Fall 2015
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Campus Box 22
Denver, CO 80217
Phone: 303-556-3143
Webpage: www.msudenver.edu/eas
Email: [email protected]
Message from the EAS Chair
Contributed by Dr. Jason Janke
During 2014-2015, EAS received capital funds to purchase new equipment to
support our programs. We hope this equipment will be used to support faculty
as well as undergraduate research. EAS faculty made many important
accomplishments this past year. We have hired three new Category II faculty,
two tenure-line faculty, and a new program coordinator. The following list
highlights the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences’ dedication and
commitment to provide students with a preeminent educational experience.
•
Sarah Schliemann was hired as a Category II lecturer. She has recently
redesigned her Landscape Ecology class to focus on authentic research
experiences and will be teaching integrated science.
•
Sara Jackson recently received her Ph.D. from York University and was
hired as a Category II lecturer to teach classes in Geography and
Sustainability.
•
Randi Brazeau published a paper about decontamination of plumbing
systems in response to a spill in West Virginia. Randi was also hired as a
new tenure-line faculty in Environmental Science.
•
Sam Ng upgraded the weather lab and added a virtual wall for
forecasting purposes.
•
Shamim Ahsan completed the upgrade of the biodiesel processer. He has
begun examining new avenues of creating biodiesel from animal fats.
•
Antonio Bellisario published two articles related to the Geography of Chile.
He recently took a group of students to Chile to begin a sustainable
development project with locals.
•
Richard Wagner initiated a movement where faculty will receive 2/3
contact time for laboratory courses rather than 1/2 contact hours. He also
submitted a successful application to ensure the Meteorology program will
continue to be a full member of the National Center for Atmospheric
Research (NCAR).
•
Keah Schuenemann developed a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC)
which addresses climate change skepticism. Keah was also granted
tenure and promoted to Associate Professor.
•
Barbara EchoHawk has been active guiding numerous undergraduate
research projects, including monitoring of a slump in residential area in
Louisville, CO.
•
Stella Todd was promoted to Full Professor. She also received reassigned
time to work on projects for the Center for Advanced Visualization and
Experiential Analysis (CAVEA).
•
Uwe Kackstaetter developed a software used by NASA to compute
mineralogy of fine grained sediments obtained from the Mars Rover. The
software was part of one of his publications.
•
Andy Evans has established a research site at south suburban parks to
collect environmental data for his field studies class. He also completed a
major soil and water field study project in Rocky Mountain National Park.
•
Gabrielle Katz was hired as a new tenure-line faculty in Geography. She
comes to us from Appalachian State University and specializes in
Biogeography.
•
James Harris has begun working on an online World Regional Geography
text that will focus on current events. James was also awarded a multiyear Category II contract.
Inside This Issue
1
Message from EAS Chair
2
MSU 50!
4
Faculty and Staff Profiles
7
Social Media
8
Save the Date
8
Support MSU Denver
EAS NEWSLETTER
PAGE 2
MSU Denver Celebrates 50 years!
Contributed by Dr. Jim Cronoble and Jason Janke
It’s hard to believe MSU Denver is turning 50 this year. It’s even harder to believe how much
the EAS Department has grown over the last decade! Below, you will find a list of retired and
current faculty. We aim to keep accurate records and timelines, if we have missed anyone
please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]. Let’s make the next 50 years
just as exciting and productive as the first.
MSU Retired Faculty
•
Dixon Smith taught various courses in geology and geography from 1950 to 1988. He also served as Department Chair
from 1973 to 1988.
•
James MacLachlan, deceased, taught various courses in geology from 1967 to 1987. He served as the first Department
Chair from 1969 to 1973.
•
Rob Boudreau, deceased, taught various courses in meteorology. He served as Department Chair for a short time.
•
Roberta Smilnak, Emertius, deceased, taught various courses in geography and environmental science from 1974 to
2000. She served as Department Chair from as well.
•
Tom Corona, Emeritus, taught various courses in meteorology from 1981 to 2009. He currently lives in Denver, Colorado.
•
Tony Rockwood, Emeritus, taught various courses in meteorology from until 2004.
Colorado.
He currently lives in Denver,
•
Rob Leitz taught various courses in geology from 1977 to 2004. He currently lives in Golden Gate Canyon, CO.
•
Jim Cronoble, Emeritus, taught various courses in geology from 1987 to 2007, and he continues to teach field courses.
He served as Department Chair from 1995 to 2001. He currently lives in Lakewood, Colorado.
•
John Kilcoyne, deceased, taught various courses in geography and integrated Geographic Information Systems into
the EAS curriculum, from the 1990s to 2002. He served briefly as Department Chair before Ken Engelbrecht.
