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Yes, that's me on the right. I'm standing amongst the peaks of the Skeena fold belt, in northern British Columbia, surrounded by deformed clastic sedimentary rocks of Jurassic age. If you look carefully there is a recumbent tight fold on the mountainside in the distance at the lower left.
I work in the department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta, where I currently serve as Associate Chair (Undergraduate Studies). My research is mainly on deformed sedimentary rocks, like these, in Canadian mountain belts.
I was born in Denmark, but grew up entirely in the UK, mainly in the Essex suburbs of London. From about 1968 my parents graciously agreed to indulge my enthusiasm for collecting fossils by taking summer vacations in classic areas of the British geology. Attending Cambridge University from 1974, I was subverted from paleontology by the glamour of the then new theory of plate tectonics. From 1977 to 1981 I worked as a postgraduate student at Edinburgh University, on the geology of the Antalya Complex, southwestern Turkey. In January 1981 I came to Memorial University of Newfoundland where I held a post-doctoral research fellowship, though embarassingly I was only actually 'post' doctoral for 13 days in this position.
From 1981 until 2000 I worked at the Geology Department of Saint Mary's University, Halifax Nova Scotia, where I taught sedimentary and structural geology, field methods, and several different flavours of introductory geology. I ventured into web-based teaching with a course entitled "The Earth:Atlantic Canada Perspective". In the summer of 2000 I moved to a position in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Most recently (2004), I have taken on the job of associate chair with responsibility for undergraduate studies. My research continues despite the administrative tide, dealing with deformed sedimentary rocks from both sedimentary and structural perspectives; I have refused to be classified into either camp (though I have sometimes admitted to being a "deformed sedimentologist"). My recent research interests are in the Appalachian geology of Atlantic Canada, in the Archean Slave province of the Canadian Shield, and in the sedimentary units of the Canadian Cordillera.
Outside geology my interests include tinkering with computers (although I've done my best to make that part of my job; see above). I'm most at home on a Mac (where wrote this) but am quite prepared to speak to Windows or Unix if it's what does the job.
| I also enjoy music of all kinds (OK, most kinds), and play guitar on occasion, including in a small celtic-flavoured band 'Knotwork' (because we only do it for fun) with other members of my family. Please visit my favourite composers and other musical sites... |
(or click for Full publication list )
Journal papers and such...
Geological Survey reports and open files, etc.
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