Twelve Syracuse University undergraduate students will be recognized for excellence in introductory earth science during the annual Chauncey D. Holmes Lecture and Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m. in Heroy Auditorium, located in the Heroy Geology Laboratory.

A reception will be held immediately prior to the lecture outside Heroy Auditorium. The event is presented by the Department of Earth Sciences K. Douglas Nelson Colloquium Series in SU's College of Arts and Sciences and is free and open to the public. Paid parking is available in the University’s visitor lots. 


The featured speaker for the event will be Jeremy B.C. Jackson, professor of oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Jackson will present “The Future of the Oceans Past.” Jackson is one of the foremost experts on the world’s rapidly changing oceans. Author of seven books and more than 150 scientific papers, 18 in Science, Jackson combines rigorous field science on reefs with quantitative modeling and evolutionary studies of major reef-building organisms.

A landmark study published in 2001 in Science by Jackson and an interdisciplinary team of ecologists, geologists, anthropologists, and historians asserted that overfishing has massively affected the way marine ecosystems behave. The research documented the obliteration of fish and turtles in the Caribbean and the resulting disturbances in the marine ecosystems. The paper, which generated a storm of comments and replies in Science, won many honors, including Discover’s 2001 Contribution of the Year.  It is among the most highly cited papers in marine ecology.

Jackson holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and a B.S. from George Washington University. He is co-founder of the long-running Panama Paleontology Project and is a senior scientist at the renowned Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama.

Alumnus Chauncey Holmes G'27, who received a master's degree in geology from SU in 1927, established the Chauncey D. Holmes Award. An esteemed geologist, Holmes considered raising geologic awareness among undergraduate students a prime objective of his academic career. The awards were established to recognize outstanding students in introductory geology courses.

Recipients of the 2011 Chauncey D. Holmes Awards are:

•    Leanne Abraham, a junior in The College of Arts and Sciences
•    Holly Allen, a freshman in the College of Human Ecology
•    Scott Anthes, a junior in the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science
•    Joseph Bubniak, a sophomore in The College of Arts and Sciences
•    Richard Carey, a sophomore in The College of Arts and Sciences
•    Jeanne Cloyd, a sophomore in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
•    Peter Johnson, a sophomore in the College of Visual and Performing Arts
•    David Layton, a junior in The College of Arts and Sciences
•    Mark Pozin, a sophomore in the Newhouse School
•    Adrianne Salmon, a junior in the Newhouse School
•    Amy Snider, a junior in The College of Arts and Sciences
•    Molly Tolbert, a junior in the Whitman School of Management