Geophysical Sciences professors earn Macelwane Medal, Nier Prize
The American Geophysical Union has named Nicolas Dauphas, associate professor in geophysical sciences, as a 2011 recipient of the James B. Macelwane Medal. The Meteoritical Society also has awarded the 2011 Alfred O. Nier Prize to his colleague Fred Ciesla, assistant professor in geophysical sciences. The Meteoriticial Society is devoted to the study of phenomena such as meteorites, comets and asteroids.
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Faculty Positions in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
The Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago invites applications for faculty positions in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences. Areas of special interest include, but are not limited to:
• Physical oceanography, including the role of the oceans in Earth's climate system
• Atmospheric science pertaining to aerosols, clouds, or chemistry, with particular emphasis on experimentation or analysis of field measurements
• General circulation and climate dynamics of planetary atmospheres
Candidates must have completed a Ph.D. prior to appointment.
Applicants must apply through the University's Academic Careers website and upload a cover letter; a curriculum vitae; statements of research and teaching interests; and names and contact information for at least three referees. Consideration of applications will begin November 1, 2011. For a position at the rank of Assistant Professor, please apply at academiccareers.uchicago.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=51832. To be considered for a tenured rank, please apply at academiccareers.uchicago.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=51837. The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. For more information on the Department, please visit http://geosci.uchicago.edu.
Prof. Susan Kidwell awarded distinguished fellowship in the AAAS.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science awarded the distinction of fellow to four University of Chicago faculty members earlier this year because of their efforts to advance science applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished. The newly elected fellows include Prof. Susan Kidwell, the William Rainey Harper Professor in Geophysical Sciences. Kidwell was cited “for distinguished contributions to the field of paleobiology, particularly for taphonomic and paleoecological studies of marine ecosystems.” [read more]
For Mars, rapid formation stunted growth
Mars developed in as little as two to four million years after the birth of the solar system, far more quickly than Earth, according to a new study published in the May 26 issue of the journal Nature. The red planet’s rapid formation helps explain why it is so small, say the study’s co-authors, Nicolas Dauphas at the University of Chicago and Ali Pourmand at the University of Miami (Fla). Read more…
Greenland Ice Sheet's accelerating melting makes a ruckus
According to a report on PRI's The World, Jason Amundson, Glaciologist and postdoctoral scholar, and colleagues record the sounds generated by iceberg discharge into the ocean. This discharge has been accelerating in part because of enhanced lubrication of the ice sheet's bedrock contact by meltwater that has percolated down from the surface. Read more, and listen.
Liz Moyer awarded the prestigious Dreyfus Foundation Award in Environmental Chemistry
Liz Moyer, faculty, was one of only 8 to be awarded by this prestigious foundation. The award will support her work on ice nucleation and cloud microphysics using a novel spectrometer and the AIDA cloud simulation chamber in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Kristopher Darnell wins Outstanding Student Paper Award
Kristopher Darnell, first year graduate student in the department, has been selected to receive an Outstanding Student Paper Award for his presentation “Evolution of supraglacial lakes and drainage patterns on the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet, Part 2: Idealized models of crescentic surface lakes and their trailing ogives” at the American Geophysical Union 2010 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California. Kristopher comes to DoGS from University of Texas at Austin and is interested in glaciological research in addition to a variety of atmospheres, oceans and climate problems that are currently of interest to the department.
The Steppenwolf... Can life hitch a ride on outcast planets?
Dorian Abbot, T. C. Chamberlain Fellow and new faculty, and Eric Switzer, of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, report research on the possibility of habitable planets that have lost their mother star. Read the Findings article in Science.
When glacial giants roll over... DoGS authors gain attention in Nature News & Views
Dorian Abbot, T. C. Chamberlain Fellow and new faculty, Olga Sergienko, DoGS PhD 2005, and Doug MacAyeal, faculty, report research on iceberg capsize tsunamigenesis. This leads to speculation that global warming poses yet another threat: see the News & Views by Anders Levermann published in the 6 April issue of Nature.
Bones conjure Yellowstone’s ecological ghosts
By taking a closer look at animal bones scattered across the wilderness landscape, a University of Chicago researcher has found a powerful tool for showing how species’ populations have changed over decades or even a century.
“The skeletons of long-dead animals lying on landscapes provide critical insight into our understanding of ecosystem history, especially how populations have changed,” said the study’s author, University of Chicago alumnus Joshua H. Miller, S.M.’05, PhD’09, a postdoctoral research fellow in biological sciences at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
Full story:
http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2011/03/28/bones-conjure-yellowstone-s-ecological-ghosts
