This spring, the Jackson School proudly inducts three legends into its Hall of Distinction. They were selected for their high-level accomplishments in academia, industry or government, as well as a strong affiliation with the Jackson School. Art Maxwell, a leader in deep sea drilling and marine geophysics, served from 1982 to 1994 as the first…
Department News Archive
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded The University of Texas at Austin and six other universities $3 million to establish the Delta Dynamics Collaboratory (DDC), a network of researchers working to build a comprehensive set of computer models that can reliably predict the physical and ecological evolution of river deltas. Deltas, which host highly…
A team of scientists announced the first evidence of feather color in Archaeopteryx, a feathered dinosaur that has also long been considered one of the earliest birds. The first fossil remains, consisting of a single feather, were discovered in 1861. It’s this single feather that was analyzed using a technique developed by Jakob Vinther, a…
Scientists have discovered a new type of hot spring along the banks of a volcanic lake in the Philippines. These “terrestrial smokers” are cousins to submarine black smokers, hydrothermal vents on the seafloor that spew plumes of hot, nutrient-rich water and often support rich communities of life. Terrestrial smokers might represent a missing piece of…
The University of Texas at Austin’s commitment to exemplary teaching was on display Thursday night, as seven faculty members were inducted into the university’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Among the inductees was Jay Banner, director of the Environmental Science Institute and professor in the Jackson School of Geosciences.
Like many kids in the Indiana Jones generation, Danny Stockli wanted to be an archaeologist when he grew up. In high school, he volunteered at ancient Roman digs in his native Switzerland. Like most of us though, the dream changed somewhere along the way. “I don’t have a gun or a whip,” he said, “but…
The Jackson School community mourns the loss of Bill Muehlberger and extend their condolences to his family. He died of natural causes on Wednesday, September 14. An emeritus professor in geology, he taught at the University of Texas at Austin for nearly 40 years before officially retiring in 1992. He also taught geology to multiple…
Do you ever dream of taking a few days off and getting away from it all? Burying your toes in some warm sand and just staring out at the ocean? Rarotonga, one of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, is about as far as you can get. “With its jagged peaks and deep valleys,…
Researchers have found the strongest evidence yet that North America and Antarctica were connected 1.1 billion years ago. ”I can go to … West Texas and stand next to what was once part of Coats Land in Antarctica,” said Staci Loewy, a geochemist at California State University, Bakersfield, who led the study. “That’s so amazing.”
Earlier this summer, researchers at UT Austin hosted a presentation and question-and-answer session about hydraulic fracturing that was open to students, faculty and invited members of the media. The goal of the presentation was to provide a better understanding of the concerns – both real and perceived – about hydraulic fracturing.
