17 April 2010

Fine fellows

Posted by Callan Bentley

What do I have in common with luminaries like Mike Fay, James Balog, and Stuart Pimm? We’re all this year’s cadre of Fine Fellows, recipients of free Gigapanning equipment and training (at a conference in Pittsburgh in November) on how to use it. Ron Schott is of course the king of geology Gigapanners, though he has some competition, and my acquisition of a Gigapan robot will up the ante a bit, hopefully to the benefit of the entire geology-interested Internet.

Here’s the full list of Fine Fellows for this year:

Mr. Richard Bahr Fire Science & Ecology Program Lead, National Park Service, Wildland Fire
Mr. James Balog Founder and Director, Extreme Ice Survey; Professional Photographer; Affiliate of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado; Affiliate of Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University
Mr. Callan Bentley Assistant Professor of Geology, Northern Virginia Community College
Dr. Laurel Bestock Assistant Professor of Egyptology and Ancient Western Studies, Brown University
Dr. Faysal Bibi Postdoctoral Fellow, Institut International de Paléoprimatologie, Paléontologie Humaine (IPHEP), Université de Poitiers
Dr. Raymond S. Bradley University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geosciences and Director of the Climate System Research Center, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Dr. Andrea Chavez Michaelsen Postdoctoral Research Associate in Climate Change and Environmental Public Policies, University of Florida (UF) – Universidad Nacional Amazonica de, Madre de Dios (UNAMAD)
Dr. Julia Clarke Associate Professor, Jackson School
of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Nathan Craig Assistant Professor of Archaeological Anthropology, Penn State University
Mr. Brett Engstrom Consulting Botanist & Ecologist
Mr. J. Michael Fay National Geographic Explorer & Directeur Technique, Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux, Gabon
Dr. Joshua M. Feinberg Assistant Professor, Institute for Rock Magnetism, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota
Dr. Alex Fischer Program Coordinator, Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University
Dr. Michel Hermelin Professor, Environmental Geology Group, Universidad EAFIT, Medellin, Colombia
Dr. Krithi Karanth Postdoctoral Fellow, Geospatial Analysis for Sustainable Ecosystems and Development, DeFries Lab, Columbia University
Mr. Chris Linder Research Associate, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Dr. Stuart Pimm Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology, Duke University
Dr. Surangi Punyasena Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois
Dr. Sara Schneiderman Research Fellow in Anthropology, St Catharine’s College University of Cambridge, and Dr. Mark Turin Director, Digital Himalaya Project & World Oral Literature Project, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge
Dr. Janet C. Steven Assistant Professor of Biology, Sweet Briar College
Dr. Rebecca Tharme Senior Freshwater Scientist, Global Freshwater Program, The Nature Conservancy
Dr. Kim Williams-Guillén Conservation Scientist, Paso Pacifico
Dr. Qingling Zhang Research Scientist, Urbanization and Global Change Group, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University
[Fellow TBD]
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[Fellow TBD]
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative

I was selected for this program not because I applied, but because I blog. It’s not the first time that geoblogging has opened up new opportunities for me, but it’s probably the most significant recognition to date. I’m very grateful for it, and also gratified to see that fellow geobloggers are also being recognized for their fine work.

What about the rest of the geoblogosphere — got any “geoblogging got me a free robot camera” stories to tell?