- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

EARTHtalk! lecture to highlight changes in reefs, threats to modern reef ecosystems

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 17:03:18 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock assistant professor will lecture Sept. 18 on changes in ocean reefs through time, the implications of human impacts on modern reef systems, and actions being taken across the world to protect reefs from terminal decline. Dr. René Shroat-Lewis, U.S. Navy veteran and assistant professor of Earth sciences, will give the talk, “Diving Deeper: Exploring the Changes in Reefs Through Time” at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 18, at the College of Engineering and Information Technology building auditorium. The talk is part of the Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! series. “In the last 540 million years, reefs have diversified, undergone extinctions, and diversified again,” said Shroat-Lewis. “Changes in climate have played a role in this process, with rising greenhouse gases and ocean acidification causing the decline of organisms and the reefs they built.” According to Shroat-Lewis, pollution, sedimentation, physical damage, tourism, and global warming are the principle threats to modern reef ecosystems. “Evidence suggests that coral reefs will pass a point of no return around 2040 and go into terminal decline, eventually disappearing at the end of this century. Based upon evidence from the fossil record, it may be millions of years before they return,” Shroat-Lewis said. Shroat-Lewis currently researches coral reef diversity on San Salvador Island, the Bahamas. She contributes paleoecology presentations at geology conferences and publishes research findings in the PALAIOS journal.

Geology Club to host weekend highway clean-up

Janea Snyder — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 15:37:24 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Geology Club heads to Pinnacle Mountain State Park on Saturday, Sept. 15, to clean up the club’s adopted one-mile stretch of Highway 300 near the entrance to the park. Participants will meet at 9 a.m. All faculty, staff, and students are welcome to join. Club members will have vehicles parked on the north end of the section of highway and will shuttle some folks to the south end. Participants can park in the Pinnacle Mountain parking lot and walk over to the vehicles parked on the highway. Vests, gloves, and trash bags will be provided. Participants are encouraged to bring a reusable bottle for drinking water. Organizers expected to spend about an hour at the park.

Sustainability grant will lead to new greenhouse for Campus Garden, more fresh food for Trojan Food Pantry

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 22 May 2018 13:56:51 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Sustainability Committee has awarded a $2,500 grant that will provide more growing opportunities for the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Campus Garden as well as an increase in fresh produce for the Trojan Food Pantry. Dr. Stephen Grace, associate professor of biology, and Dr. Michael DeAngelis, associate professor of Earth Sciences, serve as faculty advisors of the Campus Garden Alliance, which began a partnership in 2016 to provide fresh produce for the Trojan Food Pantry. The Trojan Food Pantry typically relies on donations of nonperishable food, but staff members are eager to provide healthier options for people who use the food pantry. The Campus Garden Alliance provides the food pantry with produce such as beets, cauliflower, cabbage, greens, tomatoes, peas, peppers, herbs, squash, and onions. “We intend to install a hoop-style, cold frame greenhouse at the Campus Garden to expand growing capacity and enable year-round vegetable production,” Grace said. “We feel that a greenhouse will greatly enhance the mission and goals of the Campus Garden by providing much needed infrastructure. It will also be used to leverage further improvements at the Campus Garden with the long-term goal of becoming an economically viable center for urban agriculture.” The Sustainability Committee also awarded two additional $2,500 grants to Dr. John Czarnecki, adjunct professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, and Dr. Ashokkumar Sharma, assistant professor of mechanical engineering technology. Czarnecki will develop trash barriers for the city’s storm drains in order to reduce the amount of trash that winds up in Fourche Creek. “Much of the floatable trash entering curbside storm drains in Little Rock ultimately ends up in Fourche Creek, home to 25 percent of all fish species in Arkansas,” Czarnecki said. “The city of Little Rock includes 1,800 acres of bottomland hardwood forests within the Fourche Creek bottoms area. Unfortunately, this area receives regular inputs of floatable trash during flood events. This trash negatively impacts sustainable water quality, ecosystems, and recreation in Fourche Creek bottoms.” The storm drains have uncovered openings ranging from 5-12 inches in height and 6-12 feet in length, which can allow trash up to the size of a basketball to enter. Commercially made storm drain trash barriers are available, but Czarnecki notes that these cost roughly $1,000 each, making them an impractical option for Little Rock. With the help of construction management and Earth Sciences students, Czarnecki will design, build, and implement cost-effective barriers using readily available materials. Once he receives permission from the City of Little Rock’s Department of Public Works, Czarnecki and his students will test the barriers on storm drains on the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock campus and monitor their progress. “I greatly enjoy building things and finding solutions that impact society,” Czarnecki said. “Fourche Creek is a spectacularly beautiful natural resource right in the city limits of Little Rock that deserves respect and protection. This project will help attain that goal.” Sharma will use his grant, “Sustainable Production of Renewable Fuels,” to fund a research-based project to develop a novel thermochemical process to convert the university’s dry solid waste (papers, cardboard, and plastics) to produce a renewable fuel that can be utilized for generation of power and heat energy. “This research will provide an improved alternative to utilize wastes of public institutions, strengthening the energy independence and economy of the nation,” Sharma said. “This project will demonstrate how it is possible to utilize waste instead of recycling to generate energy.” He also plans to develop a course for engineering and engineering technology students with an emphasis on sustainability in energy conservation and efficiency. The grant money will be used to construct the reactor system, purchase materials, and fund student travel to present the research at a scientific conference. In the upper right photo, Dr. Stephen Grace works in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Campus Garden. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

