, I believe he will be proven cor-rect, again.”

ROBERT G. ORTEGA ‘79

As a soft rocks undergrad who migrated frompaleontology to neontology early in my career, Iwill always remember Brian’s remarkable kindness(with a strong dose of sharp humor), and passionfor all things crystals, minerals and rocks. Thispassion, instilled a lifelong love of geology, andgave me a sense of the movement of time that hasserved me well across a career in animal behavior,ecology and conservation.

JOSHUA GINSBERG ‘80

My deepest condolences to the Skinner and Yale-Geology families for the loss of Brian. I am whereI am - with a passion for the science and a satisfy-ing career - because of Brian. Brian’s class cameat a pivotal time in my Yale journey. I was a dis-satisfied biology major, but I really didn’t knowwhere to turn scientifically. His physical geologyclass dropped from the sky for me. It had rigorand Brian’s Australian accent made it sound likea swashbuckling enterprise. Furthermore, Brian

always leavened his class and interactions withstudents with humor. His last lecture in the classmade a lasting impression on me. He talked aboutthe idea of a “support square”- the part of theearth that each of us draws on to provide water,food, energy, minerals, and recreation. He madeit clear that this support square could be definedrigorously, and that the number of squares avail-able to humanity was finite. This link to environ-mental science came way ahead of its time. To me,this was a lesson that a good scientist works withthe facts in a way to make them relevant to all ofus. I never talked politics with Brian, but I doubtthat he was accused of being a tree hugger - allthe more reason to admire his prescience. I shouldalso mention the sequel to that last lecture. Brianinvited all of us into the faculty lounge wherecases of Swann’s lager sat on the tables (this wasin the days of the 18-year-old drinking age). Dealsealed. Brian also got me my first real job in geol-ogy, by connecting me with Skip Hobbs, who hehad stayed in contact with over the years. Thatjob helped to convince me to deepen my love forearth science by pursuing a PhD. It was very sat-isfying to return to Yale some years later for analumni event on the same speaking bill as Skip,and to look into the audience and see Brian listen-ing. I feel extraordinarily lucky to have encoun-tered a scientist with Brian’s perceptiveness andengagement.

TIM HERBERT ‘80

I was a graduate student with Brian Skinner from1975 to 1979. It was clear to me right from thebeginning that Brian was a man of exceptionalintellect and geological experience, as well assomeone who knew how to “get to the point”quickly and effectively. He had a reading groupwith three of us grad students early in my timeat Yale, where we had quite a demonstration ofhis ability to dissect examples of the publishedliterature. That was one example of why he wasrenowned for his work as editor of the journalEconomic Geology. It was also a reminder to usalways to be ready to back up our opinions withsolid evidence!Having seen how Brian, as journal editor, inter-acted with the top people in the field of eco-nomic geology, I wondered how he dealt with

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IN MEMORIAM

the undergraduates to whom he was teaching anintroductory geology course or our undergraduatemajors in the department. For me, struggling tosurvive my first year of graduate school, here wasan unexpected find. The undergraduate majorsAND the students in the intro geology class reallyresonated with Brian. He took the majors seri-ously, helped them make decisions about coursesto take and graduate programs to consider. Manyof those young students who spoke particularlyhighly of Brian were women, some of whom I metagain in later years when we all were in academia.He certainly helped me when I was ready to enterthe job market.

Among his many talents, Brian was a superbteacher of both upper-level graduate and intro-ductory-level undergraduate courses – a combi-nation that one does not see often enough. Thefruits of his teaching talents were disseminatedmore widely, in that he authored and co-authoredseveral popular textbooks. I came to appreciatethose particular talents as the years went by in myown academic career, which involved a consider-able amount of teaching. I regret that I don’t thinkI ever made a special point of telling him that.

JILL DILL PASTERIS G ‘80

I was a geology major at Yale, graduating in 1981and it was my good fortune to be a JE’er whenCathy was Master of the College because I gottwo-for-one so to speak! I am currently a facultymember and chair of the geology department atVassar College.

When Steph called to tell me Brian had passed itwas just before classes began at Vassar. It tookonly a moment to realize that on the very firstday of my Intro Geology course I would show mystudents a white garnet. Why? From my under-graduate days in Kline Geology, I remember clearlythat minutes after a mineral identification test inhis mythic introductory course, Brian was jump-ing out of his skin to know if we had guessed whatwas the dense, white, dodecahedral mineral hehad slipped into the lot. He delighted in findingout if we had outsmarted him by determining thatthis usually red mineral had manifested itself in anunusual way. His playful self was amused by our

guesses and he used them to convey to us withhis sparkling enthusiasm the diverse beauty ofEarth’s minerals. He was an extraordinarily inspiredteacher. Nearly 40 years after graduating fromYale, I still want to do for my students what Briandid for me—nurtured a sense of wonder aboutthe Earth. On my desk at Vassar, is a sample ofBotswana kimberlite which Brian gave me that Icherish. I look at it every day before I go into classand it incites me to try to bring some of Brian intomy classroom.

From the outset of my undergraduate career Brianmade me feel worthy of his teacherly attention.I felt that he expected great work from me andbecause of that he boosted my confidence. AndI am not the only one who felt this coming fromBrian. Upon learning of Brian’s death I contactedother former students who had the good luck tostudy with him. In the words of one, he blew onsparks of interest in geology and flames caught.Supportive, encouraging, out-of-his-way helpful,he was a mentor who believed in us, offered thesoundest advice, and ultimately impacted ourlives to degrees beyond measure. We reminiscedabout what a jokester he was. He told me that thepointy end of a rock hammer is good for noth-ing but picking one’s teeth. He told New Havenresidents whose backyard outcrops we examinedthat we were looking for gold. We all recalled hisextraordinary warmth which facilitated contagiousconnections with other Skinnerites. He organizeddinners for us and if we were going to Australia heextended invitations to visit with his mother andbrothers.

Speaking personally, Brian showed me that therelationship between a student and teacher cangrow over a lifetime so that the one-time stu-dent comes to depend on the teacher not onlyfor seemingly unlimited letters of recommenda-tion and professional validation but for personalsustenance. Brian supported me during a MeToomoment in graduate school by listening to andbelieving me. At a time when LGBT people werenot so welcomed in our society, he and Cathyembraced me when I came out to them and in1993 introduced them to my wife--as Lassa hadurged, knowing that Brian and Cathy would lov-ingly accept me for who I am. I don’t know if hewould have owned the moniker but to me, that

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IN MEMORIAM

boisterous, strapping Aussie was an early femi-nist who nurtured me as an aspiring scientist andeducator. Perhaps it stemmed from watching thetribulations and successes of Cathy, my other pre-cious mentor, and his obvious pride in, and lovefor, his daughters.

How Brian made room for me in his already fulland rich life I’ll never know. I think he had a gen-erous spirit. He has always felt like my guardianangel. It is one of my greatest good fortunes tohave had him as an integral part of my life for 42years. I admired, respected and loved him and Iwill always carry him in my heart.

JILL SCHNEIDERMAN ‘81

Brian Skinner had a profound, positive influ-ence on the trajectory of my life. At the end ofmy freshman year, I had no idea what I wantedto major in. I was interested in science, and hadtaken freshman Bio, but that track seemed verypre-med and not a path I wanted to take. A senioron the hockey team, Greg Coyes, suggested I takethe intro Geology class sophomore year to see if Iliked it. Greg had majored in Geology. Well, “Rocksfor Jocks,” the intro course, was taught by Brian.To my surprise, I loved it. It was a large and unrulyclass that fit Brian’s boisterous, energetic styleperfectly. The hook for me was Brian’s passion. Itwas clear he loved the subject to his bones andhe projected that to the class. At the end of thatcourse, I spoke to Brian about geology as a majorand he convinced me to go for it. Later, Brianbecame my senior adviser and guided me throughwriting my senior thesis. Later still, when I was outin the working world, Brian wrote letters of recom-mendation for me - getting my first job in the oilindustry and for my application to business school.Whenever I reached out to Brian over the years,he was always there. How would I describe Brian?Kind, tough, blunt, supportive, brilliant, caring andmost of all funny. He always had a twinkle in hiseye and a ready comment to lighten any situation.Brian was one of those truly remarkable peopleyou meet only a few times in your life.

BLAIR WHEELER ‘81

I have 2 distinct memories of Dr. Skinner. In prob-ably 1980, I was taking his Intro to Geology course(the famous “Rocks for Jocks”) which predictablyhad quite a few football players in it. We oftenwatched movies in that class, but one day, heintroduced the movie by saying, “You think yourfootball is tough? THIS is football!” andproceeded to play a movie about Australian rulesfootball where the players crushed each other, allwithout any pads!My second memory is that party that he heldat the end of the semester with the barrel full ofFoster’s beer for everyone!What a great man who made science FUN!

ANNE KENNERLEY ‘83

How sad to hear of Professor Skinner’s passing. He seemed as enduring as the subject he taught. Anyone who had him as a professor will rememberthe excitement and fun he brought to the studyof geology – not to mention the Foster’s Lager hebrought to the final exam!

My most enduring memory, though – perhaps evenstronger than his pronunciation of the rock BASS-alt – is of his slide shows. Every third or fourthslide would show his wife, Catherine (then masterof JE College and a renowned geologist in her ownright), standing beside some outcropping or otherto provide scale. Each time she’d appear, he’d say,“And there’s my wife …,” followed a few momentslater by the inevitable, “… in her salad days.”

It’s an expression I don’t think I’ve ever heard any-one else use, but it always made me smile. As Ithink back on Professor Skinner, it will be in hissalad days that I remember him. I think he’dlike that.

GERRY O’REILLY ‘83

I am glad I got to drop into the department inrecent years to reconnect with him, and to remindhim of his great support to me my senior year andupdate him on my career after Yale.

I did drop in this Spring and his light was offin his office, and regretted missing him.

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IN MEMORIAM IN MEMORIAM

He was a great man, and I am very grateful I hadhim as my advisor

CHRIS USHER ‘83

Brian Skinner is why I am a geology major. Iwalked into “Rocks for Jocks” in search of a pain-less way to meet a distributional requirement. Iwalked out of that first lecture seeing the world,starting with East Rock, differently.

KATE KRESSMANN KEHOE ‘84

I remember him vividly, both as a professor and asa wonderful presence in Jonathan Edwards Col-lege. He really loved life at Yale.

On one field trip to a shopping center somewherenear campus to look at some rock formations, hewas showing us, and happily showing off, his tal-ent for throwing his rock hammer spinning end-over-end up into the air and catching it on the waydown with no apparent damage.

In the College, JE Fellows dinners often seemedto end up with Professor Skinner in the commonroom with anyone who walked by to join himdrinking the Australian beer and eating raw oys-ters he had brought along for the occasion.

JOHN KURTZ ‘84

“Focus, Tim!” “Focus, Ellery!” I can still hearProfessor Brian Skinner’s words booming from thefront of the G&G 110 classroom where he stood atthe screen showing slides of scientific phenomenaand his adventures and travels in geology. Did hemean literally focus on the slides on the screen?That was, of course, the literal meaning. But asan undergraduate in this highly popular class,encountering for the first time what I would laterdiscover to be Brian Skinner’s unique and unmis-takable blend of intensity and joviality, seriousnessand humor, competitiveness and kindness, andwhat seemed an unshakable pride in the quality,meaningfulness, and beauty of the natural worldand his presentation of its wonders, I could nothelp wondering just a bit: was he really asking for

focus on the part of his students on these beauti-ful manifestations of the natural world, and thesereminiscences of scenes of his own vast and variedexperience that he wanted to share in all their clar-ity with a new generation of students?Fast forward to the end of the semester -- thelast meeting of this highly popular class. I do notrecall his exact words, but as Professor Skinnerbrought this wonderful experience -- its manyexplorations of the “Dynamics of the Earth,”including field trips, slides, serious science mixedwith a few humorous reminiscences and stories --to a close, he invited all the students to an optionalmeeting in the faculty lounge to chat, reflect onthe class, and socialize. Most of us in the presenceof this veteran “Giant of Geology” were so youngwe had never legally had alcohol, but it is rumoredthat even some Australian lager was offered there. Many of us took Professor Skinner up on his offerin that lounge and met not only with him, but withseveral other professors, graduate students, andstaff whom he had also invited, all sharing theircomaraderie (which Professor Skinner said wasalmost a prerequisite to being a proper geolo-gist), and their experiences with us. At this meet-ing, encouraged by the experience in G&G 110and curious to learn more, when I asked ProfessorSkinner a question about taking further 200-levelclasses, including Mineralogy, he smiled and hisface seemed to light up just a bit. He called over ayoung man - Professor Jay Ague - to help explainand encourage me to take it. Between ProfessorsSkinner and Ague’s inspiring (at times humorous)and encouraging words, I was sold on mineral-ogy and, in fact, had decided to major in geologyso I could learn more about the processes andmaterials of the planet (and perhaps find ways toimprove them if I could) and share in the joy andsatisfaction (“pleasant and rewarding challenge,”as Professor Skinner would later put in a letter tome) of these two great scientists and the otherspresent.The mineralogy class (G&G 220) did not disap-point for Professor Skinner co-taught this withProfessor Ague - and this duo was made up oftwo of the best professors I ever had at Yale. AsI shared with Professor Skinner in a letter a fewyears ago when he took emeritus status, it seemedto me that he and his young protégé were, attimes, in a friendly competition to see who wouldteach the class better. Since each was such an

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IN MEMORIAM

expert in his field, and since they worked togetherand collaborated seamlessly, this benefited thestudents and made for a great class. (It was a no-brainer I’d go on and take “Petrology” with Profes-sor Ague and “Mineral Deposits” with ProfessorSkinner later on, both of which turned out to begreat courses as well.) In the interest of time and space, I will not go into detail how Professor Skinner was a great pro-fessor and mentor to me (frankly, at times I feel Ishould have consulted him more on some matters,including his strong encouragement for me to pur-sue science as a career). He was a role model andinstrumental to my Yale experience. I will just men-tion two kind and generous things he did for methat illustrate his character and magnanimity.