•
Pete Varney, Emeritus, taught various courses in geology from 2000 to 2011. He currently lives in Durango, Colorado.
•
Ken Engelbrecht, Emeritus, taught various courses in geography and environmental science from 2001 to 2013. He also
served as Department Chair from 2001 to 2013. He currently lives in Aurora, Colorado.
Current Faculty
Name
Rank
Specialty
Start Date
Rich Wagner
Associate Professor
Meteorology
1997
Stella Todd
Professor
GIS
2001
Sam Ng
Associate Professor
Meteorology
2006
Jason Janke
Professor
Environmental Science
2006
Antonio Bellisario
Associate Professor
Geography
2007
Shamim Ahsan
Associate Professor
Environmental Science
2007
Andy Evans
Associate Professor
Environmental Science
2008
Uwe Kackstaetter
Associate Professor
Geology
2008
Jamie Harris
Senior Lecturer
Geography
2008
Keah Schuenemann
Associate Professor
Meteorology
2010
Barb EchoHawk
Assistant Professor
Geology
2011
Gabrielle Katz
Assistant Professor
Geography
2015
Randi Brazeau
Assistant Professor
Environmental Science
2015
Sara Jackson
Cat-II Lecturer
Geography
2015
Jenny Immich
Cat-II Lecturer
GIS
2015
Sarah Schliemann
Cat-II Lecturer
Integrated Science
2015
EAS NEWSLETTER
We would not be able to teach so many unique courses and reach so many curious students without the
dedication of our affiliate faculty. Thank you for all of your hard work and contributions!
Thomas Bellinger - Environmental Science
Mark Cassalia - Environmental Science
Michael Chapman - Meteorology
Kirsten Christensen - Geography
Hugh Clubb - Environmental Science
Jim Cronoble - Geology
John Davis - Environmental Science
Randy Dohne - Geography
Betsy Forrest - Meteorology
Mike Freiheiter - Geology
Barbara Gabriel - Geography
Terry Kay - Geology
Scott Landolt - Meteorology
Andy March - Geography
Deb Marshall - GIS
Greg McCabe - Meteorology
David Parr - GIS
Catherine Powers - Geology
Elizabeth Prueher - Geology
Myron Reinker - Geography
Ashley Rust- Environmental Science
Elizabeth Simmons - Geology
Sangeeta Singh - Geography
Chris Spears - Meteorology
Michael Ulm - Geography
Jon Van De Grift - Geography
Bill Yokley - Geology
PAGE 3
PAGE 4
Faculty Profile: Gabrielle Katz
Dr. Gabrielle Katz is a physical geographer, with research interests in biogeography, hydrology, biological invasions and
riparian ecosystems. She studies how hydrology and water management shape riparian plant communities, and how
ecological restoration activities affect these ecosystems. She has worked on several western US rivers, including the San Pedro
River in Arizona, and the South Fork of the Republican River, Arikaree River, South Platte River system, and Boulder Creek in
Colorado. She has a PhD in Geography (CU-Boulder, 2001), an MA in Geography (CU-Boulder, 1995), and a BA in Geology
(Brown University, 1991).
Dr. Katz brings many years of teaching experience to MSU Denver. She taught geography at Appalachian State University for
10 years, where her courses included introductory courses as well as upper division and graduate level courses. Topics have
included physical geography, global change of the biosphere, hydrology, biogeography, environmental issues, senior
capstone seminar, research themes and methods in geography, and a variety of graduate seminars in biogeography. More
recently, Dr. Katz served as a Science Teaching Fellow in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at CU-Boulder.
In this role, she worked with faculty to improve science teaching by defining core ideas and incorporating active learning
exercises and case studies into their classes. This was a great learning experience for Dr. Katz as well, and she is committed to
employing effective research-based teaching and learning methods in her courses. This semester, she is teaching GEG 1100
Introduction to Physical Geography and GEG 1900 Water Essentials in EAS.
Dr. Katz is delighted to be part of EAS. She is enjoying getting to know the department, and learning the ropes at a new
institution. In addition, she is greatly enjoying her interactions with the MSU Denver students, who bring so much experience,
curiosity, and energy to the classroom. She looks forward to a fun and productive first year here at MSU Denver!
