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March 1998

AGI GeoRef Director Retires

After working nearly 25 years as the director of AGI's GeoRef database, JOHN MULVIHILL retired Feb. 28. Mulvihill joined AGI in 1974, when the institute's bibliographic database, GeoRef, contained 217,000 references. Today, GeoRef has grown to 2.1 million bibliographic references to journals, books, maps, and other geoscience publications in 40 different languages.
"I think the database is recognized as the best in geology," Mulvihill says. "One of the distinctive things about GeoRef is its very broad coverage." References come from the U.S. Geological Survey library collection and more than 20 other sources worldwide.
Mulvihill took charge of GeoRef the year its National Science Foundation funding ended; the database had to become self-supporting. "He joined AGI as manager of the GeoRef system just as the bibliographic database was coming of age," says Marcus Milling, executive director of AGI. Mulvihill extended GeoRef's coverage back to 1785 when he engineered the addition of two extensive print bibliographies into the database during the 1980s. He also guided the development and technical modernization of GeoRef, Milling says. The database went on-line in 1978, was published on CD-ROM in the late 1980s, and became accessible through the Internet in the mid-1990s.
Mulvihill started indexing in 1962, when he joined Astra Pharmaceutical Products Inc., as a librarian after earning his master's degree in library science from the University of Texas. In 1964, he joined the American Petroleum Institute; he became the director of AGI's GeoRef Information System 10 years later. "I like indexing because I have the sort of mind that likes to classify," he says. Mulvihill, who is 64, said he will spend his time traveling, reading, doing carpentry, and volunteering at the public library.

Marilyn Suiter to chair NSF committee

MARILYN SUITER, director of education and human resources for the American Geological Institute (AGI), has been named chair of the Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering (CEOSE) of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The committee advises NSF regarding the policies and activities within the foundation that encourage the full participation of women and minorities in scientific and engineering fields. NSF awards research and education grants in sciences, mathematics, and engineering.
With a background in both geology and education, Suiter has worked with AGI since 1987. She took charge of AGI's education and human resources department in 1992. She worked as an exploration geologist with Cities Service Oil & Gas from 1982 to 1986, and as a geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey from 1977 to 1981. She taught science for Philadelphia Public Schools from 1970 to 1976. Suiter earned her master's degree from Wesleyan University in 1981 and is a member of nine professional societies. Her articles on geoscience education have been published in several geoscience magazines. She currently serves on the Committee on Women and Minorities in the Geosciences with the Geological Society of America, as an advisor to the Association for Women Geoscientists Foundation, and on several committees within the NSF.

Smith named AGI Director of Curriculum Development

MICHAEL J. SMITH joined the American Geological Institute in February as director of curriculum development. He will oversee AGI's K-12 earth-science curriculum development projects, which incorporate guidelines and goals set forth in the National Research Council's National Science Education Standards. Smith earned a master's degree in geology in 1985 from Rice University and a Ph.D. in education in 1995 from the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining AGI, he taught earth science at The Charter School of Wilmington (Delaware). He has also taught at Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Delaware. He has written earth-science curriculum units for middle-school, high-school and college-level courses, and has published numerous articles in education and science journals. At national and international education conferences, Smith has delivered about two dozen presentations on the teaching of earth science.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) selected 270 fellows for 1998 and officially awarded the fellowships during its Feb. 14, 1998, annual meeting in Philadelphia. Some of the fellows contributing to geoscience or geoscience-related research include: SYUKURO MANABE, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab/NOAA, Princeton University; JENNIFER A. LOGAN, Harvard University; GARNISS H. CURTIS, Orinda, Calif.; ALAN K. BETTS, Pittsford, Vt.; DEVENDRA LAL, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; RAYMOND HERRMANN, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Colorado State University; DWIGHT L. SCHMIDT, USGS, Denver; ROBERT L. CHRISTIANSEN, USGS, Menlo Park, Calif.; THOMAS DUNNE, University of California, Santa Barbara; GREGORY JOHN RETALLACK, University of Oregon; THURE E. CERLING, University of Utah; KRISTINA B. KATSAROS, University of Washington; PAMELA A. MATSON, University of California, Berkeley (now at Stanford University); JOHN C. OGDEN, Florida Institute of Oceanography; HENRY L. EHRLICH, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and GEORGE W. KLING, University of Michigan.

During its April 27, 1998, annual meeting, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will award prizes for outstanding contributions to science. Recipients in the geosciences will include: WALTER C. PITMAN III, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Alexander Agassiz Medal ($6,000); JAMES R. HOLTON, University of Washington, NAS Award for Science Reviewing ($5,000); THOMAS DUNNE, University of California at Santa Barbara, G.K. Warren Prize ($6,000); CAROLYN S. SHOEMAKER, Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz., and her late husband, EUGENE M. SHOEMAKER, James Craig Watson Medal ($15,000).

FRANK SPEAR, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, received the 1997 N.L. Bowen Award in January from the American Geophysical Union's Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology Section. He was rewarded for his investigation of mineral concentrations in garnet. Spear found that the distribution of various minerals in garnet and the concentrations of iron, manganese, magnesium, calcium, and other elements reflect what each crystal experienced throughout millions of years of growth.

The Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME) is awarding its Distinguished Member Award to THOMAS A. GRAY, director of business development for GAI Consultants Inc., in Monroeville, Pa. Gray, who holds a bachelor's degree in mining engineering and an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, specializes in mine subsidence, refuse disposal site reclamation, water supply, and other mining engineering fields.

WILLIAM M. TURNER of Turner Environmental Consultants in Albuquerque, N.M., has been appointed by New Mexico Governor Gary E. Johnson to serve a four-year term on the Governor's Task Force on Water. Turner is the New Mexico Trustee for Natural Resources and has worked worldwide as a consulting hydrologist.

The Mining and Metallurgical Society of America granted its 1997 Mineral Resources Student Prize Paper award to MARTIN HERRMANN, an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin, first place ($2,000); SRINIVAS VEERAMASUNENI, graduate student at the University of Utah, second place; and WILL ROBERTSON, an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin, third place.

DAVID A. WILEY has been named head of the Tampa, Fla., office of Leggette, Brashears & Graham, Inc., a groundwater and environmental engineering services firm. He replaces FRANK H. CRUM, who is retiring. Crum established the Tampa office in 1974.

EVELINE CROPPER-CONQUEST, a secretary at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Command and Data Acquisition Station in Wallops, Va., received the 1997 Governor's Champions in Education Award. Governor George Allen honored Cropper-Conquest for her work in tutoring students. She is one of eight people who received the award.