The annual Chauncey D. Holmes Award Ceremony and Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Earth Sciences in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences, will be held at 7 p.m. March 26 in Heroy Auditorium.
Six undergraduate students will receive the 2001 Chauncey D. Holmes Award in recognition of their outstanding performance in introductory geology courses. The recipients are Reginald W. Wieczerak, a senior history major in The College of Arts and Sciences; Kirsten K. Coe, a freshman geology major in The College of Arts and Sciences; Anthony R. Sinkevich, a freshman management major in the School of Management; Jason D. Plumpton, a senior engineering major in the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science; Reagan T. Traut, a nursing major in the College of Nursing; and Alexander C. Noe, a junior psychology major in The College of Arts and Sciences.
The guest lecturer is Paul Hoffman, the Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard University. Hoffman will present "Snowball Earth: Testing the Limits of Global Change."
Hoffman's lecture will focus on various theories that suggest the entire Earth was sheathed by ice for long periods some 600 to 700 million years ago. Each glacial period lasted for millions of years and ended violently under extreme greenhouse conditions. These climate shocks apparently fostered the first appearance of large multicellular animals and challenge long-held assumptions regarding the limits of global change.
Born in Toronto, Hoffman graduated from McMaster University and obtained a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. His knowledge of pre-Cambrian Earth history stems from 40 years of field research in subarctic Canada and subtropical Namibia. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a foreign member of the U.S. National Academy of Science.
The Chauncey D. Holmes Award was established by Holmes, a 1927 SU graduate and esteemed geologist, to recognize outstanding students in introductory geology, which was a cornerstone of his career in academics.