EAS NEWSLETTER
PAGE 5
Faculty Profile: Sara Jackson
Sara has a B.A. in International Studies from University of Washington and a
M.A. in Geography from University of British Columbia. Before starting her
Ph.D. in 2009, Sara taught English in the School of Economic Studies at the
National University of Mongolia. She recently completed her Ph.D. in
Geography from York University in Toronto, Ontario. Her dissertation is
entitled Building a Mineral Nation? The Oyu Tolgoi Copper-Gold Mine and
Contested Infrastructure Development in Mongolia. In spring 2015, she was
a Field Research Fellow with the American Center for Mongolian Studies. A
native of Colorado, Sara is excited to be back in Denver and recently
transitioned from being a part-time to a full-time lecturer in Geography at
MSU Denver. Her ongoing research interests include political and cultural
geographies of resource extraction. She has published articles for
academic and community audiences about mining and infrastructure
development in Mongolia as well as about ethnic and religious politics in
North America. This fall, Sara is teaching introductory geography and
environmental science courses as well as Geography of Colorado. She is
looking
forward
to
teaching
and
supporting
the
development
of
geography and sustainability programming in the Department of Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences.
Faculty Profile: Sarah Schliemann
Sarah Schliemann holds a Ph.D. in Forest and Wildlife
Ecology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and
a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from the
University of California, Santa Barbara. Since beginning
her work at MSU Denver in the fall of 2011, she has
taught a wide variety of classes including Intro. to
Environmental
Science,
Landscape Ecology.
Schliemann
has
Physical
Geography,
and
Over the last three years, Dr.
supervised
numerous
students
conducting research projects on topics ranging from
aquatic chemistry to plant community health and
stability. In her research, she investigates large-scale
ecological processes including biogeochemistry, plant
community dynamics, and plant-soil interactions. She is
currently working on a project investigating carbon
cycling in the alpine ecosystem in Rocky Mountain
National
Park.
Dr.
Schliemann
especially
enjoys
teaching at MSU Denver and she is very happy to be a
part of the EAS department.
PAGE 6
Faculty Profile: Jennifer Immich
Jennifer Immich is a historical landscape archaeologist with a
research focus on spatial analysis applications to humanenvironmental interactions in the past. Jenny completed her
Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2015 and also holds two
Master’s degrees in Anthropology and Geographic Information
Systems. After spending a year as a GIS Teaching Fellow at
Middlebury College in Vermont, Jenny joined the faculty in the
EAS department at MSU Denver in fall 2015 as a Cat II GIS
lecturer. Her EAS courses include: Introduction to Geospatial
Science, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, and
Remote Sensing. Jenny’s research focuses on the construction of
colonial landscapes, examining the progression of medieval
castle building across the midlands of Ireland. She uses
archaeological surveying, historical landscape archaeology,
colonial theory, spatial analysis, and modeling in GIS to
understand the particular locations of the earliest castles to help
form theories on the development of the Irish countryside. Jenny
is excited to be a part of the EAS department and is looking
forward to the upcoming academic year!
Program Coordinator Profile: Courtney Matsumoto
Courtney Matsumoto earned Bachelor’s degrees in Ethnic Studies and
Sociology with a concentration in Criminal Justice/Criminology from
Colorado State University in May of 2013. She recently completed her
Master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs Leadership at the
University of Northern Colorado (UNC). Prior to her time as the EAS Program
Coordinator, she worked as the Graduate Assistant for UNC’s Cesar Chavez
Cultural Center and the Interim Assistant Director for UNC’s Asian/Pacific
American Student Services. She joined the EAS team in Summer of 2015 and
will be helping the department in numerous capacities. Most importantly,
Courtney will be serving as a generalist academic advisor for the
department. She hopes to increase recruitment and retention efforts of
underrepresented
students
for
the
department
and
across
higher
education. She is currently a member of the National Association of Student
Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the American College Personnel
Association (ACPA). Courtney is a Colorado native, but hates the cold. In
her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and partner,
reading, watching the Broncos, attending festivals, taking naps, doing DIY
crafts, painting, and baking. She will be returning to school part time in the
Fall of 2016 to begin her PhD. Come visit her in SI-2028C and look out for her
fun giveaways, challenges, and free food throughout the semester!
EAS NEWSLETTER
PAGE 7
The EAS Department is getting a social media face-lift!
We will now have many ways to stay connected:
•
Visit our MSU Denver website for additional information or links to accounts:
o
www.msudenver.edu/eas
o
www.facebook.com/MSUDenverEAS
•
•
Follow us on Twitter!
o
•
Join the conversation at: #msudenvereas
•
More to come:
•
EAS Photos
o
Do you have a cool earth related photo you’d like to share? Email it to us at:
[email protected]
PAGE 8
Save the date
•
•
MSU Denver homecoming - February 2016
American Geophysical Union (AGU) – San Francisco - December
2015
•
Association of American Geographers (AAG) – San Francisco –
March 2016
•
American Meteorological Society (AMS) – New Orleans – January
2016
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