The Geosciences Student Association will host a career fair on Wednesday, April 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in MSC rooms 224, 225 and 226. Over 20 employers plan to attend. All TAMU students interested in careers in Geosciences are welcome. Students should wear business attire and bring plenty of résumés. College of Geosciences students who attend the career fair will be entered into a drawing for a $500 scholarship from Chevron.

Students in the College of Geosciences earned three first place prizes, one second place prize, and three third place prizes, as well as several special awards in the 11^th Annual Student Research Week held March 24-28. Over 50 faculty and students from the College participated in Student Research Week which recognizes and celebrates student research at Texas A&M.

Dr. Richard E. Orville, professor of Atmospheric Sciences in the College of Geosciences, has been selected by the Texas A&M University Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, to receive their Distinguished Scientist Award for 2008. Dr. Orville will receive the award at Sigma Xi’s annual banquet on Friday, April 4, at 6:30 p.m. in the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center.

The Geology & Geophysics Graduate Student Council will host the second annual Student Research Symposium Friday, April 11th, in the Halbouty building. Poster presentations will be available for viewing in rooms 02, 04, 10, and 11 beginning at 9 a.m., with presentations from noon to 4 p.m. An awards reception will follow at 4:15 in room 101. Assistant professor Mike Tice will give a keynote address. Dr. Tice joined the Geology & Geophysics faculty last September. He completed his Ph.D. at Stanford University in 2006 with a research focus in geobiology. The symposium is free and open to the public. Refreshments and snacks will be provided, and drawings for door prizes will be held throughout the afternoon. Funding is provided by the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Researchers at Texas A&M University have confirmed for the first time that a “dead zone” has existed off the Texas coast for at least the past 23 years and will likely remain there, causing potential harmful effects to marine life in the area.

A recently published special issue of GeoJournal (70:1) features a forum on the scientific accuracy of former U.S. vice president Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Atmospheric Sciences Professor and State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon was one of four experts invited to submit an opinion piece, and Distinguished Professor Gerald North contributed a synthesis paper responding to the commentaries and discussing the current state of climate change science. Steven Quiring, assistant professor in the Department of Geography, was guest editor for the special issue and wrote the introduction titled “Science and Hollywood: a discussion of the scientific accuracy of An Inconvenient Truth.”