The first was in 1991 when as an undergraduatesenior, I challenged myself by taking a special-ized upper-level (graduate) geology class, “MineralDeposits,” with Professor Skinner which few (infact no) undergrads but me dared to take. I knew Iwas in over my head when equations, locales, andsubstances I didn’t even know existed came upmore frequently than ones that were familiar. Sothough I considered myself a dedicated student,(and did eventually graduate with academic hon-ors) I knew earning a top grade in this class wasgoing to be a tall order. When Professor Skinner, who with all his encour-agement could only provide me enough guidanceto write some decent papers and earn an A- gradein the class, issued the grade report, apparentlyat the same time he took a most unexpected andencouraging step. In my mailbox, completely unex-pected and unsolicited, was an official commenda-tion from Professor Skinner, cc-d to my residentialcollege dean. Surprised, I opened it and found thatProfessor Skinner had written highly encourag-ing words to the effect that I had distinguishedmyself in a class with more experienced graduatestudents and deserved recognition and commen-dation. Though it is just a piece of paper, I feel thisshows his dedication to me and all of his students’success. He maintained very high standards, butdidn’t want me to be discouraged by not alwaysmaximally meeting those high standards, and tokeep challenging myself and try even harder nexttime to get everything in top form.For a second and final of many generous actsby Professor Skinner which I could describe, fastforward three years to 1995. I found myself teach-ing a summer course in geology to “gifted and

talented” middle school students as part of theDuke TIP program in North Carolina. Duke gaveme leeway to design and develop from scratch,using resources from the Appalachian State Uni-versity’s geology department, a 3-week intensiveclassroom and field-trip based course. I modeledthe class on many of my Yale courses (slightlyshortened and simplified for the younger audi-ence), including G&G 110. When a textbook wasneeded, we went with The Dynamic Earth by BrianJ. Skinner and Stephen Porter. The class was alarge success -- the students enjoyed it greatly, itreceived favorable reviews, and I was invited backto give the class a second time. For the final exam,I asked the students to write a letter to the text-book’s author, Professor Skinner, about the class,the text, and some aspects of what they had dis-covered and learned. With their permission, I senttheir letters to Professor Skinner, who respondedwith an encouraging letter to me and a requestfor the names and addresses of the students so hecould write back to them. And write them back hedid, offering congratulations to them, support forme, words of wisdom and encouragement in theirlives and studies, etc. It was a wonderful momentfor them to be hearing from this luminary scientist,professor, and author -- and to continue the chainof contacts into a new generation. I could tellProfessor Skinner hoped they would be includedas new scientists.In his words of encouragement and in recalling hisown life, I remember that Professor Skinner’s letterto the children included this idea (I am paraphras-ing, but I believe quoting it almost exactly): Hesaid that he had been fortunate to live a life of“pleasant and rewarding challenge.” He spokehighly of this idea and commended it to the kids.

From my experience, I believe that Professor Skin-ner exemplified that ideal in everything he did andtaught at Yale. Work and life should be pleasant --because we are seeking answers, because we areasking good questions, because we are channelingand bringing forth the best in ourselves -- in shortbecause of the challenge. In his phrase, “pleas-ant and rewarding challenge,” I believe ProfessorSkinner crystallized an aspect of his wisdom andthe character of a great teacher -- who makes oth-ers better by asking them to strive for their ownpersonal best, not to seek a life per se of comfortsand convenience, but to exert effort, develop skillsand knowledge, and seek pleasure and reward inchallenge.

I was deeply saddened to learn of Dr. Skinner’spassing. I have many fond memories of his environ-mental issues seminar, but even fonder memoriesof field trips into outstate Connecticut, when heand Cathy would host our group at their beautifulhome. His common sense approach to economicgeology planted the seeds of my own views onenergy and the environment. He will be missed.

BEN STEWART ‘97

On a field trip to look at rocks on a nearby beachin Connecticut with a crew of geology undergrads,Brian tripped and fell, hitting his head on a boul-der and ending up with a decent gash. All the stu-dents gasped and offered to take him to the hos-pital. He said, “Not necessary! It’s nothing worsethan I’ve seen in the wars!” And he continued thefield trip with a bloody forehead like nothing hadhappened.

AVERY WHITMARSH ‘00

Dr. Skinner, or BJS as we affectionately referred tohim, was my senior thesis advisor during the 2000-2001 academic year. At times, my thesis partnerand I were not the most dedicated students anddid our best to avoid the possibility of checking inwith him at 3:30 tea or elsewhere in the hallwaysof KGL. When he was out of his corner office, hestuck a post it note on his door ‘BJS away!’ Inthose pre-social media days, we emailed eachother regular ‘BJS away!’ status updates so as toknow with what degree of stealth we needed tooperate while in the building.

At the end of my senior year, he addressed me inhis well-known direct way: ‘well, Alena, not every-one was meant to read the rocks.’ Despite my lessthan stellar performance as a geology student, heremained a mentor and an inspiration to me formany years after. I’m sad to hear of his passing- I’d have loved one final check-in to make up forthose I avoided!

ALENA BARTOLI ‘01

Right...in 1972 Brian blew on the spark started byDick Armstrong for my interest in geology, and theflame caught. He was always cheerful and sup-

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Now that my own daughter is at Yale, I can sensethe wisdom of Professor Skinner’s words andexample. She has challenged herself at everyopportunity (in keeping with Professor Skinner’sformula, in as pleasant a way as possible while stillmeeting goals), and she has a great deal of cama-raderie, friendliness and competitive fire. As muchas, or more than yours truly, who homeschooledher practically since birth using the best of myYale education (partly imparted by Professor Skin-ner), like the undergrads and grad students andyounger professors he mentored, like many of thekids he encouraged (with the letters to my stu-dents 20 years ago) she has not only a taste foracademic rigor, a will to constant self-improve-ment, and scientific mindset . . . but also, what is itcalled?. . . . “Focus!” Professor Skinner was without a doubt one ofthe very best professors I had at Yale. I hope thismessage serves as a tribute from a grateful formerundergraduate student for the time and experi-ence of learning, growing, and finding pleasantand rewarding challenge from this luminous scien-tist and educator, who I know was respected andwill be missed by all.KENNETH A. QUITTMAN ‘92

I’m very saddened to learn of Professor Skinner’spassing. He was one of my favorite professorswhile I was a Geology major in the mid-1990s.

It struck me that he genuinely believed in all ofhis students’ capabilities to learn and grasp eventhe hardest of concepts. For me, that was usingthe petrographic microscope and interpreting myfindings. When it finally clicked for me late in thesemester, Professor Skinner offered me the oppor-tunity to work with him over summer break to ana-lyze quarry samples for Gallaudet University. I wasthrilled to be given his trust that I could handlethe work and he did so with just enough oversightto ensure the scientific findings would be my own(but still helpful to the client). He was truly a plea-sure to learn from and his dedication to his stu-dents and their progress was unfailing.

I send along my condolences to his family, friendsand colleagues. He is fondly remembered.

JESSICA CARDON ‘96

IN MEMORIAM

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IN MEMORIAM

portive. He set up my post-senior year at the Uni-versity of Adelaide, complete with invitations tovisit with his mother and his brothers. Supportive,encouraging, out-of-his-way helpful. A role modeland a “friend in a high place” who helped me feelimportant.

PAUL K. LINK

Although I do not qualify as an undergraduate nora graduate student of Brian Skinner, I do quality assomeone who had a 17-year working relationshipwith him as a member of the editorial staff of Eco-nomic Geology.

Room 305, KGL, was the home of Economic Geol-ogy for 27 years, with Brian Skinner as editor.When I was hired in 1978 as a copyeditor of thejournal, Brian had already served for 10 years. Thejournal was founded at Yale by Waldemar Lind-gren, in 1905. By 1907 eight issues were publishedannually, which continues to be the publicationschedule. It is remarkable that Economic Geologyhas only had six editors since its founding; with theexception of the 2nd Editor, Alan Bateman, Brianis the longest-serving editor of the journal. Manychanges took place during Brian’s tenure as editor:1. Economic Geology became an international jour-nal—to be sure there might have been a dispropor-tionate number of Australian special issues, but wecan forgive him for that!2. As the scope of the journal became more inter-national, so, too, did the editorial board.3. The growth of the journal was phenomenal. In1968, the year before Brian became editor, the totalnumber of pages published annually was 979. By1985, the annual number of pages published hadreached 2,000 where output continued until Brianresigned in 1995.4. Under Brian’s leadership the transition to onlinecopyediting took place. He not only insisted on thetransition but supported the editorial staff throughthe challenges of that significant change.

Following Brian’s resignation, he suggested thatthe New Haven editorial staff continue to copyeditthe journal and assisted us in contracting to do thework. Copyediting Economic Geology has alwaysbeen both challenging and satisfying, and I con-tinue to copyedit part-time, now in my 41st year!

Well after he resigned as editor, I often soughtBrian’s help with scientific-related problems, andless than a month before he passed away, he wasvery helpful in working through issues in a poorlywritten paper.

I would like to share some personal thoughtsabout my long working relationship with Brian.

I am grateful for Brian’s leadershipI admired hisability to keep the larger picture at the forefrontand at the same time pay attention to importantdetails, get to the heart of the issue, not sweatthe small stuff but put into action the ways andmeans to get the task accomplished. His methodof assigning responsibilities and not only allow-ing, but insisting that we work independently,was just one of the ways he developed the best inall of us. Very soon after I began my work, Briantaught me a very important lifetime lesson; everyrequest for help, large or small, was given Brian’sattention and responded to in a timely manner. Hewas always honest and forthright when that wasneeded, he was patient when that was needed, hewas generous and thoughtful at all times.

Through the years his energy, his creativity, hiswillingness to take a minute to listen and help-whether it be about a “well (water!) problem,” a“mortgage problem,” the “formation of a smallbusiness,” or the “best shrubs for difficult yards,”was a source of inspiration and help to me.

Last but not least, Brian’s delightful sense ofhumor always got our attention I will never for-get the morning he appeared at the door of 305KGL with the greeting “Good morning wenches!”His ability to share a good story not only was theoccasion for a hearty laugh but often did much tolighten a difficult day.

One sometimes unknowingly makes significantdecisions in lifesuch was mine when I decided tojoin the staff of Economic Geology.

We will miss Brian, but all that he was to each ofus will always be part of our lives!

MABEL J. PETERSONProduction Editor, Economic Geology

Academy of Sciences in 1994.Although our Department, Yale and the scientificcommunity are that much less with his passing,one could not ask for a fuller life than the oneenjoyed by George Veronis.

David BercoviciChair, Yale Earth & Planetary Sciences

MEMORIES OF GEORGE VERONISBy Some of His Students, Postdocs and Friends

George has been a key mentor to me. His enthu-siasm for geophysical research was simply conta-gious. Every time I think of him I recall an excitingand extremely intelligent man who happened totreat me very well for some reason. I remem-ber him as a generous soul and a very cultivatedman. I owe him a lot. In particular, after less thanone year as a graduate student he managed tohave me go to the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics atWoods Hole for the summer and what an impor-tant experience that was! Also, after my advi-sor left before my thesis writing was completed,George took me under his wing and provided mewith his own resources to complete my thesis writ-ing. This help was precious indeed as those werethe days before we all had a computer to produceour publications. The way George treated meinspired me to gain confidence in myself in spiteof my many shortcomings. From him I learnedto treat my own students as younger colleagues,no less. Interestingly I was not an oceanographeror a GFD’er. Thanks in large part to what Georgetaught me, I nevertheless ended up loving to workon fluid dynamics whenever I had a chance in spiteof the sometimes great differences between ordi-nary fluids and ionospheric plasmas. As far as Iam concerned, our world has lost a great man inGeorge Veronis.

JEAN-PIERRE ST-MAURICE, G ‘75

As a grad student at Yale from 1971-76, my wifeMargaret and I got to know George and Kimsocially through the many G&G parties and pic-nics we all attended. Our friendship grew afterl returned to Australia to take up a researchposition at the Australian National University’sResearch School of Earth Sciences in Canberra. Not long after we had settled into our ANU apart-

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George was one of the giants in the field of physi-cal oceanography and geophysical fluid dynamics.He was a Professor at Yale since 1966, DepartmentChair from 1976-1979, head of the Applied Math-ematics Program from 1979-1993, and named theHenry Barnard Davis Professor of Geophysics andApplied Science in 1985.

George Veronis was born on June 3, 1926 in NewBrunswick, New Jersey. After his service in theUS Navy submarine program in the Pacific dur-ing World War II, he attended Lafayette Collegeto study mathematics, and then went to BrownUniversity to get a PhD in Applied Mathematicsin 1954. After his PhD, he held research positionsat the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton,the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and atMIT, before joining the Yale faculty in 1966.

