Alumni News - Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto

More documents

Recommendations

Info

News, Honours and Awards Emeritus Professor Donald H Gorman (Digger to his many friends and colleagues) was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame on January 15, 2009 in recognition of his lifetime of service to the industry. Nick Tintor (B.Sc. 1980) was the recipient of the University’s Arbor Award for his dedicated work on behalf of the department’s Industry Steering Committee for Advancement Initiatives. Nick is currently CEO of Homeland Uranium. Professor Jim Mungall is on a two year leave of absence working full time as Chief Geologist for Noront Resources on the Ring of Fire project in the Ontario James Bay Lowlands. They are exploring an Archean suite of komatiitic intrusions where the targets are magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulfides and massive chromitite. Emeritus Professor Tony Naldrett writes: My life has been dividing itself as usual between South Africa (where I am researching on the Merensky Reef and UG-2), the UK and a little in Canada. Perhaps the main item of interest to alumni is that I was chosen as the 2008 Alex du Toit lecturer by the Geological Society of South Africa. So far I have lectured in Johannesburg, at UCT-Stellenbosch, University of KwaZuluNatal in Durban, Bloemfontein, Fort Hare, Rhodes University in Grahamstown and the University of Venda. I’ll be going back to South Africa on Nov 5 to complete the tour, speaking to geological societies in Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, and branches of the GSSA in Barberton, Pretoria and Rustenburg, so I’ll have seen much of Southern Africa by the time I finish! Maureen Jensen (B.Sc. 1979) – received the Distinguished Service Award of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. another Festschrift to accompany the Gittins volume of the prestigious Journal of Petrology. The Canadian Mineralogist has issued the Gittins Volume on Carbonatites and Alkali Rocks as a tribute to John’s internationally recognized leadership in research on these enigmatic rocks. Martyn Beckett (B.Sc. 1984; M.Sc. 1987) has been appointment Director of Education for the Durham Region, Ontario. David Brace (B.Sc. 1975) has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of GlobeStar Mining Corporation, a company that also employs alumnus Sergio Gelcich Professor Andrew Miall The long awaited book, “The Sedimentary Basins of the United States and Canada” has now been published by Elsevier. This project has been ten years in the making and the lengthy gestation reflects the extended period of time it took for some authors to complete their chapters. The book draws on the detailed syntheses of the continental geology assembled for the GSA-GSC “Decade of North American Geology” project of the 1980s and early 1990s, plus the discoveries of COCORP and Lithoprobe. The book is aimed at the general, educated geological audience, and should be useful for any individual who needs an introduction to the sedimentary geology and basin history of a specific area of the continent. Andrew served as General Chair and Technical Program Coordinator of The Gussow/ Nuna conference on The Geoscience of Climate Change held at the Banff Centre, October 2008. The conference presentations are being prepared for publication as a series in Geoscience Canada. 4 Barbara Sherwood Lollar is the recipient of one of NSERC’s Accelerator Awards within the Discovery Grants Program. Professor Rebecca Ghent has been selected as a NASA Participating Scientist on the upcoming Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission and will be working on data from the Diviner instrument. Professor Uli Wortmann co-edited a special volume Investigating Climates Environments and Biology for the Elsevier journal Paleogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology. Emeritus Professor John Gittins has been honoured with Andrew Miall with Gordon Williams (President APEGGA) and Lisa Griffiths (President, CSPG) at the Banff conference on the Geoscience of Climate Change.
In addition Andrew has completed the first year of a twoyear term as President of the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada. This is a largely administrative position, overseeing the selection and induction of new Fellows. The Society is also attempting to enlarge its role in Canada’s public life, and to this end has been engaged in fundraising activities and developing closer relations with Canada’s universities. He also found time to give two short courses to the petroleum geology community in Calgary. Andrew and Charlene Miall completed their online survey, and interviews of earth scientists across the country (71 interviews, from Victoria to St. John’s) and have written up a summary of the results for Geoscience Canada. This may be accessed at http://www.gac.ca/publications/geoscience/ data.php. Report on the Explorers Fund and Donor Initiatives The Explorer’s Fund has already begun to pay dividends to the Department and its students. Katrina van Drongelen is the first recipient of a graduate scholarship from the Fund. She received support from the Jeff Fawcett-John Gittins Fund for her M.Sc. research. Katrina is a first year graduate student supervised by Dr. Kim Tait, Curator of Mineralogy at the ROM, cross appointed to the Faculty. In addition, the Explorer’s Fund was able to provide an undergraduate scholarship to fourth year student Nicole DeBond In 2008 the Steering Committee for fundraising worked on expanding the initiative into the business community, particularly in Toronto. A luncheon hosted by Eric Sprott brought together members of the mining investment community as well as several alumni to discuss the need to fund teaching and ongoing research in the Earth Sciences. Geology Faculty Members present included Professor Jeff Fawcett, Chair Sandy Cruden and Professor Ed Spooner. The take home message was that the Earth Sciences required support beyond the University domain particularly given the increased need for geoscientists in the exploration, mining and environmental sectors. Since that time the steering committee has continued to work with institutions as well as alumni managing junior and senior mining companies to publicize the Explorers Fund and the channels that are available for donating to the Department of Geology at the University of Toronto. A principal focus of the Steering Committee in 2008 was to develop and refine a five year stewardship progam to raise significant funds for the Department of Geology. The program was developed by Faculty members, members of Katrina van Drongelen the steering committee and Monica Lin, a representative for Advancement for the Faculty of Arts and Science. The pyramid of building blocks for the fund raising relies on a base of Endowed Chairs and Professorships which would attract students and further funding. This higher level investment opportunity would be coupled with the more grassroots program of endowment and gifting through the Explorers Fund established in 2007. A copy of this program and its rationale as well as a prospectus style presentation will be mailed to all Alumni. While the dynamics of the stock market have changed dramatically over 2008, the steering committee is of the belief that there is substantial opportunity to have potential donors pledge shares or gifts based on future improvements in the value of such holdings. The program in 2009 will start with a meeting of Alumni at the Cordilleran round-Up in Vancouver in January, where the recently formulated funding document will be introduced. Laurie Curtis, January 1st, 2009. Steering Committee Chair. 5
Page 1 and 2: Issue 18 February 2009 Alumni NEWS
Page 3: Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Emerit
Page 7 and 8: Connaught Fellowship Neil Bennett C
Page 9 and 10: of impact ejecta (the material exca
Page 11 and 12: with procuring steady research fund
Page 13 and 14: 2009 JOINT ASSEMBLY The Department
Page 15 and 16: The undergraduate geology program o
Page 17 and 18: and led the international initiativ
Page 19 and 20: The Explorers Fund has been establi

Alumni News - Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?