PEOPLE

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Current Students

	Jesse Koch (PhD student) received his M.S. degree from the University of Iowa in 2007.  His PhD research focuses on reconstructing ancient sedimentary environments through the use of field and geochemical data.  Jesse’s dissertation is an investigation of how the late Paleozoic ice age (~300 million years ago) impacted tropical carbonate environments.  His field area is in south-central New Mexico, which was located in the tropics during the late Paleozoic ice age.  Besides geology, Jesse loves to play his guitar and spend time outdoors with his wife, Ambr, as well as his two Australian Cattle Dogs.  The picture to the left is from a recent class field trip to the Grand Canyon and southern Utah.
	Aaron Shultis (PhD Student) received his MS degree in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For the past several years he has been the laboratory technician in UNL's Water Sciences Lab. He is now pursuing a PhD part time. See Aaron's homepage here.
	Yamira Adorno-Negron (MS Student) received her BS degree in geology from the University of Puerto Rico. Her MS research involves a petrographic and geochemical study of Lower Permian carbonate strata from the Yuzhno Khilchuyu field in the Northern Territories of Russia. See Yamira's homepage here.
	Chesney Gilleland (MS Student) received her BS degree in geology from Appalachian State University. Her MS research focuses on the sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Pennsylvanian-Permian System of the US Mid Continent. Her efforts are focused in the Nebraska panhandle. See Chesney's homepage here.
	Drew Nelson (BS Student) is interested in sedimentology and is doing a senior thesis project on the latest Pennsylvanian Bursum Formation in south-central New Mexico. Prior to attending UNL, Drew did combat search and rescue for the U.S. Navy and served as a civilian contractor for the pentagon doing bio/chemical agent detection in the Middle East. When not concentrating on geology, Drew plays guitar and spends time outdoors with his wife Ludy, rock climbing, camping and surfing…when close enough to the coast! After graduation, Drew plans to go on to graduate school.

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Past Students & Postdocs

Mike Rygel (Postdoc 2005-2006) worked with Chris Fielding and me on aspects of the stratigraphic record of the late Paleozoic Ice Age in eastern Australia. He is now an assistant professor in the Department of Geology at SUNY Potsdam.

Lauren Birgenheier (PhD 2007) worked with Chris Fielding and me to evaluate the record of glaciation preserved in deposits of late Paleozoic age that are exposed in eastern Australia. She is now working at the Energy and Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah.

Zi Gui (MS 2009) studied the origin of brines in Neogene strata of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica as part of the ANDRILL project. She is now working with Sinopec Inc. USA in Houston, TX.

Jessica Pritchard (MS 2009) studied the sedimentology and stable isotope geochemistry of Early Permian carbonates in Western Australia, with the hopes of shedding some more light on the near-ice demise of the late Paleozoic Ice Age. She currently works for Devon Energy Oklahoma City.

Eric Schroeder (MS 2007) used isotopic records derived from benthic foraminifera from Shatsky Rise in the northern Pacific Ocean to examine how mid-Maastrichtian environmental, climatic, and biotic changes affected the region. He is now working at the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility at Florida State University.

Stephanie Thomas (MS 2005) is now pursuing a PhD at Southern Methodist University. While at UNL, she studied the lithostratigraphy and geochemistry of the mid Permian Wandrawandian Siltstone in the Southern Sydney Basin of New South Wales, Australia. Chris Fielding was her co-advisor.

Jonathan Schueth (BS 2007) worked in my lab and completed a senior honors thesis on the distribution and ecological significance of benthic foraminifera on the Great Barrier Reef. He is now pursuing a MS degree in the Geosciences Department at Penn State University.

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Student & Postdoc Publications

First-authored, refereed papers

Birgenheier, L.P., Fielding, C.R., Rygel, M.C., Frank, T.D., Roberts, J. (2009) Evidence for dynamic climate change on sub-106-yr scales from the late Paleozoic glacial record, Tamworth Belt, New South Wales, Australia, Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 79, p. 56-82.

Rygel, M.C., Fielding, C.R., Bann, K.L., Frank, T.D., Birgenheier, L., and Tye, S.L. (2008) The Lower Permian Wasp Head Formation, Sydney Basin: high-latitude, shallow marine sedimentation following the late Asselian to early Sakmarian glacial event in eastern Australia: Sedimentology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3091.2008.00955.x.