George’s research contributions included funda-mental and seminal studies impacting both physi-cal oceanography and fluid dynamics, especiallyin the first theoretical models of ocean circulationand western boundary currents (e.g., the GulfStream), finite amplitude theories for thermalconvection, and a large body of work in double-diffusive convection. He was the editor of theJournal of Marine Research for 37 years, and a co-founder (in 1959) and director of the GeophysicalFluid Dynamics Summer Program at the WHOI, forwhich he shared the AGU Award for excellence inGeophysical Education in 2008. George’s manyhonors included being elected a member of theAmerican Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1963, aFellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1975,a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science& Letters in 1981, and a member of the US National

IN MEMORIAM

George Veronis (June 3, 1926 - June 30, 2019)

Professor Emeritusin the Departmentof Geology &Geophysics

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I was a physics grad student in the 1990s with aG&G advisor, Barry Saltzman. It was sometimeschallenging to transition between disciplines,but mathematics is a great unifying languageand George’s mathematically rigorous, but stilllight-hearted style of teaching, helped me a lot.Although he was not on my thesis committee,he was always available to discuss my methodsof analysis and simulation and offer constructivecriticism. Even when I was a postdoc at NCAR,we corresponded sometimes about technicalitiesof the IPCC reports and test cases for numericalsimulations. My memories of him will continue toinspire my research and teaching.

AIMÉ FOURNIER, G’ 98

I was lucky to be one of the last to take George’sYale GFD course, but it wasn’t until later that yearat the Cambridge GEFD summer school that I real-ized his substantial presence in the field. There,when we were presented with the Boussinesqapproximation I mentioned to a rather stunnedcourse mate that Veronis had actually been myGFD teacher, just the year before. To me Georgewas a quiet-giant, intellectually speaking — some-one whose generosity and patience made room forthe mundane struggles of a young student. Dur-ing scientific discussions, the glint of a smile andgleam in his eye were reassuringly suggestive thatfrom his perspective I was on the right track; yetenough mystery remained such that I was neverquite sure he wasn’t simply amused by my bum-bling course to rather straight-forward answers.

ERIK S. THOMSON, G ‘10

I am so sorry to hear that such an influential andkind person in our field has passed.I will always remember emailing George Vero-nis from a hospital bed in DUH, explaining thatI had fallen seriously ill between semesters butthat I was interested in enrolling in his springGFD course. To my surprise, he responded thathe would come chat with me in person--he thendug himself out of his snowed-in driveway, cameto campus, and walked the five flights of stairs upto my room in the health center. Our conversation

ment George and Kim moved into a neighbouringapartment during what was to become one ofGeorge’s many visits down under to work with theGeophysical Fluid Dynamics Group at ANU.

During these visits, which spanned severaldecades, I discovered that George was a man ofmany talents. He was as an excellent cook, a loverof fine wine and an interesting conversationalist. He discussed topics as diverse as growing up in animmigrant Greek family; the many achievements ofthe Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Summer Programat the WHOI, a program which he was very proudof; and the politics of the Greek Orthodox Church.George loved the outdoors and his stylish sunhatswere always decorated with a striking bird feather.A strong common interest was birding and weshared many ornithological adventures aroundCanberra, Connecticut and Cape Cod. George’sfavourite bird was the Scarlet Tanager.As an economic geology student at Yale I tookno courses with George but he enriched my lifein ways I never anticipated when I arrived there. George was a special friend, a great scientist, YaleProfessor and a proud and generous Greek Ameri-can and he will be sorely missed.Margaret and I pass on our heartfelt condolencesto Kim and the Veronis family.

NEIL WILLIAMS G ‘76

George Veronis was one of the top theoreticaloceanographers in the world. His contributionscovered diverse subjects, and his intellectual lead-ership was remarkable. He fit in well at Yale, andclearly enjoyed the sort of cross-disciplinary inter-actions that flourish in such a diverse department.

When I met George on my initial visit to Yale, I wasgreatly impressed by the sort of work he did (justwhat I wanted to do!) and by the way he mademe feel welcome. After I settled in at Yale, I foundGeorge to be a fine teacher with high standardsthat I struggled to meet. In the years since I leftNew Haven, George has been a warm friend andsupporter. It is hard to express the depth of mydebt to George for the way he made me find thepath within myself. The growth that I underwentwith him is hard to comprehend.

KENNETH BRINK, G’ 77

IN MEMORIAM

I was lucky to be one of the three students takinghis GFD class right before his retirement. In hislast class, he wrote down equations about doublediffusion on the blackboard and conducted theexperiment showing salt-fingers. After finishingthe experiment, he quietly said that it was his lastat Yale. I witnessed the great man’s last teachingmoment. He was a mentor and teacher. He encour-aged me to continue theoretical research in geo-physical fluid dynamics. I will always remember hisanswer when I asked if there are systematic waysto find the relevant length and time scales in fluiddynamics. I expected his wisdom or professionaladvice. Instead, he smiled and answered, “Youngman, life isn’t that easy.” Even now, I am writingdown equations on paper with a pencil followinghis legacy. I will deeply miss him.

WOOSOK MOON ‘14

I first met George when, as a very green Britishgraduate student, I attended the 1966 GFD Pro-gram at Woods Hole. On this and later visits to theprogram it was wonderful to see the way in whichGeorge combined tough scientific questioning withgreat collegiality and generosity. I also came toadmire and appreciate his long service as the edi-tor of the Journal of Marine Research. His dedica-tion and fairness in dealing with authors, referees,and associate editors were exemplary. George’swell-deserved recognition through various awardsis well documented but, in serving with him on acouple of awards committees and in other situa-tions, I also came to see the effort that he put intosupporting and recognizing other scientists. Hispassion and concern for other people carried overinto his involvement in social issues; I rememberhim telling my wife and me about Avaaz, https://secure.avaaz.org/page/en/ If the reader of this isnot already a supporter, think about becoming onein memory of George! He was a wonderful personas well as a great scientist.

CHRIS GARRETT, University of Victoria

I was shocked to hear of George’s passing - I feltas though he would live forever. Even thoughGeorge was one of the giants of GFD, I think ofhim as a long-time friend who always gave kindand honest advice. I’m sure he will keep watchover Walsh Cottage from above, and perhaps

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set the course for much of my later professionallife, as he urged me to strengthen my appliedmath skills and also to apply to REU programs.While I didn’t end up taking the GFD class thatspring, it is because of George Veronis’ patienceand willingness to trek to campus and chat with asick undergrad about her future that I have beenable to pursue oceanography. Professionally, I willalways be in awe of his contributions to our field,and personally, I will always be grateful to him forencouraging me along my career path.Sarah Dewey ‘10

The Earth has truly lost one of its influential sci-entists and a person who inspired many with hislove for oceanography, fluid dynamics, and appliedmathematics. Even in his 90’s an image of Georgewas that of a strong man, with a deep sooth-ing voice and a warm smile, a modest man whorespected people around him and who would sitin the far corner of a lecture room while havingencyclopedic knowledge of the subject and onlyoccasionally giving insightful comments aimed athelping speakers straighten their ideas. He was agentleman with the highest moral values and hada captivating personality that always made it inter-esting to have discussions with him, regardless ifthey were on a scientific topic or not. George hada unique gift of bringing people together, whetherthrough his GFD Summer School at Walsh Cot-tage, at relaxed (and at times not so relaxed!)softball games in Woods Hole, at dinner gather-ings or casual discussions in a hallway or over ablackboard. He was a remarkable teacher whoknew the material inside and out with an unshak-able foundation and had a good habit of givinginsightful answers to any of the raised questions.While taking his GFD class as a graduate student, Iquickly got fascinated with the subject and to thisday continue research in this direction. I must alsomention that English writing had a special place inGeorge’s heart and on many occasions, he helpedme and other students with language issues andemphasized the importance of explaining ideasclearly. His selfless willingness to help peoplearound him was something to admire. George willalways be a role model for me.

GEORGY MANUCHARYAN, ‘G 14.

IN MEMORIAM

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I remember a time when he was made to wait inthe outer office of the Provost for the better partof an hour, at which point he simply walked outand never went back, to the detriment of the issuehe wanted to raise; and he never forgave thatparticular Provost for this ungracious treatment.Administrators are often too busy to go past theimmediate persona, but my theory is that Georgewas not fond of the university administrationregardless of who was in power, but a few thingskept him at Yale nevertheless.

Those few things were his loyalty to his depart-ment and some of his colleagues whom headmired; he was deeply committed to the Uni-versity’s Applied Mathematics Program, whichhe managed single-handedly with no help butoccasional hostility from others. Finally, his lead-ership role in the GFD Program of the WoodsHole Oceanographic Institution gave him themuch-needed vent. At Woods Hole, he thoroughlyenjoyed the opportunity to meet established aswell as younger colleagues and learn about theirwork. It was through George that I was introducedto the GFD crowd such as Willem Malkus, Ed Spie-gel, Melvin Stern and Lou Howard.

One of the strongest character traits of Georgewas his commitment to the tasks he undertook:He was the director of the GFD Program at WoodsHole for some 50 years, the editor of Journalof Marine Research for some 37 years and thedirector of the Applied Mathematics Programfor some 15 years. George and I used to keep intouch through occasional email exchanges longafter I left Yale. In one of them he spoke about hispersonal life in revealing ways. I think it can bequoted here because it further shows his strengthof character. George came from a family of mod-est background and means, and his education wasinterrupted by the service in the US Navy, wherehe worked aboard submarines in the Pacific Oceanduring World War II, but he excelled in the aca-demic career he chose in an elite institution. In hisown words: “My mother’s father was killed by athief when he tried to save his chickens from beingstolen. My mother was younger than 8 years oldat the time and had no schooling. She was sentto take care of a doctor’s children, where she wasemployed for 16 years. She was very religious andlearned the liturgy by heart and eventually got

leave some kindly worded criticisms on theblackboard in the middle of the night!

BARRY RUDDICK, (co-principal lecturer withGeorge and Raymond Schmitt) GFD ’96

My first encounter of George Veronis was whenhe was an invited speaker at the very first meet-ing I attended, in 1977, of the Division of FluidDynamics of the American Physical Society. It wasclear that he had thought through the subjectthoroughly and wanted to present it in particulardetail. Fast forward to February 1979 when I inter-viewed for a faculty position at Yale. George wasthe last visitor on my schedule and B.-T. Chu tookme to see him at his office. He was gracious in howhe explored the limits of my knowledge, whichmade the conversation a lot of fun. The job wasoffered barely three weeks later (and I accepted itwithin a week), and knew from B.-T. that Georgehad blessed it with enthusiasm. My admirationfor George is somewhat influenced by a sense ofgratitude that went with this knowledge, so I can-not pretend to present a balanced account. But Iknew George well. For many years as colleagues,we met about once every two weeks or so in eitherthe GFD seminars in George’s department or FluidMechanics seminars in Engineering and AppliedScience (where I was stationed), or simply forlunch. We had no agenda for most of those meet-ings and explored many inconsequential things. Iabsorbed the enormity of George’s work slowly,as if by osmosis, and was simply fortunate to havehad colleagues like him and Barry Saltzman whoexpanded my horizons considerably. Some of mystudents took George’s courses.

George and I were separated by more than twentyyears in age and he was an established professorbefore my career started, so we were not exactlyfriends in the traditional sense. But we sharedmany traits. It always seemed to me that Georgewas underappreciated by the powers at large atYale. Part of the reason was that George was nota showman and did not make a big deal about hiswork which was at the center of the developmentof quantitative science of the flow in the atmo-sphere and oceans. Part of the reason may alsohave been that George was quite open with hiscriticism of certain colleagues and administrators.

IN MEMORIAM

sion was teaching – and not just GFD; he thrivedon sharing his knowledge and felt so much satis-faction seeing people absorb his enthusiasm aboutdifferent subjects. He met weekly with foreignstudents to teach them English. He would havethem read out loud to him from US history books.He loved Yale football. One day he said to me,“Doreen – I keep sending emails to Carm Cozza –the coach of the Yale football team – telling himwhat he should be doing and he doesn’t evenrespond to me – do you believe it?”

George loved life – the simplest things would bringhim joy. He would lean way back in his JMR chair,a big smile on his face and clasp his hands and say“Doreen – you won’t believe this……” and I wouldthink – “oh this is going to be something reallyimportant” and he would tell me how he baked36 delicious hard rolls; how his morning walk waswonderful; how his Volvo hit the 200,000-milemark and was still running like a brand new car;how his son Ben was starting a new venture; howhis daughter Melissa was so good at math; howhe saw a bobolink – one of his favorite birds; howhe was amazed at Emily Dickinson’s poems; howswimming in Crooked Pond was spectacular. Hewas humble, grateful and lived life in the moment.

George faced so many challenges in his life and hedid so with courage and patience and failing wasnever an option. He seemed indestructible. I thinkthat is why it is so hard to believe he is gone. Afew months before he died I said, “George – I stillmiss JMR so much.” He replied “Ahh yes, Doreen,those were the halcyon years.” He was certainlyright about that. I am truly blessed to have hadGeorge in my life and I think about him all thetime – I see his smile and remember all the thingsI learned from him – so in a way - he’s still guidingme and will for the rest of my life.

