UW-Milwaukee Geosciences

09/01/2026

We had a great time hosting the first cohort of UWM GeoExplorer students who spent the week learning about the geosciences and career options. Thanks to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and to the many incredible alumni and other volunteers who took time to meet with our students!! Kristin Kurzka, Paul Rhode, and Cole Schmidt from The Sigma Group; Sandy Dylka and Jordan Rahlf from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; James Amato; Mark Borucki; Dylan Childs; Celeste Clark; Leah Dechant; Steph Fones; Max Garcia; Me’le’sa Greene; Allison Kusick; Riley Neumann; Paige Pimentel; and Liz Spitzer.

08/28/2026

Congratulations to Dr. (!) Chase Shelburne who successfully defended his PhD dissertation yesterday! "An Exploration of Vertebrate Diversity at a Middle Pennsylvanian Fossil Assemblage: Comparative Paleoecology in Mazon Creek Actinopterygians and Soft Tissue Preservation in Mazon Creek Tetrapods, with Commentary on the Long-Term Storage of Natural History Collections".

Chase's committee: Dr. Victoria McCoy (chair), Dr. John Berges, Dr. John Isbell, and Dr. Timothy Bonner (Texas State University).

See what Chase is up to next as a Museum Specialist at the History Museum at the Castle!

07/13/2026

Geosciences alumni John Jancik and Ken Zerbst are celebrating their groundbreaking expedition to northern Greenland!

Inspired by a geology course, UWM alumni John Jancik and Ken Zerbst went on to lead a groundbreaking expedition to northern Greenland. This year, they're celebrating the anniversaries of their journeys to the top of the world. Read more at the link in the comments!

07/01/2026

We'd like to give a HUGE shout-out to our MS student Steph Fones (pictured below), who was recently awarded a research grant by the Geological Society of America! Their research project is titled, "Groundwater flow in a fractured crystalline aquifer near a closed landfill, Marathon County WI".

When asked about the importance of this project, Steph answered, "This project addresses public health, environmental protection, and community resilience in a region where residents rely on private wells and nearby surface waters for drinking water, agriculture, and recreation. By improving understanding of how contaminants from a closed landfill may migrate through fractured crystalline bedrock, this research directly supports the protection of groundwater resources that are essential to rural communities in central Wisconsin. This project also supports environmental justice by addressing hazards that disproportionately affect rural and under-served populations who depend on private wells and may lack access to centralized water treatment systems. By generating site-specific and regionally applicable data, this research empowers communities to advocate for safe water and long-term environmental stewardship".

Congratulations on the amazing work, Steph!! 🥳

06/18/2026

Congratulations to Isabelle Haverkampf, who successfully defended her MS thesis on Tuesday! "Natural Solute Tracers to Characterize Advection and Dispersion." Izzy's committee: Dr. Charles Paradis (Chair), Dr. Martin Dangelmayr, Dr. Shangping Xu. Izzy is now starting her career as a Hydrogeologist at Barr Engineering!

06/17/2026

Congratulations to Carson McFarland, who successfully defended his MS thesis last week! "The Tephrostratigraphy of Olduvai Gorge Coring Project 2023: Cores 4A, 5A, and 6A." Carson's committee: Dr. Lindsay McHenry (Chair), Dr. Barry Cameron, Dr. John Isbell

06/12/2026

Congratulations to Thomas John (TJ) Carr who successfully defended his MIS thesis yesterday! "Morphological Reinvestigation of Mazon Creek’s “Dasyleptus”: Implications for Taxonomy and Paleoecology". TJ's committee: Dr. Victoria McCoy (chair), Dr. John Isbell, and Dr. Jonathan Hendricks (Milwaukee Public Museum)

06/11/2026

Congratulations to Mike Anderson who successfully defended his MS thesis yesterday! "Relative Dating of Icelandic Subglacial Volcanoes: A Paleomagnetic Approach." Mike's committee: Dr. Julie Bowles (Chair), Dr. Barry Cameron, Dr. Dyanna Czeck

06/08/2026

Are you, or someone you know, early in your academic journey at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee? Interested in learning about careers in geoscience, exploring Earth and environmental science, or finding out what you can do with a Geosciences degree?

Check out the FREE GeoExplorer Program, August 17–21! More info: https://sites.uwm.edu/lets-geo/geoexplorers/

06/03/2026

Last week Professor John Isbell took a group of students to Ontario, Canada, to investigate Earth's first so-called snowball-Earth event as recorded by rocks of the Huronian Supergroup. The rocks are 2.1 to 2.5 billion years old, and the "glacial" intervals were deposited by subaqueous sediment gravity flows and possible iceberg rafting. Looks like a good time was had by all!