A Message From the Chair

Bea M. Csatho, headshot with gray background and part of NASA logo. She has long light colored hair and is wearing a pinkish/reddish jacket and a black shirt under it.

It is with mixed feelings but with great hope that I share with you the Fall 2020 edition of the Department of Geology's newsletter, The EPOCH. These are challenging times. I sincerely hope that you have found your way through the difficulties that this global pandemic has presented, and I wish you good health and safety as we all continue to navigate these challenges.  Our faculty and staff have worked tirelessly to keep our department moving forward positively through this crisis. I must pause to pass along my deepest gratitude to our Alumni for your donations to our department; this funding has allowed us to keep offering the best instruction and resources to our students during these difficult times.

It was a significant challenge to provide the foundational experience of geology field training to our 2020 graduating seniors. Our faculty rose to the occasion by developing a virtual mapping course. We are carefully navigating the pandemic's ever-changing challenges as we design our field camp in 2021 and beyond.

It is quite remarkable that despite this pandemic, our department has managed to grow by several faculty. We welcomed Kimberly Meehan, clinical assistant professor, in summer 2020.  In fall 2020, we welcomed Richard Marinos, assistant professor, Cari Ficken, research assistant professor (featured in the Spring 2020 issue of EPOCH), and Sophie Nowicki, Empire Innovation Professor (jointly hired with UB RENEW Institute, featured in this issue). After being delayed by the pandemic, Mattia de' Michieli Vitturi and Stephan Kolzenburg, assistant professors, joined the department in January 2021 (featured in the 2020 Spring issue). With the new hires in 2020-2021, the department now has 18 faculty members, the largest in our history. The department's growth provides exciting opportunities to strengthen our academic and research programs. Also, in 2020 we congratulated Margarete Jadamec for her promotion to associate professor with tenure and receiving the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award. I encourage you to visit our Geology in the News page (https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/geology/news-events/geology-news.html) to read more about our faculty's research and educational achievements.

I hope you will enjoy our newsletter and share our stories with friends, colleagues, and family. I express our deepest gratitude for your continuing support and interest in our efforts and accomplishments.

Bea Csatho Signature.

Bea M. Csatho, Professor and Chair

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