DOREEN ORCIARIJMR Ed. Asst. – the halcyon years (1980-2012)

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hold of a copy of the liturgy and managed to con-nect the written word with the spoken word. Dur-ing WWII she wrote to me (in Greek) when I was inthe Navy and I responded, also in Greek, althoughboth of us wrote in kitchen Greek, since we hadno formal training in the language. My entire child-hood was influenced by my mother, who had anendless quest for knowledge of nature. I couldnever repay her, of course, but when she was get-ting older, she could not walk much because of herheart and when I learned that, I walked the hallsof the Yale hospital until I happened to walk intothe office of William Glenn, a pioneer in artificialhearts and pacemakers. My mother was one of hisfirst patients and she lived 9 years after the proce-dure. My father finished 9th grade. Both of themwere proud of their children, although they didn’tunderstand what any of us did.” In his last e-mail,he mostly spoke about his wife’s health, which wasof great consequence to him. His death seems tohave been peaceful with no struggle, and Georgegreatly deserved that peace.

I will miss George; it was important for me just toknow that he was there, solid and steady as a rock,when I needed his advice and thoughts.

K.R. SREENIVASAN, New York University

It’s hard to express in words how profoundlyGeorge Veronis influenced my life. Little did Iknow in 1976, at 27 years old, that the man whojust hired me to work in Yale’s G&G departmentwould become one of the most important men inmy life. I was in awe of George’s brilliant mind andcouldn’t comprehend how those yellow notebookpapers filled with numbers and unfamiliar symbolswritten in pencil (all over his “messy” desk) couldend up as over 100 monumental publications andcountless awards and honors. When hearing thename George Veronis, most people will think of hiscontributions to oceanography and GFD but that’snot what I think of when I hear his name. I think ofhis heart. I was privileged to spend almost everyday for 36 years with George. He was the mostpatient, kind, generous, and selfless man I haveever met. Anyone who came to his office in KGL– colleague, student, editorial assistant, janitor –was greeted with a smile, his full attention and hisdesire to help in any way he could. George’s pas-

IN MEMORIAM

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Lucian Brewster Platt ’60 passed away peacefullyon January 1, 2019, at the age of 87, Lucian gradu-ated from the Taft School in 1949 and earned BS(’53), MS (’57), and PhD (’60) degrees from Yale.He served in Army Counter Intelligence beforecompleting his doctorate, and subsequently tookup teaching positions at George Washington andVillanova universities, and then Bryn Mawr Col-lege, where he retired as Professor of Geology in1993. A member of the Merion Cricket Club, hewas an avid bridge and tennis player, skier, USGSfield researcher and cartographer, and lecturer onclimate change.

G&G received this alumni update from Lucian inthe fall of 2018: I walked on a glacier the first timein 1949. Since then I have visited glaciers fromMexico City to 80 degrees north latitude and onthree other continents. Glaciers are interesting,and how they interact with global climate hasbeen a big part of my reading for some decades.Here is a summary of what I have learned. Thepublic has heard little or nothing of this.”

Written human history demonstrates cyclic shiftsfrom warm to cold and back in 1,000-year repeats.Here they are. Europe had comfortable climatein classical Rome 2,000 years ago. This was fol-lowed by the cold Dark Ages with a temperaturetrough about 600AD. Then two or three degreesof warming over centuries culminated in the Medi-eval Warmth which peaked in 1,000AD a littlebit warmer than now. Cooling climate, beginningabout 1200AD froze the settlements in fjords onSW Greenland and on the north tip of Newfound-

George DeVries Klein G ’60 passed away on April30, 2018. George earned a BA in Geology fromWesleyan University in 1954, an MA from the Uni-versity of Kansas in 1957 and a PhD from Yale in1960. He was a faculty member of the Universityof Pittsburgh from 1961 to 1963, the University ofPennsylvania from 1963 to 1969. He then accepteda faculty appointment at the University ofIllinois at Urbana-Champaign and waspromoted to full Professor in 1973.

In 1971, he proposed the term “Tidalite” for tidalprocess facies formed by tidal currents.This term was proposed to focus attention on therole of tidal sediments in the rock record, whichat the time were considered of minimal impor-tance. That facies recognition became a main-stream depositional system recognized globallyby sedimentologist and was refined subsequentlyby Klein and others. It led others to organize aninternational “Tidalite” research conference. Klein’slasting contribution was to define a new processfacies and define the research agenda for devel-oping it. In the process, sedimentologists becameaware of the role of astronomic forcing factors onsediment deposition.

ALUMNI IN MEMORIAM

In Memoriam

George DeVries Klein Lucian Brewster Platt

rocks, of the behavior of sulfur during metamor-phism, of microprobe dating of monazite, andof the tectono-metamorphic evolution ofNew England. Bob held a faculty position atYale from 1978 – 1986, he moved to VirginiaTech in 1986.

Floyd F. Sabins Jr ’55 was an American petroleumgeologist, educator and author who was a pioneerin the development, application and advocacy forthe field of geological remote sensing.Floyd was born on January 5, 1931 in HoustonTexas and graduated from the University of Texasat Austin in 1952 with a B.S. in Geology and wenton to earn a PhD in Geology from Yale Universityin 1955. He met his wife Janice in New Haven, Con-necticut while studying at Yale and they marriedon October 2, 1954.

Floyd and Jan had 2 children, Barbara andEdward. Floyd loved his family and was a proudgrandfather to 4 grandsons, Robert and EricBelfield and Connor and Spencer Sabins.Floyd worked for Chevron in La Habra, Californiafor 37 years and was fortunate to travel the worldand work on many projects. He was proud to be

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land, resulted in the Little Ice Age. This time wascolder than the Dark Ages, so cold that the RiverThames froze over at London during winters in the1600s. A new warming trend began about 1700that brings us to today, much like 1,000 years agoand 2,000 years ago. Although this written historyis best recorded in Europe and the far east, wenow know that the Medieval Warmth was precededand followed by colder climate on five continentsand in two oceans, all with lower CO2 in the atmo-sphere than now. As no fossil fuels were burnedthen, some natural cause(s) must have existed andcontinue periodically.

This recorded periodic history, confirmed andreconfirmed with geologic measurements andobservations, indicates that we are at or very nearthe peak of the current warm cycle. The remark-able conclusion is that we will soon enter a coolingpath, not the terrifying heating guessed at into thefog of the future by climate modelers.

Robert (Bob) Tracy, Associate Professor 1978-1986, died at his home in Blacksburg, VA on Janu-ary 6, 2019. Bob is survived by his wife of 50years, Patricia. Bob was a metamorphic petrologistwho’s thinking always stemmed from the deepestunderstanding of mineral structure and chemistry,and from a delight in the beauty of phase equilib-ria. He made important contributions to our under-standing of the measurement and significanceof chemical zoning in metamorphic minerals, ofmetamorphic phase equilibria, of the processesof crustal melting and the mineralogy of residual

IN MEMORIAM

Floyd F. Sabins

Robert (Bob) Tracy

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the subject of geological remote sensing atuniversity level.Subsequent editions of the text won criticalacclaim as one of the top five geoscientific booksin print and is still considered the gold standard ofgeological remote sensing textbooks along witha detailed laboratory manual that has been usedby multiple generations of teachers and studentsworld-wide. Floyd was nearly finished completingthe 4th edition of his landmark text with co-authorJim Ellis and it will be published later this year.Floyd received a number of honors and profes-sional awards notably the William T. Pecora Awardby NASA and U S Department of Interior in 1983for “His outstanding contributions in education,science, and policy formulation to the field ofremote sensing.” This award is the highest recog-nition in the field of remote sensing in the UnitedStates. A decade later in 1993 Floyd received theChevron Chairman’s Award for “His contribution tothe discovery of a major copper deposit in Chile.”This is Chevron’s highest achievement award.With all of his professional and academic accom-plishments, Floyd always considered himself firstand foremost a field geologist, due to his earlytraining at the University of Texas and during hisdissertation while at Yale mapping the CochiseHead Quadrangle in southeast Arizona.In his spare time Floyd loved to fish and travelledthe world to many exotic and storied fishing spotswith each photo of his catches becoming largerand more colorful than the last. He volunteeredfor many organizations including Trout in theClassroom, St Jude Hospital, the Southern Califor-nia Bluebird Club and MADD to name a few.He was especially proud of growing and maintain-ing his impressive collection of fern plants inhis back yard.

Floyd will be greatly missed by family, friends andcolleagues. He is an inspiration to all those whofollow the career path of geological remote sens-ing and those who aspire to a life well-lived.

on the discovery teams for Chevron’s prospects inthe North Slope of Alaska, and the Hawtah Trendcomplex, Raghib Oil Field and Dilham Oil Fieldsin Saudi Arabia. He was also a key player in theexploration success at the Hedinia and Agogo OilFields in Papua New Guinea.

Floyd’s parallel career within Chevron’s mineraldivision was no less impressive. He worked onthe discovery teams for copper deposits at Ujinaand Collahuasi in northern Chile as well as the ElPenon gold deposit also in Chile. Significant dis-coveries were also made by Floyd and the Chev-ron team for boron and lithium deposits at Salarde Uyuni in Bolivia along with multicommodityexploration targeting using remote sensing in Peruand Mexico.

Following retirement from Chevron, Floydremained active as a consultant for private andgovernment agencies. Notably, from 2010 to 2013,supported by the US Dept. of Defense and theUSGS, Floyd guided processing and interpretedmultispectral and hyperspectral imagery of over25 sites across Afghanistan, finding new mineralexploration targets to promote economic devel-opment.

Floyd became involved in the higher educationalsystem starting as an Adjunct Professor in 1966 inthe Geological Sciences Department, University ofSouthern California and later as a Regent’s Profes-sor with the Earth and Space Sciences Depart-ment at UCLA in a teaching role concurrent withhis Chevron position.

He was a giant among other remote sensingexperts and an entertaining field guide for trips toremote sensing sites in the western United States.He led many field trips under the auspices of theGeological Society of America, ERIM, NASA andJPL to classic test sites including Cuprite, VirginiaCity, Yerington and Death Valley often givinginsightful presentations on the outcrop with imag-ery on display.

One of Floyd’s other lasting professional con-tributions includes the landmark book entitled“Remote Sensing Principles and Interpretation”first published in 1978 at the dawn of earth lookingsatellite technology. It was the first textbook on

IN MEMORIAM

Revolution, by John Adams,John Hancock, and 60 otherscholar-patriots. Member-ship recognizes the out-standing achievements ofindividuals in academia, thearts, business, governmentand public affairs. Derek andShun join a distinguishedgroup that includes Benja-min Franklin, Albert Einstein,Martin Luther King, Vera

Rubin, Barack and Michelle Obama and Yale Presi-dent Peter Salovey.

Derek was also awarded the Lapworth Medalin February 2020, the most prestigious honourbestowed by the Palaeontological Association,awarded to a paleontologist who has made a sig-nificant contribution to science via a substantialbody of research.

Alexey Fedorov, Professor,was named a 2018 Gug-genheim Fellow. Guggen-heim Fellows are appointedon the basis of impressiveachievement in the pastand exceptional promise forfuture accomplishment.

Maureen Long, Professor,was selected as one of the2020 finalists for the pres-tigious Blavatnick NationalAward for Young Scientists.The Awards were origi-nally founded in 2013 andadministered by the NewYork Academy of Sciences,to elevate the work andresearch of early-career sci-entists. The Awards recog-

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Dave Bercovici,the Frederick W. BeineckeProfessor and Chair of Earth& Planetary Sciences, waselected to the NationalAcademy of Sciences in2018 and inducted in 2019.Members are elected to theNational Academy of Sci-ences in recognition of theirdistinguished and continu-ing achievements in original

research. Membership is awidely accepted mark of excellence in science andis considered one of the highest honors that a sci-entist can receive.

Dave was also elected to the Connecticut Acad-emy of Science and Engineering. He was inductedat their annual dinner on May 28, 2019.

Bhart-Anjan Bhullar,Assistant Professor, was therecipient of an AmericanAssociation of AnatomistsYoung Investigator Award inApril 2018. The award rec-ognizes investigators in theearly stages of their careerswho have made importantcontributions to biomedicalscience through research inthe morphological sciences.

Derek Briggs, the G. EvelynHutchinson Professor ofEarth & Planetary Sciencesand Shun Karato, the KnopfProfessor of Earth & Plan-etary Sciences, were electedto the American Academyof Arts & Sciences, Derek in2019 and Shun in 2020. TheAcademy was founded in1780, during the American

RECENT AWARDS AND HONORS: FACULTY

Dave Bercovici

Bhart-Anjan Bhullar

Alexey Fedorov

Maureen LongDerek Briggs

Shun Karato

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Ellen Thomas, SeniorResearch Scientist, has beenelected to the GSA Fellow-ship. She was honored atthe Presidential Addressand Awards Ceremony atthe GSA Annual Meeting inPhoenix, Arizona on Sep-tember 22, 2019.

Mary-Louise Timmermans,Professor, received the Pres-ident’s Early Career Awardfor Scientists and Engineersin July 2019. The PECASE isthe highest honor bestowedby the United States Gov-ernment to outstanding sci-entists and engineers whoare beginning their inde-pendent research careersand who show exceptional

promise for leadership in sci-ence and technology. In addition, she was namedthe Harald Sverdrup Lecturer, one of the majorsection lectures at the American GeophysicalUnion in August 2019. Finally, Mary-Louise wasnamed the Damon Wells Professor of Earth andPlanetary Sciences in the Yale Faculty of Arts andSciences, in August 2020.

John Wettlaufer, the A.M.Bateman Professor ofGeophysics, Mathematics& Physics, was elected asa Fellow of the AmericanGeophysical Union in 2019.The AGU elects membersas fellows whose visionaryleadership and scientificexcellence have fundamen-tally advanced research intheir respective fields.

nize the past accomplishments and future promiseof the most talented faculty-rank scientists andengineers aged 42 years and younger at America’stop academic and research institutions.

