Alumni News

We want to hear from our geology alums! Please send us information about your whereabouts and doings (professional, personal, etc.) and we'll post it here for others to see. We hope that this will not only help our alums to keep track of one another, but we also hope it will show current and future geology students what can be done with a UMM geology degree.

Andy Moses '01 is the first alum to write in with news. Andy is currently working as a petroleum geologist in the Western Division Office of Pioneer Natural Resources Company and lives in Denver, CO.  He is an active participant in the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists and was recently awarded the "Best Paper" at the RMAG 2007 Coal Bed Methane Symposium (see photo below).  His current focus with Pioneer is the optimization of natural gas production out of a coal-bed methane play in the Raton Basin in Southeast Colorado.  After leaving UMM, Andy earned a M.S. at the University of Oklahoma with a thesis titled "Loessitic Origin and Paleoclimatic Significance of Silt in the Earp Formation." His research encompassed six weeks of measuring stratigraphic sections in New Mexico and Arizona and intensive laboratory work, including running a Super High Resolution Ion Microscopy (SHRIMP) instrument to obtain U-Pb zircon age dates at the Geologic Survey of Canada in Ottawa.  Following his M.S. work, Andy accepted a position as an exploration geologist with ExxonMobil Exploration Company in Houston, TX where he worked projects in Venezuela, Kuwait, and the Gulf of Mexico until he moved to Denver in 2005 to work for Pioneer.  Andy would be happy to talk about or answer questions pertaining to the role of the geologist in the Oil and Gas Industry, or how his education at UMM provided the required background to transition into industry.  He can be reached at andrew.moses@pxd.com.

UMM'ers Gather at 2007 GSA Annual Meeting in Denver

UMM Geology alumni at the 2007 Geological Society of America Meeting in Denver.  From left to right: Tammy Rittenour '96, Julie Retrum '02, Marnie (Geifer) Thoen '99, Brugger, (Mary (Holewa) Bobst - UMM Communications major), and Andy Bobst '97.  Other UMMers known to be in attendance were Kurt Refsnider '04 (now at the University of Colorado for his PhD) and Laurie Anderson '85 (Faculty at Louisianna State University).

Tammy, currently a post-doc at Utah State University, presented or was co-author on three papers papers, "New Chronostratigraphic work on Holocene Colorado River alluvium hosting cultural sites in Grand Canyon National Park - A record of cut-and-fill cycles or of incremental flooding?," "Holocene millennial-scale effective moisture variations in the central North Atlantic: Evidence from lacustrine and peat cores from the Azore Islands," and "What climatic factors control intervals of deposition and stability on alluvial fans?"  Tammy also chaired several sessions at the meeting. Julie continues to work on her PhD research at the University of Kansas. Marnie works as a GIS specialist for Excel Energy and just happened to be in Denver during the meeting. Andy (and Mary) were in from Montana where he works for the Bureau of Land Management. Andy presented a paper titled "Interagency regional surface water and groundwater monitoring in relation to CBNG [Coal Bed Natural Gas] development in the Powder River Basin." Laurie's presentations included "Implications of bacterial diversity within a modern Lucinid bivalve habit," and "Freshwater Corbulidae (Bivalvia) using isotopic evidence to uncover ancient origins of freshwater invasion." Brugger presented or was coauthor on three papers, the first two with Kurt Refsnider ('04):  "Late Pleistocene equilibrium-line altitude trends and precipitation distribution in the Sangre de Cristo Range, Colorado," "Late Pleistocene equilibrium-line altitudes on the Blanca Massif, Sangre de Cristo Range, Colorado," and "Estimates of climate at the last glacial maximum in the Colorado Rockies: convergence of results from different paleoglaciological approaches."

UMM'ers Gather at 2006 GSA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia

At least three UMM alums attended the 2006 Geological Society of America Meeting in Philadelphia, October 22-25.  Shown below are Heather (Anderson) Arends '96 and Andy Bobst '97 at the University of Minnesota (all campuses) reception with Brugger.  Heather, now at the Minnesota DNR and UMD, presented a talk titled "Des Moines lobe till composition and texture as an indicator of flow dynamics."  Andy, who works in the Miles City, MT, office of the BLM, spoke on "Development of a coalbed natural gas regional surface water monitoring network in the Powder River Basin."  Also in attendance at the meeting was Julie Retrum, '02, who is now in a Ph.D. program at the University of Kansas.  Julie presented a paper on "Stratigraphy, magnetic susceptibility, and ostracode paleontology from Pleistocene Fossil Lake, Oregon."

UMM'ers Gather at 2005 GSA Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City

In October, while attending the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Salt Lake City, Jamey, Jim and Keith met up with several alums, including Heather Anderson '96, Tammy Rittenour '96, Julie Retrum '02, and Kurt Resnider '04.  Heather is still at the Minnesota DNR while finishing an M.S. at UMD.  Tammy holds a post-doc position at Utah State University.  At the meeting she presented or was coauthor on four papers concerning the evolution of the Grand Canyon.  Julie recently completed her M.S. at University of Kansas and continues there as a Ph.D. student.  Julie is shown next to her poster (below left) in which she described some experiments relating to the preservation potential of trace fossils.  Kurt is finishing up his M.S. at UW-Madison.  At his poster (below right) Kurt presented a Holocene climate history of central Colorado using lichen-dated rock glacier activity.

Graduation photos

The Geology Discipline had one major (Bobby Goodfellow, below left) and two minors (Dana Damm, below right, and Amanda Holter, not pictured) graduate in 2007. They are pictured below with Professors Cotter, Van Alstine, and Jones (front left to right).

The Geology Discipline had four majors graduate in 2006. They are pictured below with Professors Cotter, Brugger, and Jones (front left to right).

For archived news from the UMM Geology Discipline including some past graduation photos, check out the News Archive.

For complete photos of graduates from previous years, follow this link to the Division of Science and Mathematics archive of graduation photos.