Patton to discuss danger of abandoned oil and gas wells at next EARTHtalk! lecture

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 13:06:15 +0000

Dr. Jason Patton, associate professor of geology at Arkansas Tech University, will discuss the environmental impact of abandoned oil and gas wells in the U.S. on Wednesday, April 18, as part of the EARTHtalk! lecture series at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The talk, “Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells: Infallible Barrier orEnvironmental Disaster?”, will begin at 6 p.m. in the Engineering and Information Technology Building. Across the U.S., more than one million abandoned oil and gas wells are thought to exist. Many of these wells were drilled before significant regulation of the industry existed and were not properly plugged. “These wells represent a possible environmental hazard because they can act as a conduit from the deeper subsurface allowing naturally occurring brines and/or injected waste fluids to contaminate shallow groundwater, or they can allow powerful greenhouse gases to escape to the atmosphere,” Patton said. Patton has more than 20 years of experience working on a wide variety of environmental projects. During his early career, Patton worked as an environmental consultant in the oil and gas industry. Much of his academic career has focused on the effects of sedimentation on water quality, primarily in drinking water sources. Patton served as the director of the Arkansas Center for Energy, Natural Resources, and Environmental Studies at Arkansas Tech University for seven years and is currently a board member on the Arkansas Board for Registration for Professional Geologists. He was recently selected as an executive committee member on the National Association of State Boards of Geology, and is the incoming chair for the Department of Physical Sciences at Arkansas Tech, where he has been a faculty member for 10 years.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Department of Earth Sciences at 501-569-3546 or visit the EARTHtalk! website.

Earth Sciences students present research at American Geophysical Union Conference

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 14:28:50 +0000

Six University of Arkansas at Little Rock students and two faculty members had the opportunity to attend one of the largest earth and space science conferences in the world. The group attended the conference Dec. 11-15 in New Orleans, where more than 20,000 oral and poster presentations occurred during the five-day event. “The students had the opportunity to present their own original research, observe the presentations from experts in their fields, interact with researchers at all levels and from a wide array of different institutions, partake in professional development workshops and networking events, and meet with potential graduate schools,” Earth Sciences Instructor Joshua Spinler said. The attendees include Spinler; Tom Colby, visiting assistant professor of earth sciences; Kayla Bolin, senior geology major; Olivia Pate, junior geology major; Jason Simmons, senior geology major; and Jeffrey Baggett, Matthew Carey, and Kalyca Spinler, graduate students in the Applied Science program. “The students also had the opportunity to see presentations in topics that are not part of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Earth Sciences curriculum, which allows them to expand their geologic knowledge base,” Spinler said. Three students presented research conducted with a faculty mentor, Dr. Laura Ruhl, assistant professor of earth sciences. They include:

��Bolin, “Water Quality Assessment of the Buffalo River, Arkansas, United States”
��Carey, “Spatial and Temporal Water Quality Dynamics in the Lake Maumelle Reservoir: Geochemical and Planktonic Variance in a Drinking Water Source”
��Simmons, “Urbanization Effects on Floodplain Sediments in the Fourche Creek Wetlands in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States”

In the upper right photo, University of Arkansas at Little Rock students attending the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, from left to right, are Matthew Carey, Kalyca Spinler, Olivia Pate, Kayla Bolin, and Jason Simmons. Photo by Tom Colby.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock employees complete Climate Reality Leadership Corps

