AUGC 2009
About a dozen students and faculty members from Acadia
attended the Atlantic Universities Geological Conference, held at St. Mary's
University on 22-24 October. The event began with an opening harbour boat tour
and Challenge Bowl, sponsored by the Canadian Society of Exploration
Geophysicists. The Challenge Bowl is an annual quiz-show style competition
pitting teams from each of the 6 participating Atlantic universities against
each other in a knockout competition. The winning team was from Acadia - Leah
Chiste and Alex Kaul - who won the privilege of going on to the national
Challenge Bowl in a competition at GeoCanada 2010 in Calgary in May. The winners
there will represent Canada at the International Bowl in Denver in June.
Friday was devoted to field
excursions or short courses - choices of visiting Joggins UNESCO World Heritage
Site, the Pope's Harbour Dykes on the Eastern Shore, the Canada-Nova Scotia
Offshore Petroleum Board core lab, or research labs at SMU to investigate fluid
inclusions in minerals. On Saturday, participants presented the findings from
their undergraduate research - Alex Kaul presented a poster on his initial
findings on the petrology of carbonatite intrusions in Namibia, and Trevor
Brisco revealed his discovery of possible impact craters south of Bridgetown,
NS.
26 October 2009
Donation from Dr. James Nowlan - microscope lab restocked
The Department of Earth and Environmental Science was fortunate to receive a
donation from the estate of the late James P, Nowlan. The decision was made to
use the money to purchase 17 new Leica transmitted light petrographic
microscopes to replace the aging microscopes that have been the workhorses of
the department for 30 years. The new microscopes were installed in early
September, and a ceremony to mark the refurbished facility was held on October
16th in combination with other Acadia University "Homecoming" events. Dr. Nowlan
was an Acadia geology graduate of 1928 at the age of 18, perhaps the youngest
graduate (and certainly one of the youngest graduates) in the university's
history. He had a distinguished career in the mining industry, and was NS Deputy
Minister of Mines from 1958 until his retirement in 1973. He served as GAC
president in 1964-1965. Dr. Nowlan died in 1986.
16 October 2009
Long term employees recognized
Four employees in the Earth & Environmental Science Department were
recognised for their long terms of service at the annual Summer Assembly at
Acadia. Both David McMullin and Cliff Stanley received their 10 year pins
(although we all know David has been around a lot longer - it's 10 years since
he started as instructor). Linda Lusby and Don Osburn received their 25
year plaques. Congratulations to all!
24 June 2009
Linda Lusby appointed to ESANS Board of Directors
On 4 June Professor Linda Lusby was appointed to the Board of Directors of
the Environmental Services Association of Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia
environmental business network. Recognizing her role as an active participant in
national, regional and international standards organizations for many years, as
chair of the Standards Council of Canada from 1998 - 2001 and in that capacity
as representative for Canada on the Council and Technical Management Board of
International Standards Organization (ISO), this appointment provides Linda with
some closer to home opportunities to be a leader in the environmental industries
of Nova Scotia. More details at
http://www.esans.ca/board.html
9 June 2009
The 24th International Applied Geochemistry Symposium,
sponsored by the Association of Applied Geochemists, took place from June 1
through 4, 2009 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and Acadia representatives were
there en masse enlightening the geoscience world about their geochemical
activities. Professor Cliff Stanley led a contingent of Acadia students
(graduate students Tamara Moss, Pizye Nankamba and Feseha Tesfai, and Jean-Luc
Pilote, and undergraduate Honours student Harun Mohamad Idris). This group was
augmented by former Acadia graduate students Jose Texidor-Carlsson (2007), Tansy
O'Connor-Parsons (2006), Anastassios Grammatikopoulos (1992), Matt Leybourne
(1988), Steve McCutcheon (1981), Anne-Marie O’Beirne (1979), Gerry Stanley
(1979), Bob Ryan (1978), and Paul Smith (1976), as well as former Acadia
undergraduate students Rafael Cavalcanti de Albuquerque (2007), Ryan Toole
(2006), Sean Timpa (2000), and Terry Goodwin (1982). Oral presentations by Cliff
Stanley, Tamara Moss, Jose Texidor-Carlsson, Ryan Toole, Anastassios
Grammatikopoulos, Matt Leybourne, Steve McCutcheon, and Gerry Stanley, and
poster presentations by Cliff Stanley and Rafael Cavalcanti de Albuquerque made
a strong contribution to the very successful technical program.
