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The Newton Horace Winchell School of Earth Sciences |
Alumni News
Peter Jansson, PhD 1993, took part in the Nobel Prize effort of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as contributing author for chapter 4. He is also vice president of the newly formed International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS) within the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG). IACS can be found at www.cryosphericsciences.org. Peter would like to put in a plug for the upcoming Joint Assembly of IACS, IAMAS (meteorology) and IAPSO (Oceans) in Montreal next year (2009). See www.moca-09.org for more details. (6/2008)
Davd DesAutels, MS 1978, has published a new book, "The Twelve-Step Program to Better Business Management." Details can be found at www.david-desautels.com (4/2008).
Thomas Ostertag, BA Chemistry and Geology 1965, recently sent in this news item: "I retired from Honeywell in 2005 after working as a materials engineer for 31 years. I have since been volunteering at the Science Museum of Minnesota in the Paleontology Lab with Dr. Bruce Erickson. I've been doing preparatory work on a goniopholis crocodile and have been enjoying it thoroughly. Brings back memories of Dr. Sloan's labs. We've also had some interesting discussions on dinosaurs, Coconino sandstone tracks and CT x-ray scans of the goniopholis skull." (2/2008)
Michael Hillesheim, BS 2001, completed a M.Sc. in Geology at the University of Florida in April, 2005. Since then he has been working as a hydrogeologist for Sandia National Laboratories in Carlsbad, NM. He spends most of his time focusing on the U.S. DOE Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). In April 2006 he married Lauren Smith (who attended the UMN hydro field camp while she was a graduate student at the Univ. Florida). Michael can be reached at mbhille@sandia.gov. (1/2007)
Carlton W. Peters, BS 1974, can be contacted at Lot 1 Rosignol Village, West Bank, Berbice, Guyana, South America. (3/2006)
Dwight Gustafson, BS 1972, is currently working as a geophysical specialist for
Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Since leaving school, he has worked in the oil industry, primarily doing
international exploration. His
career has been split between new ventures exploration, and resident
assignments in Norway, Dubai, Azerbaijan, Gabon, and now Saudi Arabia. Dwight is married and has a son who
will start college in the fall. (4/2004)
Douglas D. Nelson, BS 1968, has been named Dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Coastal Carolina University where he has been teaching geology and marine science for 30 years. After graduating with a B.S. in 1968, a Ph.D. was completed at the University of South Carolina in 1973. Research has included modern sediment transport and deposition processes. (2/2004)
Cara Alferness, MS 1997, has a new job working for Krazan and Associates in
Poulsbo, Washington as a geologist and lab tech doing environmental,
geotechnical, and materials testing work. (6/20
Roger Born, BS 1956, it was great to receive the recent Department of Geology and Geophysics newsletter, to hear of current happenings, and to see the names of former professors, Sam Goldich, Fred Swain, and Dr. Gruner. I didn't know Dr. Gruner had a first name until I read in the newsletter it was John. Dr. Gruner might have been happy to learn I moved out of Geology and into computers after five years in the field. Minerals and I never got along very well. And I must confess to Dr. Swain I never was able to "Learn to spell the words I use!" as he wrote across the front of my final field report, try as I may!
After five years in geophysical oil exploration I joined UNIVAC programming and engineering computer systems. Combining the two fields, at Texas Instruments/Geophysical Systems Inc. I received a patent for real-time computer controlled oil exploration. The concepts were also applied to oceanographic and meteorologic data collection leading to a NOAA Outstanding Achievement Award for managing the design, construction, and deployment of data systems on USA ships participating in the Global Research Program Atlantic Tropical Experiment.
More recent years were involved in imbedded systems for computer control of industrial processes, call management systems, and object oriented programming. During these years I wrote many papers for presentation or publishing (Thank goodness for spell-check!), presented seminars and workshops, and mentored developers converting business problems into object-oriented computer solutions.
The University of Minnesota and earth sciences started me on a very interesting and rewarding life. My name and accomplishments were even listed in the Who's Who in California. Thanks for a wonderful start. (6/2003)
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