Maureen was also awarded Yale’s Graduate SchoolGraduate Mentor Award for the Natural Sciences.The Graduate Mentor Award recognizes facultymembers who have been exceptional in their sup-port of the professional, scholarly, and personaldevelopment of their students. It is the University’sprincipal award for superb teaching, advising andmentoring of graduate students.

Juan Lora, Assistant Profes-sor, was the recipient of theRonald Greeley Early CareerAward in Planetary Sciencesfrom the AGU in 2020. TheRonald Greeley Early CareerAward in Planetary Sciencesis presented annually andrecognizes significant early-career contributions to plan-etary science.

Noah Planavsky, AssociateProfessor, received the 2018F.W. Clarke Award from theGeochemical Society. TheClarke Award is the Geo-chemical Society’s premieraward for an early-careergeochemist.

In 2019, Noah was also pre-sented with the S. GeorgePemberton Award from theInternational Geobiology

Society. This award is presented to an early careerscientist for significant achievements in geobiology.

RECENT AWARDS AND HONORS: FACULTY

Juan LoraMary-Louise Timmermans

John Wettlaufer

Noah Planavsky

Ellen Thomas

underlying the Resilient Decentralized Locomotionof Brittle Stars” was selected as the winner of the2018 competition.

Jie Deng was a 2018 recipi-ent of AGU’s Study of theEarth’s Deep Interior Gradu-ate Research Award, basedon his work on melting ofEarth materials at deepEarth conditions.

Erica Evans received a 2019YIBS Small Grants Program,Doctoral Pilot Award forher project “Investigatingthe influence of ice sheetsubstrate on acceleratedmelting: Faster flows onbedrock or regolith?”

Caleb Gordon was awardeda Graduate Research Fel-lowship from the NationalScience Foundation in April2020. He is one of eightpaleontology students in theUnited States to receive theaward this year. This fellow-ship will support his researchin Anjan Bhullar’s lab on thedevelopmental evolution ofthe limb in aquatic reptiles.

Meng Guo was awardedan Outstanding StudentPresentation Award (OSPA)in the Volcanology, Geo-chemistry, and Petrology(VGP) section at the 2019AGU Fall Meeting in SanFrancisco. Meng’s presenta-tion was titled “Argon Con-straints on the Growth ofContinental Crust andIts Composition.”

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Sarah Arveson, in May 2018,was the recipient of theCT Space Grant GraduateResearch Fellowship. Thisaward, the second for Sarah,supported her work on thebehavior of sulfur at extremeconditions, as it applies toJupiter’s moon Io and otherS-rich planetary bodies.

Sarah was also awarded an Outstanding StudentPresentation Award (OSPA) in the Mineral andRock Physics (MRP) section at the 2018 AGU FallMeeting. Sarah’s presentation was titled “Evidencefor Liquid Immiscibility in the Fe-Si-O System atDeep Earth Pressures.”In addition, Sarah was also the recipient of AGU’sSEDI (Study of Earth’s Deep Interior) SectionAward for Graduate Research in 2020. The award ispresented annually to one or two graduate honor-ees for their notable contributions.

Neala Creasy was a recipi-ent of the 2019 GraduateResearch Award from theStudy of the Earth’s DeepInterior Section of theAmerican Geophysical Union,based on her work on thestructure and dynamics ofthe deep mantle.Neala was also recentlynamed as a National

Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, basedon her proposal “Shear Wave Splitting based on3D Seismic Wave Simulations: Forward to InverseModeling of Upper Mantle and D” Anisotropy.”She is carrying out her postdoc work at theColorado School of Mines.

Liz Clark won the Division ofInvertebrate Zoology (DIZ)Best Student Oral Presenta-tion Award. Each year theDIZ at The Society for Inte-grative and ComparativeBiology receives numerousentries for its Best StudentOral Presentation Award.Liz’s presentation “Insightsinto the Control Setup

RECENT AWARDS AND HONORS: STUDENTS

Sarah Arveson

Neala Creasy

Liz Clark

Jie Deng

Erica Evans

Caleb Gordon

Meng Guo

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Daniel Smith, along with hisadvisor Bhart-Anjan Bhullar,won a 2018 Vizzies People’sChoice award for photog-raphy from the NationalScience Foundation. TheVizzies, sponsored by NSFand Popular Science maga-zine, honor scientific visu-alizations that help peoplearound the world to betterunderstand scientific ideasand phenomena.

Emily Stewart is therecipient of an OutstandingStudent Presentation Awardin the Volcanology, Geo-chemistry, and Petrology(VGP) section at the 2019AGU Fall Meeting in SanFrancisco. Her presentationwas titled “Decarbonationof the subducting slab:observational constraintsfrom the Cycladic BlueschistUnit, Greece.”

Chris Whalen was given theNAPC Best Talk Award atthe 11th Meeting of the NorthAmerican PaleontologicalConvention in Riverside, CAin June 2019. The award wasfor the best student presen-tation at the meeting.

Bowen Zhao was the 2019recipient of a NASA Earthand Space Science Fel-lowship. The title of herresearch proposal was “Therole of cross-equatorialwinds in ENSO dynamicsrevealed by satellite-basedobservations and numericalexperiments.”

Ulla Heede has beenawarded the NASA FutureInvestigators in NASA Earthand Space Science andTechnology (FINESST) fel-lowship for her project titled:“Mechanisms of Changesin the Tropical Pacific MeanState and Walker Circula-tion in Response to GlobalWarming: Satellite-BasedObservations Versus ClimateModels.”

Alexie Millikin received a2019 grant from the Lewisand Clark Fund for Explora-tion and Field Research forher project “Timing, Tempo& Drivers of Tonian (1000-720 Ma) Eukaryotic Diversi-fication: Insights fromthe Radiogenic IsotopeRecord of Nordaustlandet,Svalbard.”

Nicole Shibley was awardeda 2018 Harriet Evelyn Wal-lace Scholarship from theAmerican GeosciencesInstitute. Nicole is studyingthe dynamics of the ArcticOcean. Her research com-bines theory and observa-tions to investigate oceanmixing processes that areresponsible for vertical heat

fluxes towards the overlyingsea ice cover. Her research is further supported bythe Department of Defense through the NationalDefense Science and Engineering Graduate Fel-lowship Program.

RECENT AWARDS AND HONORS: STUDENTS

Ulla Heede Daniel Smith

Emily Stewart

Chris Whalen

Alexie Millikin

Nicole Shibley

Bowen Zhao

STUDENT NEWS: UNDERGRADUATE & PhD

Christoph FunkeAdvised by: Mary-Louise Timmermans ComputingPressure Fields Over Laboratory Water Wavesusing Particle Image Velocimetry Data

Cerys HolstegeAdvised by: Noah PlanavskyToward an Understanding of Phosphorus Cyclingon Waterworlds

Seamus HoulihanAdvised by: David EvansPaleomagnetism of ca. 750 Ma Syenite Dykes ofthe Southern Congo Craton, Northern Namibia

Danya LevyAdvised by: Alexey FedorovPredicting Past and Future Variations in GlobalMean Surface Temperature with a Simple Model

Chenyu MaAdvised by: Michael OristaglioA GIS-based Analysis on the Capacity andFeasibility of Pumped Hydropower StorageFacilities in Tibet

Clara MaAdvised by: Alexey FedorovArctic Climate Change in NumericalExperiments with Abrupt CO2 Increase

G&G Graduating Seniors,Class of 2020

Nadia GrisaruAdvised by: Alan RooneyApplying the Re-Os Isotope System to a Surveyof Cratonic Bedrock in Northeastern Canada

Lindsay HoganAdvised by: Ronald SmithAir-Sea Fluxes in the Western Tropical Atlantic

Arianna LordAdvised by: Bhart-Anjan BhullarSnout Scale Development in AlligatorMississippiensis and the Ancestral Conditionof Keratinized Structures in the Reptilian Face

Sofia MenemenlisAdvised by: Juan LoraExtreme Precipitation and Atmospheric Riversin a Model of Pliocene Climate

30



Ariege BessonAdvised by: Ron SmithWeighing Earth, Tracking Water: HydrologicalApplications of Data from GRACE Satellites

Theo KuhnAdvised by: Jay AgueAl-in-Hornblende Barometry of Southern NewEngland Intrusions and Comparisonwith Metamorphic Bathograds

Holden Leslie-BoleAdvised by: Alexey FedorovGlobal Climate Impacts of the AMOC SlowdownCaused by Arctic Sea Ice Decline

Martha LongleyAdvised by: Noah PlanavskyLithium as a Proxy for Silicate Weatheringduring the Southeast Asian Monsoon

Peter MahonyAdvised by: Mark BrandonDetrital Zircon Geochronology and VitriniteReflectance Analysis of the Cascadia SubductionComplex, Washington

Sophie RuehrAdvised by: Xuhui LeeThe Oasis Effect: Evaluating Intrinsic BiophysicalMechanism Theory and its Implications forSustainable Water Management in Zhangye,Gansu, China

Madison ShankleAdvised by: Ron SmithGlobal Influences on the Indian Monsoon:Testing Existing Hypotheses withClimate Indices


Emily ChuAdvised by: Maureen LongThe Relationship of Seismic Hazard andBuilding Codes in Supercities


31


Elizabeth ClarkAdvisor: Derek BriggsHow to Build a Brittle Star: An Investigation ofthe Evolutionary History, Morphological Features,and Integrated Systems underlying OphiuroidLocomotionLiz is a Postdoc in Forestry & EnvironmentalStudies at Yale.

Devon ColeAdvisor: Noah PlanavskyA Toolkit for Tracking Earth’s OxygenationDevon is a Postdoc at Georgia Tech.

Kierstin DaviauAdvisor: Kanani LeeHigh-Pressure and High-Temperature ExperimentalInvestigation of SiC and Related Systems:Implications for Carbon-Rich PlanetsKierstin is a Postdoc at Harvard.

Katelyn GrayAdvisor: Ruth BlakeReconstructing Terrestrial Climates using ClumpedIsotope Thermometry and Phosphate OxygenIsotopes from Gar ScalesKatelyn is an Adjunct Professor at AustinCommunity College.

Shineng HuAdvisor: Alexey FedorovEl Nino Diversity, Intraseasonal Wind Bursts, andDecadal Climate ChangeShineng is a Postdoc at Scripps Institution ofOceanography.

Azusa TakeishiAdvisor: Trude Storelvmo/Ronald SmithSimulations of Aerosol Effects on Deep ConvectiveClouds: Sensitivity to Model Representations ofAerosoland Cloud-Microphysical ProcessesAzusa is a Postdoc at the Laboratoire d’Aérologiein Toulouse, France.

Yiqi ZhengAdvisor: Nadine Unger/Ronald SmithLinking the Land Biosphere with AtmosphericChemistry and Climate: Plant Volatile Emissions andOrganic AerosolYiqi is a Postdoc at the University of Alaska

Fairbanks.

Daniel MonteagudoAdvised by: Ronald SmithSatellite-based Permafrost Mapping and ClimateTrend Analysis in Northern North America

Trina WhiteAdvised by: Alan RooneyMacroalgae and sediments as records ofseawater 187Os/ 188Os composition in theLong Island Sound

PhD Students, 2018-2020May 2018

Eric BellefroidAdvisor: Noah PlanavskyDeciphering the Oxygenation of Earth’s Surface:A Combined Carbonate Sedimentological andGeochemical Study of the Mid-ProterozoicEric is an Associate at McKinsey and Company.

David ColwynAdvisor: Mark BrandonTerrestrial Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction fromMountaintops to SeaDavid is a Postdoc at the University of Colorado –Boulder.

Christopher KruseAdvisor: Ron SmithMountain Wave Propagation and Attenuation andTheir Influences on Earth’s AtmosphereChris is a Postdoc at the National Center forAtmospheric Research.

Mengnan ZhaoAdvisor: Mary-Louise TimmermansThe Dynamics of Arctic Ocean MesoscaleEddies and their Role in the BeaufortGyre Circulation SystemMengnan is a Senior Research Associate,Atmospheric and Environmental Research,

Inc (AER).

PhD Students, 2018-2020December 2018

Yana BebievaAdvisor: Mary-Louise TimmermansThe Origins and Evolution of Double-Diffusive Layersand Associated Heat Transport in the Arctic OceanYana is a Postdoc at the Geophysical FluidDynamics Institute, Florida State University.


Through the Reanalysis of ExperimentalDeformation Data and Geodynamic ModelingChhavi is a postdoc at the Washington Universityin St. Louis.

Varun MurthyAdvisor: Bill Boos/Ronald SmithThe Role and Control of Moist Convection inTropical and Monsoon Depressions

Terry Tang (Isson)Advisor: Noah PlanavskyOn the Co-Evolution of Life and Planetary ClimateStabilityTerry is a faculty member at the University ofWaikato.

PhD Students, 2018-2020May 2020

Janet BurkeAdvisor: Pincelli HullPhysiological and Ecological Implications ofPlanktonic Foraminiferal Test MorphologyJanet is a postdoc at Michigan State.


Sarah ArvesonAdvisor: Kanani LeeExperimentally Determined Material Properties atExtreme Pressures and Temperatures: Applicationsto Earth’s CoreSarah is a postdoc at Berkeley.