Rygel, M.C., Fielding, C.R., Frank, T.D., Birgenheier, L., (2008) The magnitude of Late Paleozoic glacioeustatic fluctuations: A synthesis: Journal of Sedimentary Research. v. 78, p. 500-511.

Schueth, J., and Frank, T.D., (2008) Reef foraminifera as bioindicators of coral reef health: Low Isles Reef, northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Journal of Foraminiferal Research, v. 38, p. 11-22.

Thomas, S.G., Fielding, C.R., and Frank, T.D. (2007) Lithostratigraphy of the Mid-Permian Wandrawandian Siltstone, NSW, Australia: Record of Glaciation or Onset of the Hunter-Bowen Orogeny? Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 54, p. 1057-1072.

Conference presentations

Gui, Z., and Frank, T.D. (2009) Origin of brines in Neogene sediments of the Ross Sea, Antarctica: AND-2A Core, ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project. Abstracts Volume, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting, v. 18.

Koch, J., and Frank, T.D. (2009) Impact of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age on a paleotropical carbonate depositional system (Orogrande Basin, New Mexico, USA). Abstracts Volume, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting, v. 18.

Birgenheier, L.P., Fielding, C.R., Frank, T.D., and Rygel, M.C. (2007) Nested cyclicity in the Carboniferous glacial record from New South Wales, Australia. Abstracts Volume, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting, v. 16, p. 46.

Birgenheier, L.P., Fielding, C.R., Rygel, M.C., and Frank, T.D. (2007) Evidence for dynamic climate change on timescales of <1-5.5 m.y. from the Carboniferous ice-proximal record, New South Wales, Australia. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 6, paper no. 130-6.

Russell, M.I., Frank, T.D., and Andres, M.B. (2007) Early diagenetic controls on porosity distribution in a carbonate mound: Abstracts Volume, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting, v. 16.

Rygel, M.C., Fielding, C.R., Frank, T.D., Birgenheier, L.P. (2007) Late Paleozoic seal-level fluctuations: a closer look at glacioeustasy in an icehouse world. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 6, paper no. 28-14.

Rygel, M.C., Fielding, C.R., Frank, T.D., Birgenheier, L.P. (2007) New insight into the timing, dynamics, and consequences of late Paleozoic glaciation. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs v. 39, no. 6, paper no. 130-3.

Schroeder, E.J., and Frank, T.D. (2007) Mid-Maastrichtian Benthic foraminiferal isotope record from Shatsky Rise, Northwest Pacific Ocean, evidence for a change in oceanic circulation: Abstracts Volume, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting, v. 16.

Schueth, J.D., and Frank, T.D. (2007) Reef foraminifera as bioindicators: a comparison between Low Isles and Heron Island reefs, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Geological Society of America Combined North-Central and South-Central Regional Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 41.

Birgenheier, L.P., Frank, T.D., Fielding, C.R., Rygel, M.C. (2006) The Permian stable isotope record from ice-proximal localities in eastern Australia: A proxy for late Paleozoic climate change. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 38.

Russel, M.I., and Frank, T.D. (2006) Diagenesis of a modern deep-water coral mound: Challenger Mound, Porcupine Basin: Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 38.

Birgenheier, L.P., Fielding, C.R., Frank, T.D., and Rygel, M.C. (2006) Lithologic Consequences of Glacially Influenced Deposition: A Case Study from the Late Paleozoic of New South Wales, Australia. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting Abstracts, v. 15.

Thomas, S.G., Frank, T.D., and Fielding, C.R. (2006) Early Diagenesis Recorded in Glendonites of Wandrawandian Siltstone of the Sydney Basin, Australia. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting Abstracts, v. 15. 244

Birgenheier, L.P., Fielding, C.R., Frank, T.D., Roberts, J. and Rygel, M.C. (2005) Stratigraphic record of late Paleozoic Gondwanan ice age in New South Wales, Australia: a review and revision of the Carboniferous system, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, p. 256.

Thomas, S.G., Frank, T.D., and Fielding, C.R. (2004) Glendonites as paleoclimate indicators within the middle Permian Wandrawandian Siltstone, southern Sydney Basin, Australia, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 36, p. 16.

Thomas, S., Fielding, C.R., Frank, T.D., Bann, K.L., & Tye, S.C. (2003) Sedimentology of the Wandrawandian Siltstone in the Southern Sydney Basin, NSW, Australia: Record of a Middle Permian glacial period? Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Paper No. 135-10.

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