2008-2010 Department Annual Report - Department of Earth ...

Teaching
Since we teach all of our upper level classes on an
every-other-year basis, over the last two years I
have taught a complete cycle of my courses:
Aquatic Chemistry, Global Environmental
Problems, Introduction to Oceanography (twice),
Chemistry of Natural Waters, and Hydrogeology.
What's new is that one time (summer 2009) I taught
the Introduction to Oceanography in the summer
semester instead of in the spring semester. The
field trip is definitely more pleasant in the summer!
In addition, we were fortunate enough to have the
EPA monitoring ship R/V Lake Guardian dock in
town during the course, so I called the Captain and
he gave the class a tour of the ship! Also new was
that I taught the Global Environmental Problems
class for the first time. This is a course that satisfies
an Environmental Studies requirement, so we tend
to get different students in that class.
was supposed to meet for about 6 months and ended
up meeting for about 2 1/2 years, submitted its final
recommendations this past spring. There was a lot
of interest in the Task Force's work, so I think that
led the OEPA to proceed very cautiously and
slowed things down a bit.
Publications
Smith, D.A. and G. Matisoff 2008. Sediment
oxygen demand in the central basin of Lake
Erie. J. Great Lakes Res. 34: 731-744.
Edwards, W.J., F. Soster, G. Matisoff, and D.W.
Schloesser 2009. The effect of mayfly
(Hexagenia spp.) burrowing activity on
sediment oxygen demand in western Lake
Erie. J. Great Lakes Res. 35: 507-516.
Service
Over the past couple of years I've been very busy in
service obligations. I participated in several
admissions programs (Get Connected, Saturday
Sampler, Experience Case), emails, department
visits, and phone calls and tried to attract majors at
the Major/Minor Fair for existing freshmen. I
served on the Chair Council. I was again the
Department's academic advisor for all our geology
majors. I served on the College of Arts and
Sciences Promotion and Tenure Committee. I again
ran a Science Olympiad activity; one year the theme
was plate tectonics and the following year it was
Earthquakes and Volcanoes. I enticed some of our
undergraduate students to assist me (Maya Alunkal,
Annie Griswold, and Emily Haines in 2009; and the
following year Maya and Emily helped again).
Professionally, I was Chair of the Publications
Committee for IAGLR. I also served on the Ohio
Lake Erie Phosphorus Task Force. Our ad hoc
group, which was administered by the Ohio EPA,
Hathaway Brown school student Mimi Toohey
collects a soil sample for her earthworm experiments.
29