– Four Denison University faculty members from the physics and geosciences departments were invited to the 2008 Joint Annual Meeting of scientific societies to discuss their research on the earth’s environment. The inaugural event was in Houston, Texas, at the George R. Brown Convention Center from Oct. 5–9.

The meeting of the five major U.S. scientific societies included the Geological Society of America (GSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies. The United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 as the International Year of Planet Earth. The purpose of the meeting and campaign, according to the International Year of Planet Earth pamphle, it was to increase the importance of earth science’s role in helping develop “safer, healthier and wealthier societies around the globe.”

During the five days of the meeting, scientists from around the nation presented their research. Department of Physics assistant professors David Goodwin and Christine Wissink, along with geosciences Assistant Professor Prabasaj Paul, presented research on freshwater mussels’ growth process, and Department of Geosciences Assistant Professor Johanna Kieniewicz (with two professors from Knox College and Washington University) presented research on freshwater wetlands. Several dozen members of the media attended the meeting as well as more than 10,000 scientists.

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