Geologists Reveal Secrets Behind Supervolcano Eruption (March 2007)
Rensselaer researchers have discovered what likely triggered the eruption of a “supervolcano” that coated much of the western half of the United States with ash fallout 760,000 years ago. Using a new technique developed at Rensselaer, the team determined that there was a massive injection of hot magma underneath the surface of what is now the Long Valley Caldera in California some time within 100 years of the gigantic volcano’s eruption.

Naked Science: Stone Age Apocalypse (March 2007)
Professor Robert McCaffrey and Research Associate Professor David Wark, of Renssleaer's Earth and Environmental Science department, will be featured on the National Geographic Channel's Naked Science program this week.

Frank Spear Elected as Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (February 2007)
Frank Spear, department chair and professor of earth and environmental sciences, has been elected as a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). This prestigious honor is limited to no more than 0.1 percent of the AGU’s total membership each year.

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Awarded Grants (September 2006)
The Office of Research has announced the Earth and Environmental Science r esearch awards for April, May, and June 2006.

Rensselaer Honors Renowned Geologist Ebenezer Emmons (June 2006)
A plaque honoring Ebenezer Emmons, Class of 1826, a renowned geologist and the Institute’s first professor of geology, was unveiled during a ceremony that took place on the Rensselaer campus in April.

School of Science Research Awards for February and March ’06 (June 2006)
The Office of Research announced the research awards ($50,000 and above) for February and March '06. School of Science awards include:

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Bestows Awards (May 2006)
The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences has bestowed the following awards and honors.

Gerald Friedman: Sediment Historian (January 2006)
Gerald M. Friedman is a man of lists. The sedimentary geologist and earth sciences historian can name the state geologists who were trained by geologist Amos Eaton, founder and first professor of the Rensselaer School in 1824 (almost two dozen); the places he himself visited in 1975, for example, to teach courses on sedimentary geology (at least two dozen); and the number of students he has taught over his career (more than four dozen doctoral students alone). [Geotimes]

Rensselaer Earth Research Featured at AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco (December 2005)
Sixteen Rensselaer researchers presented results, ranging from imaging earthquake activity at the San Andreas Fault to exploring life in extreme environments, at the 2005 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting Dec. 5-9 in San Francisco.

Gerald Friedman Wins Legendary Geoscientist Award and the Mary C. Rabbit Memorial Medal (November 2005)
Gerald Friedman, Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences, was recently awarded two distinguished awards: the 2005 Legendary Geoscientist Award and the Mary C. Rabbit Memorial Medal for 2005.

Don Anderson ’55 Selected for Rensselaer’s Alumni Hall of Fame (August 2005)
Don L. Anderson received his B.S. in Geology and Geophysics from Rensselaer in 1955. Come September, this deep-Earth researcher will be inducted into Rensselaer's Alumni Hall of Fame.

Government Careers are Worth Investigating (May 2005)
Diana Heitzman, '80 '81, is profiled in "Woman Engineer" about her job as an environmental program specialist for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Water.

New Thermometer Reveals Wet Conditions on Earliest Earth (May 2005)
Researchers at Rensselaer and Australian National University have found new evidence that environmental conditions on early Earth, within 200 million years of solar system formation, were characterized by liquid-water oceans and continental crust similar to those of the present day. The researchers developed a new thermometer that made the discovery possible.

New Thermometer Reveals Wet Conditions on Earliest Earth (May 2005)
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Australian National University have found new evidence that environmental conditions on early Earth, within 200 million years of solar system formation, were characterized by liquid-water oceans and continental crust similar to those of the present day. The researchers developed a new thermometer that made the discovery possible.

Indonesian Earthquake Research at Rensselaer (January 2005)
When the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck in South Asia on Dec. 26, Rensselaer professor Rob McCaffrey watched the story unfold with knowing concern. For 25 years the geophysics professor has been monitoring earthquake activity and plate convergence at subduction zones in Indonesia, including the Sumatra subduction zone where the recent magnitude 9 earthquake occurred.

Discovery of Juvenile Zebra Mussels in Lake George (November 2004)
On Nov. 4, 2004, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Darrin Fresh Water Institute (DFWI) found three settled juvenile zebra mussels on plates that were removed from the Ticonderoga Boat Launch Site.

Beneath the Antarctic (October 2004)
Anahita Tikku, a research scientist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Rensselaer, and scientists from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University have developed the first map of water depth in Lake Vostok, which lies between 3,700 and 4,300 meters (more than two miles) below the continental Antarctic ice sheet and is roughly the size of Lake Ontario.

Studying the Mighty Hudson (September 2003)
New York Governor George Pataki announced in April 2003 that Rensselaer will manage the Upper Hudson Research, Education, and Outreach Satellite Center that will be part of the Rivers & Estuaries Center on the Hudson River — a world-class institute for the study of rivers and estuaries.

Noah’s Flood Hypothesis May Not Hold Water (September 2002)
In 1996, marine geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman published a scientifically popular “Noah’s Flood Hypothesis.” The researchers presented evidence of a bursting flood about 7,500 years ago in what is now the Black Sea. But, such a forceful flood could not have taken place, says Jun Abrajano, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Rensselaer. He is part of an international team of scientists who refute the so-called Noah’s Flood Hypothesis.

Slowly, Some Adirondack Lakes Recover (March 2002)
Over the years, acid deposition, commonly referred to as “acid rain,” has rendered dozens of lakes in the Adirondacks uninhabitable for fish and other wildlife. Now, researchers at Rensselaer’s Margaret A. and David M. Darrin ’40 Fresh Water Institute indicate that some of the most severely affected lakes in that region are showing signs of recovery.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (March 2000)
E. Bruce Watson, Institute Professor of Science in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, passed among his students a fist-sized chunk of granite flecked with crystals of pink, white, and black.