Christopher WhalenAdvisor: Derek BriggsMacroevolutionary, Phylogenetic, andPaleoecological Patterns in the Paleozoic WaterColumn, with an Emphasis on Early Deuterostomesand CephalopodsChris is a postdoc at the American Museum of

Natural History and Yale.

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PhD Students, 2018-2020 May 2019

Robin DawsonAdvisor: Celli HullThe Cretaceous Greenhouse: Applications ofClumped IsotopesRobin is a Postdoc at the University ofMassachusetts, Amherst.

Jie DengAdvisor: Kanani LeeMelting of Earth Materials: Constraints from bothExperiment and Density Functional TheoryJie is a Postdoc at UCLA.

Anwar MohiuddinAdvisor: Shun KaratoAn Experimental Study of Grain-Size Evolutionand its Rheological Consequences during thePhase Transitions in Olivine to its High-PressurePolymorphsAnwar is working in the Technology Departmentat Intel.

Holger PetermannAdvisor: Jacques GauthierLife-History Studies on Squamates from theMojave and Colorado Deserts of Californiaas a Test for Paleoecological Application ofSkeletochronologyHolger is a Research Associate with the DenverMuseum of Nature and Science.James SuperAdvisor: Celli HullOrganic Proxy Reconstructions of Warm PastClimatesJames is Associate Editor at Nature Geoscience.


Neala CreasyAdvisor: Maureen LongInvestigation of Lower Mantle Seismic Anisotropyand Heterogeneity Via Seismic Observations andMineral Physics ExperimentsNeala is a postdoc at the Colorodo School ofMines

Chhavi JainAdvisor: Jun KorenagaImproving Constraints on Olivine Rheology

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POSTDOC NEWS

33

Annie Bauer was a Postdoctoral Associate working

with Alan Rooney from 2017-2019, she received the

Simons Collaboration on the Origins of Life Postdoctoral

Fellowship in 2018. The fellowship supports independent

research topics related to the origins of life. The title of

her proposal was: The Dynamics of the Lomagundi-JatuliExcursion and Implications for Early Life. Annie is currently

an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geoscience at

the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Drew Syverson was a Flint Postdoctoral Fellowworking with Noah Planavsky and Alan Rooneyfrom 2017-2019. In 2018, Drew attended trainingat the East Pacific Rise. He had the opportunityto use HOV Alvin, the submersible, which was “anenlightening experience”. For more information: http://csw2018.unols.org/

Bin Wen was a Postdoctoral Associate working with

David Evans from 2016-2019. The title of his research

was: Paleomagnetism and tectonic history of Tarim

and Alxa terranes, central Asia. Bin also worked on the

topic of “Ediacaran kinematics of the West Avalonia

(Newfoundland, Canada) and its implications for the final

formation of West Gondwanaland”. Currently, Bin is an

Appointed Professor (Young Talent Program of CUG)

in the School of Earth Sciences at China University of

Geoscience Wuhan (CUG-W).

Luke Parry was a YIBS Donnelley postdoctoral fellow

working with Derek Briggs on early animal evolution

from 2018-2020. Luke’s fellowship work focused on

fossils from Paleozoic of China and North America,

including the oldest annelid worms. Luke is currently

an early career teaching and research fellow at

St. Edmund Hall, University of Oxford.

Annie Bauer

Drew Syverson

Luke Parry

Bin Wen

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34

RETIREMENT: RON SMITH

Your scientific career centered on the problem ofhow mountains influence the winds that attemptto flow above and around them. How does a hightopography influence the pattern of rainfall inthe surrounding lands? What are the dynamicsof uplift, condensation and precipitation? Manyof your field projects addressed these questionsin far-flung locations: Mount Blanc in the FrenchAlps, St. Vincent and Dominica in the LesserAntilles, the Sierra Nevada, and New Zealand.Your own certification as a pilot aided thesestudies, and they form the sustaining vortex ofyour contributions to atmospheric science. Anumber of other research topics have spun outfrom your central interests. As a junior professor,you made major contributions to the nonlineartheory of rock deformation. In mid-career youpioneered the use of stable-isotope geochemistryin meteorological research, and have madeimportant contributions in the applications ofsatellite remote-sensing data. Your imaginationspanned the gap between mathematical theory,field measurements, and interdisciplinarycollaboration. You founded the Center for EarthObservation at Yale, collaborating with otherYale College departments, Yale’s Institute forBiospheric Studies and the School of Forestryand Environmental Studies. Along the way youmentored numerous PhD graduate students, suchas Benjamin Zaitchik, Vanda Grubisic, Eric SalatheJr., and Alison Nugent.

At Yale you have taught the introductory courseG&G 140a on atmospheres, ocean and climatefor as long as anyone can remember. This coursewas an erstwhile favorite of the Yale Sailing Teamand now serves as a key core-course of Yale’sinterdisciplinary Environmental Studies Major.You originated G&G/EVST 362/562, ObservingEarth From Space, exposing undergraduate,masters’ and PhD students to hands-on use ofremote-sensing data. You later taught coursesin sustainable energy and wind power in supportof Yale’s Energy Studies certificate program.You have been a lynchpin of Yale’s teaching inenvironmental and climate science. We will bescrambling to fill your shoes in the coming years.

Ronald B. Smith retires, July 2020

The following text, prepared by Jeff Park, wasread by Graduate School Dean Lynn Cooley atthe final faculty meeting of 2020.

Ronald Smith. Bachelor of AeronauticalEngineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,M.S., Princeton University, Ph.D. The JohnHopkins University, a titan in the field of dynamicmeteorology. Also one of the grand figures inscience at Yale where, at his retirement thisJune, he will have been a professor for forty-fouryears. Ron served as Lead or Mission Scientiston numerous meteorological field projects.He is a long-standing Fellow of the AmericanMeteorological Society, and has been honoredwith the Society’s Mountain MeteorologyAward and their Jules Charney Award. Here atYale, in 2012 you were awarded the HarwoodF. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prizefor the teacher who “has given the most time,energy and effective effort” to educatingundergraduates. You have mentored dozensof developing researchers in meteorology, notonly graduate students and postdoctoral fellows,but undergraduates as well, many of them nowdistinguished in their fields.

Ronald B. Smith

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YALE EARTH&PLANETARYSCIENCES NEWS FALL 2020

VISITORS

Tim Gibson, PostdoctoralFellowvisitingfromDartmouthCollegein2019-20andworkingwithAlanRooney.TimisafieldgeologistbroadlyinterestedinreconstructingEarth’shistoryusingitssedimentaryrecord.Hisresearchcombinessedimentology,stratigraphy,geochemistryandgeochronologytodecipherhowinteractionsbetweengeologicalandbiologicalprocesseshaveregulatedourplanet’senvironmentthroughtime.Heiscurrentlyinvestigatingvarious1.2to0.8billion-year-oldsedimentarybasinsthroughthelensofgeobiology,withanemphasisonthelowerTonianVeteranenGroupinSvalbard.Thisworkaimstoshedlightontheenvironmentallandscapeinwhichearlyanimalsandcrowngroupeukaryotesemerged,andalsototestvarioustriggermechanismsforCryogenianSnowballglaciation.

Megan Holycross, AssistantProfessor,EarthandAtmosphericSciences,CornellUniversityvisitedin2019-20aspartofherNationalScienceFoundationPostdoctoralFellowship.SheworkedwithJayAguetoquantifytheoxidationstateofsubductingoceanic

lithosphere,focusingparticularlyoneclogitesfromtheCycladessubductioncomplexinGreece

Haiying Hu, AssociateProfessorInstituteofGeochemistry,ChineseAcademyofSciencesvisitedin2019-20workingintheKaratolab.HaiyingworkedwithhercollaboratorLidongDaionexperimentsthatfocusonthesynthesisandelectricalconductivity

measurementsofolivinewithdifferentamountsofdopedtitanium.

35

Minmin Cai, AssociateResearcherfromtheHuazhongAgriculturalUniversityvisitedin2019-20,hewasworkingwithRuthBlakeonthedegradationoforganicpollutionsandisotopicanalysis.

Lidong Dai, Professor,ChineseAcademyofSciencesvisitedin2019-20,workingwithShunKarato.HisresearchisfocusedontheelectricalconductivityofhydrousTi-dopedsyntheticolivineaggregatesunderconditionsofhightemperature,highpressureanddifferentoxygenfugacitiesusingtheKawai-1000tmulti-anvilapparatusinKarato’shigh-pressurelaboratory.

Lucas Martin Fennell,PostdoctoralFullbrightFellow,specializesintectonicsandstructuralgeology,hegraduatedfromtheUniversityofBuenosAiresinArgentina,andiscurrentlyanAssistantResearcherworkingforCONICETattheInstituteof

AndeanStudies“DonPabloGroeber”(IDEAN)attheUniversityofBuenosAires.In2019heworkedwithMarkBrandonanalyzingthetopographicevolutionoftheSouthernCentralAndesat35°Sbyusingstableisotopepaleoaltimetryofhydratedvolcanicglassandorganicmolecularproxiescontainedinforelandterrestrialsediments.ThemaingoalofhisresearchatYalewastounderstandhowtheAndes’topographychangedduringtheCenozoicandwhentheyattainedtheircurrentsize,aswellasanalyzingthecontributionofclimatetothestableisotopecompositionofwatercontainedinbothproxiesthroughtime.

MinminCai

MeganHolycross

HaiyingHu

TimGibson

LidongDai

LucaMartinFennell

36


VISITORS

36

Professor Brendan Murphywas a Fulbright VisitingScholar for the winter termof the 2017-2018 academicyear. He collaboratedwith David Evans on theorigin of supercontinents,participated in a graduateseminar course organizedby Noah Planavskyand Mark Brandon, andattended a memorableundergraduate field tripto southern Spain (photo above), organized byDavid Evans. He also initiated research projectswith Noah Planavsky and Alan Rooney on theorigin and potential geodynamic significance ofPaleozoic ironstone deposits. Professor Murphy isat the Department of Earth Sciences at St. FrancisXavier University.

Paul Myrow, Professor ofGeology at Colorado College,visited during February 2020.Professor Myrow is a world-renowned expert in process-based sedimentology, whichhe uses to tackle a widerange of interdisciplinarytopics up and down thegeologic time scale,

including questions of paleoenvironmentalchange, geochronology, tectonics, marinebiogeochemistry and invertebrate animalevolution. During his visit, he collaborated withLidya Tarhan on projects involving the lower-middle Paleozoic paleoenvironmental historyof the Dinosaur National Monument region. Healso gave three short courses to the departmenton storm-mediated sedimentary processes anddeposits, flow dynamics and bedforms, andsequence stratigraphy.

Michael Hren, AssistantProfessor, Departmentof Chemistry, Center forIntegrative Geosciences,University of Connecticut,visited in 2019-20 workingwith Mark Brandon.

Xianqing Jing, Lecturerin College Resources,Environemnt and Tourismat the Capital NormalUniversity in Beijing, Chinavisited in 2018-19. Xianqingworked with David Evanson the Neoproterozoic TruePolar Wander event and itsuse in the reconstruction

of the Rodinia Supercontinent, by conductingpaleomagnetic and geochronological studies onstrata from South China.

Lei Kang, Lecturer, State KeyLaborator of ContinentalDynamics, Departmentof Geology, NorthwestUniversity, China is visitingin 2019-20. Lei is workingwith Shun Karato studyingwater partitioning among co-existing minerals in the uppermantle using high-pressureexperiments.

Jilei Li, Associate Professorin the Institute of Geologyand Geophysics at theChinese Academy ofSciences visited in 2018-19. Jilei worked with JayAgue on high-pressuremetamorphism and fluidactivity in subduction zones.

Michael Hren

Brendan Murphy

Xianqing Jing

Jilei Li

Lei Kang

Paul Myrow

37


VISITORS

thermochemical piles that are being pushed byremnant slabs, which may induce the formation ofmantle plumes at their borders.

Elizabeth Sibert, JuniorFellow, Harvard Societyof Fellows visited in 2019-20, working with PincelliHull. Elizabeth’s researchfocuses on how fish andmarine ecosystems respondto global climate changes.She uses the microfossilrecord of fish and sharks,

their microscopic teeth and scales, preservedin deep-sea sediments, to reconstruct marineecosystem dynamics across major global changeevents throughout Earth’s history, includingglobal warming and mass extinctions, spanningtimescales ranging from 100 million years ago tothe present. Elizabeth is most interested in howmarine ecosystems function, and what types ofprocesses and environmental conditions driveevolution in those ecosystems. At Yale, Elizabethhas been focusing on developing a multi-proxyrecord of a major and un-described open oceanextinction event, to better understand thestructure of today’s modern marine ecosystems.

Elizabeth has also been awarded a YIBSHutchinson Postdoc Fellowship and she will behosted in EPS for 2020-21.

Changle Wang, AssociateProfessor, PrecambrianGeology, Institute of Geology& Geophysics, ChineseAcademy of Sciences isvisiting from 2018-2020.Changle is working withNoah Planavsky on chromiumisotopes of Precambrianand Recent carbonates. By

comparing the Cr isotopic data of carbonate rocksprecipitated during different geological periods,we will use them to discuss the complicationswhen applying fractionated Cr isotopes to indicateoxidative Cr weathering and by inference, thepresence of free oxygen in the atmosphere.

