Virginia Batts Receives 2011 Compton Mentor Fellowship

pictureVirginia Batts, a graduating senior (May, 2011) at the Earth and Environmental Sciences department has been awarded the prestigious 2011 Compton Mentor Fellowship.  This fellowship promotes innovative project development and implementation in areas of environment and sustainability, and climate change and energy policy among others.  This will take Virginia to the western part of India for a year-long project in collaboration with Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR) involving 1) research and implementation of water harvesting infrastructure, 2) installing weather stations and start collecting long-term climate data, and 3) develop a community oriented water resources management plan.

Virginia says: “The Compton Mentor Fellowship is a rare and unique opportunity for young graduates to apply their educational experience to some of the greatest challenges of a globalized world. While the project is the focal point of the fellowship, the Compton Foundation is also interested in providing eye-opening experiences that will shape each fellow into a catalyst for positive change. I am eternally grateful for having been honored with this opportunity, and especially for the support from friends and faculty who have encouraged me through and through. Wherever this flight takes me, it will always be the Furman years that served as my launching pad.”

Compton Web Page: http://www.comptonmentorfellowship.org/

Watershed Organization Trust: http://www.wotr.org/

It should be noted that Virginia Batts recently won the Fallow Outstanding Senior Award in the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Furman.

If you like us, you will Like Us on Facebook too!

The department of Earth and Environmental sciences is excited to announce that we are now on Facebook.  If this doesn’t excite you, then hear this – Dr. Garihan now has a Facebook page too.  If you don’t believe me, go and search.  Well, we have posted lots of photos from the good old days out there for your pleasure.  We hope you will like us and keep in touch.  Post images and update us on your status.

As always, we would love to see you here – come any time.

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Earth and Environmental Sciences Facebook Page

2011 EES Award Winners Announced

The much awaited annual awards ceremony was held last week at Furman University.  The following are the EES award winners for the year 2011.  Congratulations seniors – keep up the good work.  We are proud of all your accomplishments.

Alyssa Wickard – Winner of Earth and Environmental Sciences Research Award, that is given to a senior who shows exceptional promise as a scientist by producing an outstanding senior thesis

Virginia Batts – Winner of Fallaw Outstanding Senior Award, that is given to a student who exhibits great professional potential and that has shown leadership in the department

Reece Lyerly – Winner of Earth and Environmental Sciences Scholar Award, that is given to the senior that shows the greatest scholarly ability

Steven Hovdesven – Winner of George C. Marshall Excellence in Military Science and Leadership Award, presented annually to the top senior cadet in each of Cadet Command’s programs whose outstanding accomplishments in military studies best exemplifies the private life and public career of General of the Army George C. Marshal.

2011 Awards Ceremony Photos

Extreme Science: Meteorite Impact on the Atlantic Coast

2011-04-04_Extreme Science Talk HortonAbout 35 million years ago, an asteroid or comet nucleus collided with Earth at the present mouth of Chesapeake Bay. The product of this environmental catastrophe, known as the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, is now concealed beneath sediments on the Atlantic continental margin. This 53-mile-wide feature is one of Earth’s largest and best-preserved examples of an impact crater that formed in a near-shore marine environment. It has profound influence on modern ground-water quality, notably salinity, in one of the fastest growing urban centers on the east coast. Drilling a mile-deep core hole and studies in geology, hydrology, geophysical imaging, computer modeling, and deep-biosphere microbiology provide insight into this catastrophic event, its consequences for life, ground-water resources, hazard implications, and significance for other planetary bodies.

This was the synopsis of the presentation made by Dr. Wright Horton, who graduated from Furman in 1972 and later earned a Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill.  He has spent most of his career as a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).  His interests include geology of the Appalachian Piedmont and Mountains, rocks buried under the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and meteorite impact craters.  In connection with this talk, he served as project chief of the USGS Chesapeake Bay impact crater project and co-principal investigator of a related international deep drilling project. 

This event was sponsored by Bartram Society and the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. 

More photos here.