nine faculty promotionsmay 31 2016congratulations to our nine faculty who were selected for promotions this year! these promotions will go into effect on september 1 2016dr sarah d brooks – promotion to professordr brooks research focus is to develop a better understanding of how natural and anthropogenic aerosol particles influence aerosol/cloud interactions on local to global scales through a combination of field studies and laboratory experiments she explores how concentration chemical composition surface chemical reactions and shape of aerosols impact cloud formation and properties dr ryan c ewing – promotion to associate professorryans research aims to understand the evolution of landscapes and the sedimentary record through physical processes operating at the surface-atmosphere interface of earth mars and titan (a moon of saturn) his current research themes include (1) development of patterns in wind-blown landscapes and the interpretation of these patterns as records of climate (2) bedform self-organization in the rock record and (3) the role of wind-blown systems at critical climate transitions in earths history dr oliver w frauenfeld – promotion to associate professordr frauefelds research includes a broad range of topics in climate variability and climate change he focuses on surface-atmosphere interactions over both land and the oceans some of his other research studies the effects of land cover and land use change on climate across the tibetan plateau and china dr chris houser – promotion to professordr houser's general areas of expertise are process geomorphology in coastal and aeolian environments with a specific focus on the impact of extreme storms on barrier islands and the recovery of barrier islands following storms his current research projects include the role of boundary conditions in swash zone morphodynamics wave attenuation through submerged vegetation geological controls on beach-dune recovery and the evolution of blowouts and parabolic dunes along the coast of texas dr wendy e jepson – promotion to professordr jepsons research examines the complex political economic and social production of environmental inequities in low-income rural and peri-urban mexican-american neighborhoods (colonias) in the lower rio grande valley along the texas-mexico border in this region the countrys poorest communities face ad-hoc water delivery and inadequate potable water which threaten environmental well-being and erode prospects for a healthy life dr julie newman – promotion to professordr newmans research focuses on structural geology and tectonics she and her students carry out field microstructural and experimental studies of crustal and upper mantle rocks to investigate the rheology or strength and behavior of the earths lithospheric layers currently they are working on ultramafic rocks from mantle massifs in western washington new zealand and california as well as low-temperature thrust faults from the foreland of the southern appalachians dr erik g prout – promotion to associate professordr prout has been with the college of geosciences at texas a&m since 2001 his affiliations include the association of american geographers association of pacific coast geographers southwestern aag and national council for geographic education he has been an instructor for 10 distinct courses: 43 sections of geog 305 geography of texas; 21 sections of geog 202 geography of the global village 10 sections of geog 450 field methods in geography 6 sections of geog 325 geography of europe (also as geog 489) 5 sections of geog 420 geography of terrorism (also as geog 489) 4 sections of geog 201 introduction to human geography 3 sections of geog 301 geography of the united states 3 sections of geog 401 political geography 2 sections of ints 201 introduction to international studies and 2 sections of freshman seminars dr steven m quiring – promotion to professorsteven quiring is a climatologist with research interests in hydroclimatology climate change drought monitoring and prediction and hurricanes steven is currently working on an nsf career project entitled "role of soil moisture in seasonal to inter-annual climate variability in the us great plains" (2011-2016) his research is funded by the national science foundation department of energy national oceanic and atmospheric administration and department of interior south central climate science center among others dr david m sparks – promotion to professordr sparks research focuses on mathematical and numerical modeling of dynamic geophysical and geochemical systems including: grain-scale dynamics of unconsolidated sediment and fault gouge discrete element method for modeling granular materials mantle convection and crustal generation beneath spreading centers subduction zones and intraplate volcanoes sarah brooks ryan ewing oliver frauenfeld chris houser wendy jepson julie newman erik prout steven quiring and david sparks receive promotions