37

Damian Nance, KennedyDistinguished Professor,Department of GeologicalSciences, Ohio University,visiting in 2018-2020. Damianwrites: Between field workin southern Spain with theG&G 212: Global Tectonicsstudents and frequentspeaking trips to the UK,

China, Australia (twice) Mexico and here in the US,I have held a Visiting Fellowship at Yale sponsoredby David Evans. David and I have known eachother a long time and have long been interestedin supercontinents and the supercontinent cycle -the notion that Earth history has been punctuatedby episodic supercontinent assembly and breakupwith profound consequences to the geosphere,hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. But wecome to this interest from different directions- David from the field of paleomagnetism andmyself from a background in field-based studiesof orogenic belts. Ironically, however, the focusof my thinking this past six months has been onan issue over which we disagree - the existence(or not) of the late Precambrian supercontinentPannotia. Paleomagnetic data for the EdiacaranPeriod (635-539 Ma), during which thissupercontinent is proposed to have amalgamated,is limited. Hence, the paleomagnetic evidencefor its existence is equivocal at best. So David isdoubtful. But the proxy evidence for its assemblyand breakup in the rock record is collectively quitestrong. So I am a believer. Only time will tell whichof us will gain the upper hand!

Miriam Reiss, ResearchAssociate, Goethe-UniversityFrankfurt, visited MaureenLong for six months in 2018.Her project was aimed atunderstanding flow at thebase of the mantle beneathAfrica. She used differentialSKS-SKKS splitting tomap lowermost mantle

flow with unprecedented resolution. Her workfound evidence in support of the idea thatlarge low shear velocity provinces (LLSVPs) are

Elizabeth Sibert

Miriam Reiss

Changle Wang

Damian Nance

38


VISITORS

38

Zhaohui Wu, Engineer,Exploration and ProductionResearch Institute, ShandongChina. Zhaohui visited in2019-20 working with NoahPlanavsky. He is workingon four “C”s, compilingthe database of paleo-environment proxies fromnearly 500 references,

calculating the paleo-latitudes of outcrops anddrilling cores, comparing their relationshipswith TOC and CIA, and constructing the paleo-environment based on 660+ world-wide sitesthroughout Paleozoic ages, etc.

Chan Yu, Lecturer, HubeiUniversity is a LaboratoryAssociate working with RuthBlake. Her research focus ison the phosphorus cycle.

Professor James Zachos,from the University ofCalifornia, Santa Cruz was ourRichard Foster Flint Lecturerin April 2019. ProfessorZachos gave three lectures:Preparing for Future ClimateChange: Lessons from thePast; Intensification of theHydrologic Cycle during the

Ecocene Hyperthermals and Trends, Rhythms,and Aberrations in Global Climate during theCenozoic: A New High-Fidelity Perspective.

Chao Wang, AssociateProfessor, Departmentof Geology, NorthwestUniversity in China. visitedin 2019-20 working withDave Evans. Chao’s researchfocuses on applyingpetrology, geochronologyand geochemistry tounderstand the continentalcrustal and tectonic

evolution of mountain belts, in particularprocesses associated with subduction zonemetamorphism, ophiolite formation and magmaticpetrogenesis in western China. He has also workedon continental reconstructions, specifically theNeoproterozoic-Paleozoic palaeogeography andplate tectonics, working mainly in the Central AsiaOrogen and Tibetan Plateau regions.

Chao will collaborate with David Evans towork on the late Paleoproterozoic to Cambrianpaleogeographic evolution of the Quanji massiflocated in the northeastern margin of the TibetPlateau. Well-preserved successions Quanji Groupand overlying strata of the Quanji Massif, NWChina preserve a rich late Paleoproterozoic toCambrian stratigraphic record which capturesgreat unconformity, glaciation, early animalevolution, sea level changes, occurrence ofblack shales, rift-related volcanics and overallsedimentation systems. Through working atYale, paleogeography and sediment sourcesof the basin system evolve over this time willbe addressed. Also, Neoproterozoic-Paleozoiccontinental reconstruction of the Proto-TethysOcean will be discussed.

Chao Wang

Zhaohui Wu

James Zachos

Chan Yu

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39

YUKON FIELD TRIP 2019

Alexie Millikin, Alan Rooney, Nicole Shibley, Mary-Louise Timmermans, Boriana Kalderon-Asael, Erica Evans, Daniel Gaskell,Zheng Gong, Juri Miyamae, Yu Liang

We started the trip in Juneau witha 7-mile hike to the base of theMendenhall Glacier and were ableto see many glacial features alongthe away. The next day we took aferry north to Skagway, AK and sawwhales, porpoises, and seals. Nextwe made our way from Skagway toWhitehorse, YT, stopping at variousrock formations to discuss the localgeology. In Whitehorse, we visited theYukon Beringia Center, a wonderfulmuseum with many fossils fromanimals from the Ice Age, as wellas toured Miles Canyon, where theYukon River cuts through immensebasaltic rock. Then, we took a detourto Kluane Lake Research Station totake measurements of Kluane Lakeand hike through the local terrain.

In June 2019, a group of G&G graduate students (led by Nicole Shibley, Zheng Gong,Alexie Millikin, and Erica Evans) and two faculty leaders (Professors Mary-LouiseTimmermans and Alan Rooney) travelled to Juneau, Alaska and the Yukon Territoryof Canada to study the region’s geological and environmental processes. The triploosely followed a route taken by gold prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush,beginning in Juneau, AK and taking us all the way to Dawson City, YT.

The group began their trip in Alaska’s capital city, Juneau,however, no major roads connect Juneau the surrounding area.

To reach their next destination the group took a ferry ride to thehistoric mining town of Skagway. This boat trip coupled as a

whale watching and wildlife tour of Alaska’s fjords.

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YUKON FIELD TRIP 2019

Professor Mary-Louise Timmermans uses Kluane Lake to teach students about ocean currentsand stratification at Kluane National Park.

The base of the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, Alaska.

A visit was also made to theKluane Museum of History,which had exhibits about theKluane First Nation and theregion’s natural resources.

We next drove to Keno City (atown at the end of the YukonSilver Trail) and toured the nearbyAlexco mining facility. Here twoincredibly knowledgeable guidestaught us about silver mining inthe region and the company’scurrent exploration efforts.

Finally, we traveled to Dawson City to finishour journey with a visit to Dredge No. 4(which was used to mine gold), and to tryour hand at gold panning. The trip gave usa better appreciation of the geology andhistory of the region.

One of the guides from Alexco discussingthe local geology near Keno City.

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John Stockwell, ’57 writes:Following graduation magnacum laude in1957 I resigned aStanford fellowship, spent threeyears in the army, and never got

entirely back on track in geologydespite some years in the 80’sof exploration with BP Alaskaand SOHIO, spending parts ofseveral winters on the AlaskanArctic coast, including a winteras a wellsite geologist on theLisburne Field discovery well.While at Yale I was ProfessorBateman’s bursary student,assisted Professor Gregory inthe field in Utah, and internedwith Bear Creek Mining Companyin southwest Virginia, andwith Cllahan Lead and Zinc inNevada under Professor Jensen.I made opaque sections whileDan Barker made thin sectionsnearby. As a senior in 1956-57,in a history of science course, Iwrote a long paper attempting tosynthesize Wegener’s continentaldrift theory with the work of

Tasmanian geologist S.W. Careyon oroclines. It was suggested Ipublish, but I declined, therebymissing perhaps becoming a veryminor footnote in the historyof the theory of plate tectonics.(A few years ago I learned thata year later Carey had himselfaddressed the subject.)

But an interest in philosophy,along with countercultureenthusiasms, also occupiedme during those years and formany after. When I becameinvolved with geology againlater, initially as a rockhound, Ibegan to follow the careersof my classmates: Hopson atChicago, Swinchatt and McClellanat Colgate, Wilde at UC Berkeley,McKee at the USGS, Guidotti atMaine, and also Holdaway, ’58. Ibecame active in the NorthernCalifornia Geological Society.In 2013, the oldest studentearning degrees in any fieldthat year, I received a Master’sin geology from California StateUniversity East Bay. I remainenthusiastic, and have becomean internationally known studentof thundereggs, over the pasttwenty years presenting papersat the American Gemmologicalinstitute, at the Colorado Schoolof Mines before the Friendsof Mineralogy group, and atseveral other symposia on agateand cryptocrystalline quartz. Iam nearing completion of aneleven hundred entry annotatedbibliography of the literature onthundereggs.

Some regrets, yes, butsatisfactions as well.

Edward (Ted) W. Lollis, ’59recalls George Devries Klein G‘60: I started Yale in 1955 andwanted to major in geography,but Yale didn’t have a geographymajor, so I turned to geologywhich required attending asummer camp, but Yale didn’thave summer camp, so I turnedto MIT, whose geology campwas in Nova Scotia. After twocourses, summer students werefarmed out to do field workunder a graduate student, and Iwas sent (with MIT student DavidWaldbaum) to Digby Neck onthe Bay of Fundy to help Georgemeasure Triassic “red beds”

(similar to those of New Havenand the Connecticut River valley).The three of us lived together ina boarding house for a monthand got to know each other REALwell. 0f course, I also later knewGeorge at Yale.

When I graduated from Yale in1959, I received admission toPrinceton graduate school and aFulbright scholarship for a yearin Australia. As I traveled backto Princeton via India (and azillion other countries) I decidedto abandon geology, serve my

Edward Lollis

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YALE EARTH&PLANETARYSCIENCES NEWS FALL 2020

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ALUMNI NEWS

army commitment (stemming from Yale ROTC), and apply to become a US Foreign Service Officer (which I did, ending my government career as Consul General in Bordeaux, France).

Map Misadventure By Edward Lollis ‘59In the spring of 1958, I saw a circular announcing an annualcompetition for the best use of maps in a paper by a Yale undergraduate. Having justcompleted an inch-thick paper entitled “Geology of Digby Neck and Long and Brier Islands, Nova Scotia,” I entered the competition, submitting a copy of my paper,as instructed, to the curator of maps at Sterling Library. Some weeks later, I was informed that I had won the competition and was asked to come to the library to meet the curator, Alexander O. Vietor, which of course I was thrilled to do immediately.

Mr. Vietor congratulated me, and we settled in for a friendly chat, which I assumed would be about my paper, my major(geology), and my love of maps. Yale required geology majors toattend a summer geology camp but had no camp of its own. So I had attended MIT’s camp inNova Scotia and must have done OK because I was awarded asmall grant by the Nova Scotia Research Foundation to return the following summer to study Digby Neck, etc. and write atechnical paper. I was justly proud of this international honor.

But no. Something I said to Mr. Vietor – perhaps mentioning that I was working on another long paper with even more maps – “Geology of Stony Creekand Thimble Islands, Connecticut

(Long Island Sound)” – causedMr. Vietor to interrupt our conversation with a start. “When will you complete that paper?”he asked. “In 1959,” I replied.

“You mean you’ll still be anundergraduate next year…you’re just a junior now?” “Yes,” I said, not suspecting what was about to happen. “Then you can’t receive this year’s map prize. It’s only for seniors!”

I should have asked to see the circular which I swore contained no assertion that “undergraduate”meant “seniors only.” But I wasso startled in the presence of the great man that I simply bit my lip and slunk away. I was not ableto submit my second paper to the 1959 competition, as I was still working on it right up tograduation week.

Mr. Vietor’s long career at Yale (1943-1978) had its challenges. In 1965, Yale accepted the “Vinland Map” of North America, declaring it to be “the greatest treasurein the Yale map collection.” In 1974 the University was forced to admit the map a forgery. It is still part of the Yale collection, an object of forensic analysis and interpretation as to its provenance.

I did not become a professional geologist, instead, upon an epiphany in India in 1961 thatI preferred people to rocks, Ijoined the federal government as a career Foreign ServiceOfficer, beginning in Kigali, Rwanda – responsible for consular, economic, USAID and USIA projects, road and water systems. I witnessed the beginnings of genocide in 1964 and gave my first oration in French about Martin Luther King’s “I have

a dream” speech. My career continued to assignments in seven other countries, concluding as Consul General in Bordeaux, France.

In retirement, I reverted to mylove of maps, opening a retail map store in Washington’s restored Union Station learning how to use a desktop GeographicInformation System (GIS), and becoming a geographicconsultant to corporations. Today I combine my knowledge of geography and desire for world peace to help bring about public awareness of peace monuments in all parts of the world.

Darrel Cowan, a G&G graduate student from 1966-67writes:In September 2017, I retired from the Department of Earth & Space Sciences in the University of Washington, where I have beena faculty member since 1974. I co-chaired the local committee for the October 2017 annual meeting of GSA in Seattle. With lead author Prof. Marli Miller, my former Ph.D. student who teaches in the University of Oregon, I published the second edition of “Roadside Geology of Washington.”

DarrelCowan

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ALUMNI NEWS

Alastair Stewart G ’70 writes:Over the past three years, I’vebeen making solid-geologymaps of northern Australia aspart of a project to encouragemineral exploration companiesto drill through the desertsands, alluvial plains, etc., thatcover about 80 percent of thecontinent. The maps comprisefour separate layers, whichsuccessively show Mesozoic,Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic, andPre-Neoproterozoic rocks –major unconformities formedacross much of Australia atthe beginning of these times.Australia now has a complete andseamless total magnetic intensity(TMI) image of its land mass,

some 7.7 million km2, almostall of it derived from closelyspaced flight lines flown at lowaltitude. The layers are preparedby extending the geologicalformations shown on published1:250 000-scale quadranglemapping by interpretation of thehalf-vertical derivative of the TMIimage, together with all otheravailable data. So far, I have madesolid geology maps of 1.2 millionkm2 of the continent.

