Welcome Back!

Piers Chapman As the Head of the Department of Oceanography, I am happy to welcome you to the department website. Whether you are an old friend or a potential new student, we hope you will be impressed by our wide-ranging research. Visit our research pages to catch up on the many ongoing projects our faculty members are pursuing in collaboration with IODP, GERG, and other University and national partners.

We recently said goodbye to two long-serving members of our faculty, Bob Stewart and Martha Scott, who both retired in summer 2009. We anticipate replacing them in the near future to ensure the continuing development of our research and teaching abilities.

Sadly, two distinguished members of our faculty passed away this year: Dr. Robert Reid on January 23 and Dr. John Morse on November 23, 2009. Each impacted the department in myriad ways during their careers and will be greatly missed. A scholarship fund has been established in the name of Bob Reid, who was a distinguished professor emeritus in the department. To learn more or contribute, click here.

Several faculty members were honored this past year with major awards for their work and accomplishments:

John Morse was named a fellow of the American Geophysical Union;
Debbie Thomas was acknowledgeds as a Montague Scholar by the Center for Teaching Excellence;
Steve DiMarco won the 2009 Association of Former Students’ College Level Teaching Award; and
Will Sager won the 2009 Association of Former Students’ University Level Research Award.

Students have also been busy, winning awards for outstanding posters at international meetings. To highlight a few:

Ruth Mullins and Masako Tominaga were awarded 2009 Association of Former Students’ Distinguished Awards for teaching and research respectively;
Stella Woodard was named a Schlanger Fellow by the Integrated Ocean Drilling program; and
Brandi Reese won a scholarship to attend the Lindau Conference in Austria where she spent a week interacting with Nobel prizewinners.

More recently, we celebrated the department’s 60th anniversary, which was acknowledged by the issuing of a congratulatory Proclamation by the Senate of the State of Texas. The talks, together with pictures from the dinner, are available by clicking here and on the college's facebook page at www.facebook.com/TAMUGeosciences.

Find out more about the work and accomplishments of faculty and students by visiting our faculty pages, and stay up-to-date on current news and events in the Department and throughout the College on our news pages. If you’re going to be in College Station, come and introduce yourself, and feel free to stop by at the weekly seminar series we host during the school term (on Mondays at 4 p.m. in O&M Room 112 unless otherwise indicated on the schedule posted in our outreach section). There are always plenty of cookies and coffee! See you there.

Piers Chapman, Ph.D. 
Department Head, Oceanography

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