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 22:14:57 +0000

Two employees from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock have recently become two of only five people in the state of Arkansas to complete the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, a nonprofit organization founded in 2006 by Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. The Climate Reality Leadership Corps provides training in climate science and communications to better tell the story of climate change. The training is provided by the. Dr. Jessica Scott, assistant director of the Donaghey Scholars honors program and instructor in the Anthropology Department, and Dr. Rene Shroat-Lewis, assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, attended the training with 1,300 other participants Oct. 17-19 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Being in this group of 1,300 people who were all dedicated to the same thing was powerful,” Shroat-Lewis said. “There are a lot of people working to solve climate change. There is strength in knowing that this many people all came together.” Over the summer, Scott and Shroat-Lewis were looking for inspiration for the class they will be teaching in the spring semester, Science and Society II, to a group of 25 Donaghey Scholars. The course is inspired by the paper “Tragedy of the Commons,” by noted ecologist Garrett Hardin. Environmentalism and sustainability are a recurring theme throughout the course. When Scott and Shroat-Lewis went to the movies this summer, they thought the Climate Reality Leadership Corps shown in the film, “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” would provide great educational materials for their upcoming class. “One of the things we love about our course is that it is not strictly academic,” Scott said. “There is public policy and political advocacy as well. Students work in small teams to write environmental grant proposals. The Environmental Protection Agency has a fund for undergraduate students for sustainability projects on campus. We encourage our students to submit those proposals.” Scott and Shroat-Lewis are available to give public presentations on climate change and plan to work with the additional three Arkansans who have taken the training. “We saw this as an opportunity to get our involvement in this issue outside the academic realm and to engage with the wider community,” Scott said. “We want to help bring this issue to a statewide level. We are the Natural State, after all, so we should be on the forefront of this issue.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock starts student chapter of national honor society for Earth Science students

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 13:24:34 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences has chartered a chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon. , which is the national honorary society for earth science students, was founded in 1915 at the University of Kansas and now has more than 200 chapters on colleges across the country. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s new chapter is only the second chapter in Arkansas with the first being at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Earth science students submitted a petition to begin the chapter in 2016, which included support statements from Joshua Spinler, instructor of geophysics and the chapter’s faculty advisor; Department Chair Beth McMillan; and Dr. Lawrence Whitman, dean of the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology. “The desire to start a chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon was entirely student-driven,” Spinler said. “The process started in the fall of 2016 with a small group of seniors in the Earth Sciences department, led by Matt Acree. They each submitted personal statements and had to meet specific GPA and credit totals in order to qualify for membership.” National officers of Sigma Gamma Epsilon visited ��Vlog��ý Little Rock on Sept. 18, and the organization’s national council approved the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock chapter during the national convention held Sept. 22-24 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

Tyler Kee attends the national Sigma Gamma Epsilon conference at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

“Starting a chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon on campus was a monumental move for a department that, some 20 years ago, did not have a degree-granting program,” said Tyler Kee, who will serve as secretary of the new student organization. “We wanted a Sigma Gamma Epsilon chapter because it would clearly demonstrate our dedication to success and passion for our community, both to the university and to future employers and graduate admission committees.” Kee represented ��Vlog��ý Little Rock at the national convention, where he was selected as chairman of the National Chapter Affairs Committee. “Attending the convention was an exhilarating and invaluable experience,” Kee said. “I was given the privilege to listen to decades-old chapters speak on their success. I met students from as close as Tennessee and as far as Utah, and we were all connected through our love of the earth sciences.” In this position, Kee is responsible for leading the committee and ensuring that issues critical to the success of Sigma Gamma Epsilon are discussed and solutions are proposed. He also is responsible for reporting the committee’s findings and proposals in a letter that is published in Sigma Gamma Epsilon’s journal, The Compass. The new ��Vlog��ý Little Rock chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon is planning its first initiation ceremony on Oct. 20. Any ��Vlog��ý Little Rock student who is majoring in an earth science-related major, has completed 10 credit hours, and has a minimum 3.0 GPA in all earth science courses and a minimum 2.67 cumulative GPA is eligible to join Sigma Gamma Epsilon. For more information, contact Joshua Spinler at jxspinler@ualr.edu or 501-569-3544. In the upper right photo, members of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences faculty are pictured at Big Rock Quarry in North Little Rock. Pictured, from left to right, back row: Jeff Connelly, professor and associate dean of Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology; Tom Colby, visiting assistant professor; and Laura Ruhl, assistant professor. Pictured, from left to right, front row: Beth McMillan, chairperson of the Department of Earth Sciences; Rene Shroat-Lewis, assistant professor; Josh Spinler, instructor; and Michael DeAngelis, assistant professor. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock geology program first in the world to earn ABET accreditation

