The Environmental Physical Science major was approved in 1993, and we recently finished our tenth full program year in 2004. The students in this program continue to excel both in at out of the classroom. Students in the Environmental Physical Science major and Earth Science minor have recently accomplished a number of noteworthy achievements.

Judy Andrews (2004) - Judy is pursuing a PhD in Hydrology at the University of Minnesota

Shawn McColley (2003) - Shawn is pursuing a PhD in Planetary Science at Brown University

Curtis Johnson (2002) - Curt is pursuing a Master's Degree in Engineering at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Melissa Campbell (2001) - Melissa is pursuing a PhD in Geology and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology 

Rachel Smith (2001) - Rachel graduated from UC Davis before spending a year in our department, where she prepared herself for graduate work in the environmental sciences.  She was was recently accepted into the graduate program in the Atmospheric Science Department at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Rachel was also awarded a graduate assistantship

Jen Couch (2001) - Jen is an environmental scientist for a bentonite mining company in Belle Fourche, South Dakota

Jason Knapp (2000) - Jason is a graduate student in the Environmental Engineering program at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology where he is working with Dr. Scott Kenner.

Dave Heck (2000) - Dave is Lawrence County's Invasive Species Board Supervisor, and is integrating GIS, GPS, field and remote sensing technologies in his research. He is also an adjunct instructor of GIS at BHSU.

John Broome (1999) - John is a GIS programmer in Nashville, Tennessee and will be entering graduate school this year.

Todd Russell (1999) - Todd is employed as an air quality specialist with the State of Iowa where he studies the concentrations of fine particulate matter for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Charity Ritten (1999) - Charity is an environmental scientist for Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson Engineering, an environmental engineering firm in Bismarck, ND. 

Chris Ewert (1998) - Chris recently graduated with a M.S. in Environmental Science from the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology. Chris is now employed with Buys and Associates of Littleton, Colorado where he works as an environmental specialist dealing with the oil and gas industry.

Jerre Johnson (1998) - Jerre is a graduate student in the Geology Department at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where he is pursuing a M.S. degree.

Scott Horgen (1998) - Scott left BH and worked in Southern California for an environmental consulting firm as he also pursued his interest in track and field.  He then moved to Colorado to do environmental work, and is now working on hydrology projects for the State of Wyoming in Cheyenne.

Brandi Wood (1998) - Brandi traveled to Hawaii to assess the distribution of pahoehoe lava flow surface morphology at Kilauea volcano as part of a research project that was funded through the Nelson Scholarship Committee. Brandi coauthored a paper presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference and 2 additional papers recently published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Jeremy Jarnecke (1998) - Jeremy is employed as a hydrologic technician with the United State Bureau of Land Management in Battle Mountain, Nevada.

Pam Jarnecke (1998) - Pam is working for the NEPA Department with the BLM in Battle Mountain, Nevada.

Tim Rath (1998) - Tim works for an environmental consulting firm in Anchorage, Alaska and recently completed work along the Aleutian Islands.

Martin Wildeman (1998) - Martin is a self employed GIS specialist in Reno, Nevada.

Carrie Thimmesch (1998) - Carrie is in the graduate program in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences at Iowa State University, and is studying hydrology.

Luther Boorn (1998) - Luther recently worked as a GIS specialist working on a number of GIS projects for the State of South Dakota. He is now a programmer for Boeing in Wichita, Kansas.

David Finnegan (1997) - Dave received his M.S. at Indiana State University where is studying sedimentation processes in volcanic areas using remote sensing. He is now employed by the Cold Regions Research Laboratory in New Hampshire, and is involved in planetary mapping and remote sensing of hydrologic systems.

Dr. Jennifer Mercer (1997) - Jennifer recently received her Ph.D. in Earth Sciences at Dartmouth. She recently presented the results of her geochemistry research at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Baltimore. Jen also landed a prestigious internship for the summer of 1997 at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts where she conducted research on oceanic volcanism with Dr. Tracy Gregg, one of the nation's top researchers in this area. This experience led to another research opportunity in the fall of 1998, when Jen spent 6 weeks at sea off the coast of Hawaii studying ocean floor geology along the Puna Ridge.  Jen is now working on a post-doctoral research position at the University of Wyoming studying ozone depletion in Antarctica.

Scott Guffey (1997) - Scott is employed by the Pennington County Invasive Species Department, where uses GIS and GPS in his role as supervisor.

Denise Neugebauer (1996) - Denise recently left her job at the Spearfish wastewater treatment plant, and is trying to figure out what to do with her free time!

John "Butch" Knight (1996) - John finished his M.S. degree in the Geology Department at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. John is currently working for Rapid City on land use issues.

Emily Hagedorn (1996) - Emily is currently employed by the Teton Conservation District in Jackson, Wyoming where she works on land use issues.

If I've made any mistakes or inadvertently omitted anyone from this list, please email me at steveanderson@bhsu.edu.

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