10 June 2009
2009 Northeastern Section Meeting of the Geological
Society of America in Portland, Maine. Edwin Escarraga (Acadia MSc Geology
student) was awarded Third Place in the Graduate Student Poster Award
Competition. Thirty-four graduate student posters were presented at the meeting
and Dr. Jean Crespi, Chair of the NEGSA section, noted that "the judges
were very impressed by the overall quality of work presented, and the awards
were very competitive." Congratulations Edwin!
Poster Information: Field relations, petrology, and age of Neoproterozoic
granitic and syenitic plutons in the Antigonish Highlands, Nova Scotia, Canada.
by Edwin A. Escarraga, Sandra M.Barr, J. Brendan Murphy, and Michael A.
Hamilton.
30 March 2009
The APICS Environmental Science Conference took place March 27 and 28 at
the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, NB. A strong group of
undergraduate and graduate students from Acadia attended and presented 6 oral
presentations. Sarah Haverstock took home the “best undergraduate student
presentation” award (including a $200 prize). Good fun was had by all!
Picture: [TOP]
Sarah Haverstock (BScH), Emily Nadolny (BScH), Claire McIntyre (BScH)
[BOTTOM] Emma Hebb (BScH), Jennifer Herrick (BScH), Emma Vost (MSc), Sam Edmonds
(MSc)
30 March 2009
Acadia
students win Graham Williams Best Poster Award at AGS Colloquium
Approximately 25 Acadia students and faculty attended the mid-winter
Atlantic Geoscience Colloquium at Moncton on 6-7 February. The Acadia
students were particularly conspicuous at the conference, showing up in the
technical sessions, browsing the posters, and generally having a great time
soaking up the geological happenings in Atlantic Canada. Stephanie
Anderson and Jean-Luc Pilote both gave talks on their recent work, and Tim
Collins, Edwin Escarraga, Tamara Moss, Pizye Nankamba and Meredith Roik
presented posters. Congratulations to Tamara Moss who won the Graham
Williams Best Poster Award, and to Edwin Escarraga, who was runner-up in this
category!
9 February 2009
Sustainable
Campus Conference, St. John's
RRecently, four students attended the Fourth Annual Atlantic region Sustainable
Campuses Conference held this year at Memorial University in St. John’s,
Newfoundland. Despite the weather which complicated both outgoing and incoming
flights, Jennifer Herrick, Dewey Dunnington, Amy Buckland-Nicks and James
Patterson were able to represent Acadia. The Sustainable Campuses project is a
part of the Sierra Youth Coalition designed to implement the values and lobbying
the Coalition does in the form of policy at the high school and university
level. This year the conference featured keynote addresses by Elizabeth Weir,
CEO of Energy Efficiency New Brunswick and Robert O’Brien, founder and director
of OceanNET. Four sets of workshops focused mainly on projects that can be
undertaken at the university level to engage students with a goal to improve
university sustainability. Following the mix of workshops, conference attendees
reconvened and launched into a Regional Strategizing session to identify areas
where interuniversity action could be beneficial in helping facilitate some
on-going initiatives and creation of new ones. Committees were formed on topics
such as Sustainable Curricula, Bottled Water and Residence Challenges. This
encouraged relationships with other universities and provided a network through
which to organize regional action. Returning to Acadia from St. John’s, the four
Environmental Science majors were inspired by the conference and hope to get the
ball rolling on a few great ideas this term!
11 February 2009
For previously listed events in 2008, please go to the 2008 events archive.