The left half (65 km wide) ofthe accompanying figure showsthe half-vertical derivative ofthe TMI image of part of centralAustralia, and the right half showsthe solid-geology interpretationof the same area. North-block-east displacement along wrenchfaults in the north broke and

rotated rectangular blocks ofPaleoproterozoic rock (L_hso);the deformation increasedeastwards and graduallydestroyed the blocky shapes,forming a mega-breccia. Thelabels use L for Paleoproterozoic,a second letter for rock type (d

– mafic intrusive rocks, f – felsicvolcanic rocks, g – granite, s –siliciclastic rocks, _h – stronglymagnetic rocks, _m – moderatelymagnetic rocks, _l – weaklymagnetic rocks) and subsequentletters for the province/group/formation name (whereapplicable).

It took nearly 45 years, butGary Feulner M. Phil. 1974 hasfinally made profitable use of hisgeological education, servingas local consultant to a smallmuseum in Sharjah, UnitedArab Emirates, devoted to thegeology of the Hajar Mountains ofEastern Arabia, dominated by theobduction of the Semail nappe, a500 km slab of ophiolite.

Gary practiced law in the UAE formore than 30 years but also keptup an active program of wide-ranging exploration and naturalhistory studies in the UAE andneighboring Oman.In semi-retirement in Dubai since2010, he has devoted much of histime to expanding and publishingthe results of those studies,including definitive surveys of thefreshwater fish, freshwater snails,land snails and dragonflies of theUAE and northernmost Oman, as

Darrel Cowan’s book “Roadside Geology of Washington.”

Alister Stewart

Alister Stewart’s solid-geology map of Northern Australia

of WASHINGTON

Marli B. Millerand Darrel S. Cowan

Second Edition

Photographs by Marli B. Miller

Washington is alive with geologic activity: It’s home to the most active volcanoes in thelower 48, earthquakes regularly rattle the populated Puget Sound region, the potential oflandslides increases with each soaking rain, and tsunami evacuation routes alert tourists inOlympic National Park to the active plate boundary just o� the coast. �e only geologic hazardWashingtonians need notfear,at least notwiththe continued trendofglobal warming, is anotherIce Age �ood. More than forty of the biggest �oods known in the history of Earth scouredthe Channeled Scabland of eastern Washington, the most recent only about 15,000 years ago.

Since the �rst edition of Roadside Geology of Washington appeared on book shelves in 1984,several generations of geologists have studied the wild assortment of rocks in the EvergreenState, from 45-million-year-old sandstone exposed in sea cli�s at Cape Flattery to 1.4-billion-year-old sandstone near Spokane. In between are the rugged granitic and metamorphic peaksof the North Cascades, the volcanic �ows of Mt. Rainier and the other active volcanoes of theCascade magmatic arc, and the 2-mile-thick �ood basalts of the Columbia Basin. With thehelp of this brand new, completely updated second edition, you can appreciate spectaculargeologic features along more than forty of Washington’s highways.

Roadside Geology of WashingtonMarli B. Miller and Darrel S. Cowan

Mountain PressPUBLISHING COMPANY

GEOLOGY/ TRAVEL

$26.00

Roadside G

eology ofW

ASH

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and Cow

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ALUMNI NEWS

well as the flora of the mountainsof the Musandam peninsula (theRu’us al-Jibal) and the flora of theextensive ultrabasic environmentof Wadi Wurayah National Park,in the northern Hajar Mountainsof Fujairah, UAE. He has alsopublished popular accounts ofthe geology of the UAE.Most recently Gary co-authoredan introductory catalogue ofthe UAE spiders. He is currentlycompleting, as lead author, anaccount of the butterflies ofthe UAE.

Meghan Miller ’79 writes:I am wrapping up my decade+ ofservice as President of UNAVCOin Boulder, an NSF LargeFacility that supports universityinvestigators who use GPS, GNSS,lidar, and other modern geodesytools in their research. In fact, Ihave been the only female leadof the NSF Large Facility for

most of this time! This is progress,although somewhat paltryI’m afraid. This work followeda few decades in researchand academia. I was deeplygratified to be recognized by theAmerican Geophysical Union lastDecember with the 2018 WaldoE. Smith Award for extraordinaryservice to geophysics. I plan toretire at the end of September,although I will continue somelonger-term professional servicecommitments for the next fewyears. As to what I will do with mytime, my daughters are now farflung (Chile and the northeast)and I am also ready for someadventure travel and otherpastimes!

Susan Kidwell G ’82 inrecognition of her extraordinaryachievements is honored by theYale Graduate School of Artsand Sciences with it’s highestaward, the Wilbur Lucius CrossMedal The medal recognizesdistinguished achievements inscholarship, teaching, academicadministration and public service,areas in which the legendaryDean Cross excelled. On October7, 2019 Susan spent the day withthe department meeting withstudents, faculty and postdocs,and giving a talk titled: “Our NewUnderstanding of Dead-ShellAssemblages: A Powerful Toolfor Deciphering Human Impacts.”Susan received the medal at agala dinner at the British ArtCenter.

Gary Feulner

Meghan Miller

Susan Kidwell and Peter Salovey

Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, Jacques Gauthier, Noah Planavsky, Mary-Louise Timmermans,Susan Kidwell, Mark Brandon, Tamar Gendler, Maureen Long, David Bercovici, Peter Saloveyat the British Art Center Gala

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ALUMNI NEWS

Michael Mann G ’98,Distinguished Professor ofAtmospheric Science andDirector of Penn State’s EarthSystem Science center has beenelected to the National Academyof Sciences. Recognizingdistinguished and continuingachievements in original research.Membership in NAS is one ofthe highest honors given toa scientist or engineer in theUnited States.Michael was also awardedthe 2019 Tyler Prize forEnvironmental Achievement.Founded in 1973, the TylerPrize — often referred toas the “Nobel Prize for theEnvironment” — remains thepremiere international award forenvironmental science.Mann shares this honor withfellow climate scientist WarrenWashington, distinguishedscholar at the National Center forAtmospheric Research.One of the things that makes thisaward special for me is sharingit with a personal hero of mine,Warren Washington, an illustriousgraduate of our program here at

Penn State who has contributedfundamentally to the field ofclimate modeling, said Mann.Mann is honored with this awardnot only for his research inreconstructing the Earth’s pastclimate and placing modernclimate change in a long-term context, but also for hiscommunication and outreachefforts. This award means a lotto me because it recognizes thetwo things that are most nearand dear when it comes to mywork and that’s contributingboth to the advancement ofour science and the effort tocommunicate that science to thepublic and policymakers, Mannsaid. Mann is a recognized expertand is often called upon by theU.S. media to answer questionsabout complicated climatescience topics.

Claire Bucholz ’09 has beenhonored with the 2020 HisashiKuno Award from the American

Geophysical Union. The awardis presented to an early careerscientist for outstandingcontributions in the fields ofvolcanology, geochemistry, andpetrology. She is an AssistantProfessor at the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology.

Kimberly Lau ’09 has beennamed the 2019 recipientof the Geological Society ofAmerica’s (GSA) Doris M. CurtisOutstanding Woman in ScienceAward. The accolade was createdto recognize women who haveimpacted geosciences in a majorway based on their doctoralresearch, and it is given inmemory of a pioneer in the field.Lau is an assistant professor atthe University of Wyoming. Shespecializes in biogeochemistry,and her research focuses oninvestigating the causes ofenvironmental changes inEarth’s history.

Michael Mann

Kimberly Lau, Abigail Freeman and Claire Bucholz

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ALUMNI NEWS

Captain Aaron Judah ‘11returned from the middle-eastin January 2018 where he wasa member of Joint Task Force -Iraq, in support of the missionOperation Inherent Resolve

- the multinational campaignagainst ISIS. In 2016 he was alsoawarded Officer of The Year forthe 4th Canadian Division, forhis outstanding leadership andmilitary record. He has recentlyleft full-time Army service, and isnow working as a manager andscientist in the Nuclear PowerIndustry, in Ontario, Canadawhere he is enjoying a quieterlife and is reconnecting with hisscience and academic roots.

Astrid Pacini ’16 near CapeFarewell, Greenland duringsmall boat ops. Astrid writes:I am a third year graduatestudent in the MIT-WHOIjoint program in PhysicalOceanography. My researchfocuses on Arctic and Subarcticcirculation from an observationalperspective. In particular, Iwork on the Overturning ofthe Subpolar North AtlanticProject (OSNAP). OSNAP is aninternational program that seeksto characterize the meridionaloverturning in the northernNorth Atlantic, at approximately60°N, by using moorings, gliders,floats, hydrographic surveys,

and modeling studies. Morespecifically, my research focuseson the structure, variability, anddynamics of the West Greenlandboundary current system, asmeasured by the Labrador SeaOSNAP moorings. In order tofully understand the processof convection in the LabradorSea, we must understand theGreenland boundary currentsystem, as it influences thestratification in the interior of thebasin and is responsible for thetransport of ventilated watersaround the subpolar gyre. In

addition, I work on hydrographicdata from the Chukchi andBeaufort Seas. A significant partof my time in graduate schoolhas been spent at sea, and Ihave loved it. Last year, I hadthe opportunity to participatein a storm-chasing cruise inthe Nordic Sea onboard theNATO NRV Alliance, to performa hydrographic survey andservice the OSNAP mooringsoff Greenland onboard the RVNeil Armstrong, and also toperform CTD and mooring workin the Chukchi and Beaufortseas onboard the USCGC Healy.Sometimes I think it’s easier tobe at sea than on land.A reunion of four G&G alumni onthe rooftop of the Department

of Earth Sciences at Oxford, ona lovely British summer day. Leftto right: Srikanth ToppaladoddiG ’17 (junior research fellow),Meng Tian G ‘16 (postdoc), RossAnderson G ‘17 (junior researchfellow) and Associate ProfessorErin Saupe, former G&G Postdoc.

Katelyn Gray G ‘18After graduation, she moved backhome to Austin, Texas, and wasemployed by Austin CommunityCollege to teach environmentalscience. She spent the spring2019 semester teaching a groupof economically disadvantaged,at-risk, and English as secondlanguage students at a charterhigh school through ACC. Shewill be starting a postdoc atthe University of Delawarewith Deb Jaisi in September2019. Her research will focuson phosphorus cycling in bothChesapeake and Delaware Bay.Nutrient eutrophication is apressing issue occurring in bothestuaries, and by determiningthe molecular composition ofterrestrially-derived organicphosphorus, she hopes to betterelucidate the anthropogenicinfluence on biogeochemicalcycling in the bay.

Captain Aaron Judah

Astrid Pacini

Katelyn Gray

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BRIAN J. SKINNER POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP FUND

offers the freedom to catalyze new research andcollaborations that might not otherwise occur.Establishing a robust postdoctoral fellowshipprogram is a top priority for our department.

Our immediate goal is to raise $1.5M to create anendowment that will fund one postdoctoral fellowin perpetuity. We hope to grow this fund with yourgenerous support to reach $3M and support twopostdoctoral fellows through an annual search.We invite you, as someone who benefited fromBrian’s mentoring, to contribute to the fundin his memory. Several of our alumni havekickstarted the Fellowship and we currently havecommitments exceeding $1M. We are close andhope you will help us reach our first milestone of$1.5M, on our way to our ultimate target of $3M.

We sincerely hope you will join us as a significantcontributor to the Brian J. Skinner PostdoctoralFellowship Fund. Please feel free to contact medirectly with any questions at [email protected]. Contributions may also be made bysending a check or online using the instructionsbelow.

To make a donation by check: Please send acheck made out to Yale University to thefollowing address:David BercoviciYale University.PO Box 208109New Haven CT 06520 8109Please include in the memo line of the check:“Designation #38545” or “Brian SkinnerPostdoctoral Fellowship Fund”.

To make a donation online the instructionsbelow can be followed:1. Go to Giving.Yale.edu and click Make a Gift Now2. Select “Support Other Areas at Yale”3. Select “Other”4.Enter your gift amount and other pertinent

information5.Enter the “Designation #” of 38545 or write in

Brian Skinner Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund.6.Complete the options and sharing of your

personal information. Follow to payment

information.

Our beloved colleague Brian Skinner, passedaway last year on August 21, at the age of 90. Hewas a member of the Yale faculty for more thanfifty-three years, serving as a notable scholar inthe Department of Geology & Geophysics, andas a mentor to students and faculty alike. Brianhad a long, distinguished career, and for many ofyou, his introductory class was a key inspirationto major in the geological sciences. Moreover, hisexpertise in mineralogy and economic geologywere invaluable to the many students and youngscientists who worked with him.

Over the last year, students, colleagues, friendsand family of Brian’s have worked with theDepartment to establish a program honoring hismany contributions. We have, therefore, createdthe Brian J. Skinner Postdoctoral FellowshipFund. The purpose of the fund is to support oneor more postdoctoral fellowships in the newlynamed Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences.

Postdoctoral scholars are vital to the scientificenterprise, and provide a bridge betweenstudents and faculty. They arrive with newideas and approaches and foster intellectualcross fertilization between universities. Prizeor Named postdoctoral fellows are prestigiousand competitive fellowships, which attractoutstanding candidates whose independence

Brian J. Skinner PostdoctoralFellowship Fund

4848

Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences

Yale University

P.O. Box 208109

New Haven, CT 06520-8109

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☛ Alumni Please Note:

We would especially like to hear from you.

Please send your news to:

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