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 16:46:22 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s bachelor’s degree in geology has been accredited by the of ABET, the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology. ABET accreditation assures that programs meet standards to produce graduates ready to enter critical technical fields that are leading the way in innovation and emerging technologies, and anticipating the welfare and safety needs of the public. “We are proud and excited to be the first geology program in the United States and the world to receive accreditation from ABET,” said Dr. Beth McMillan, chairperson of the Department of Earth Sciences at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. “The accreditation process is ongoing and will help us to ensure that our students are well prepared to understand the Earth, its impact on us, and our impact on it.” The Department of Earth Sciences offers a bachelor’s degree in geology with two concentration options: geology and environmental geology. The curriculum is interdisciplinary, integrating chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics and engineering with the fundamentals of geology. The curriculum provides a foundation for signature experiences including field work, undergraduate research, internship opportunities, and professional development. About 50 students are enrolled in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s geology program. ABET accredits college and university programs in the disciplines of applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology at the associate, bachelor, and master degree levels. With ABET accreditation, students, employers, and society can be confident that a program meets the quality standards that produce graduates prepared to enter a global workforce. Developed by technical professionals from ABET’s member societies, the accreditation criteria focus on what students experience and learn. Sought worldwide, ABET’s voluntary peer-review process is highly respected because it adds critical value to academic programs in the technical disciplines, where quality, precision, and safety are of the utmost importance. ABET is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). It currently accredits 3,709 programs at over 750 colleges and universities in 30 countries. For more information about ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Bachelor’s degree program in geology, visit /earthsciences/. In the upper right photo, members of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences faculty are pictured at Big Rock Quarry in North Little Rock. Pictured, from left to right, back row: Jeff Connelly, professor and associate dean of Donaghey College of Engineering & Information Technology; Tom Colby, visiting assistant professor; and Laura Ruhl, assistant professor. Pictured, from left to right, front row: Beth McMillan, chairperson of the Department of Earth Sciences; Rene Shroat-Lewis, assistant professor; Josh Spinler, instructor; and Michael DeAngelis, assistant professor. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

Paleontologist to speak at March 8 EARTHtalk! lecture

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 16:55:35 +0000

Dr. Laura Vietti, geological museum and collections manager with the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming, will speak about whale falls during the next University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! lecture series on Wednesday, March 8. When whales die, their bodies leave a large amount of organic material on the ocean floor. Scavenging fauna consume the carcass in a multi-stage process, which is known as a whale fall. The lecture, “Life after Death: Whale Fall Scavenging Successions,” will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, in the auditorium of the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served before the talk begins. Vietti received a bachelor’s degree in geology and geophysics at the University of Wyoming and a doctorate in geology at the University of Minnesota, where she researched the bacterial communities involved in the early fossilization of bone. Her current research is focused on the development and advances in methods for interpreting taphonomic histories of vertebrate fossil material, using a variety of interdisciplinary techniques including molecular analyses and bone surface characterization. For more information, contact Dr. Michael DeAngelis at 501.569.3542 or mtdeangelis@ualr.edu or visit the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! website.

Hydrologist to kick off spring 2017 EARTHtalk! series

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 17:14:55 +0000

A hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey will be the first featured speaker for the spring 2017 ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! lecture series with a Feb. 15 talk on the importance of groundwater. The lecture, “Groundwater: Below Our Feet and in Our Minds,” will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, in the auditorium of the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served before the talk begins. As surface water resources are strained, people will become more dependent on groundwater for drinking, cleaning, agriculture, and daily use, according to Dr. Kathy Knierim, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center. Her talk will cover the two aquifer systems used to extract groundwater in Arkansas. Knierim received a bachelor’s degree in geology from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in geology and a Ph.D. in environmental dynamics from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. In 2015, she joined the U.S. Geological Survey, where she researches groundwater availability and quality. Her recent projects include developing a water-use record for the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system and modeling water quality in zones of groundwater withdrawal from the Mississippi Embayment aquifer system. For more information, contact Michael DeAngelis at 501.569.3542 or mtdeangelis@ualr.edu or visit the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! website.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock