Evans Receives Service Award

Professor Mark Evans, leading a field trip for geology students

Professor Mark Evans, Department of Geological Sciences at CCSU, was honored with the Joe Webb Peoples award by the Geological Society of Connecticut at the annual meeting on November 19. In honor of Dr. Joe Webb Peoples, the GSC annual award recognizes those who have contributed to our understanding of the geology of Connecticut through scholarship, education, and service.

Mark served as Technical Co-chair for the successful 2012 NEGSA meeting in Hartford and in August 2019 he began the task of organizing the 2021 Northeastern GSA Section Meeting. His organizing committee began under the assumption of an in-person meeting but pivoted quickly to a virtual meeting as the pandemic worsened and the State of Connecticut prohibited all in-person events. Thanks to Mark’s hard work and organizational skills the meeting was a full success: a total of 515 participants registered, giving over 200 virtual presentations. The virtual meeting platform, virtual fieldtrips and short courses all worked surprisingly well and in the end we even made some money for the northeastern section. The 2021 NEGSA meeting served as a model for later virtual section meetings.

Even though he must have had some sleepless nights, Mark kept his calm through all these tumultuous times and thanks to Mark’s efforts the 2021 meeting became a resounding success.

Mark, for your outstanding efforts the Geological Society of Connecticut is proud to award you the 2021 John Webb Peoples award.

Medieval Science and Mining in Middle-earth

Illustration from Agricola’s De re metallica. Public domain image.

The dwarves of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy world of Middle-earth are well-known as miners. However, their propensity for delving too deeply gets them into trouble in Moria, unleashing a fearsome flame demon – a balrog. Readers of Tolkien’s famous novel The Lord of the Rings may be unaware that this medieval scholar and philologist incorporated a great deal of medieval science history and philosophy concerning the ethics of science into his writings. Read more about this in the article “Smaug’s Hoard, Durin’s Bane, and Agricola’s De Re Metallica: Cautionary Tales Against Mining in Tolkien’s Legendarium and the Classical Tradition” by CCSU professor Dr. Kristine Larsen.