VT College of Science Magazine Summer 2008 | Page 5

1962 – First courses for non-majors are offered
1963 – Department leaves the School of Engineering
and joins the College of Arts and Sciences

1955 – Name changes to Department of
Geological Sciences
1955 – Ph.D. program begins

mEtEoric groWth

In addition to excellence in teaching, research is a driving
force in the department, which reported more than $2.5
million in research expenditures during the 2006-07 academic year. All 22 graduating seniors in geosciences last
spring participated in faculty-mentored research as an
undergraduate. At any given time, 80 to 100 undergraduate students are working on degrees in geosciences, and
the department awards thousands of dollars in graduate
scholarships each year.

Some notable events during this time span include:
1947 – Department is renamed to Department
of Geology
1950 – Master of Science graduate program in
geology started

Research conducted by renowned faculty members and
their students spans the entire globe. One-third of the
department’s faculty members have won one or more
international medals for excellence in science, including the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award, the
Bowen Medal, and the Dana Medal. The department has
two prestigious Fellows in the American Association for
the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and two University
Distinguished Professors, the highest honor awarded to
faculty at Virginia Tech. Four faculty members have even
had minerals named in their honor.

Uncovering a Century continued next page

Issue No. 5 suMMeR 2008

the past 20 years. In fact, the National Research Council
has ranked it as the leading geosciences program in the
southeastern United States, public or private.

M a g a z i n e

Today, the department’s requests for instrumentation
typically run in the millions of dollars. The geosciences
program, which is housed mainly in Derring Hall, harbors
more than 20 specialized research facilities, including a
unique crystallography lab, a state-of-the-art transmission electron microscope, and a worldwide standard
seismograph station. The department also houses a museum containing more than 13,000 mineralogical and
paleontological specimens used for research, education,
and outreach. Internationally recognized faculty lead
research programs in the forefront areas of geosciences,
including Earth surface processes, geobiology, geochemistry, geophysics, hydrogeology, mineralogy, petrology,
and tectonics.

S C i e n C e

One hundred years ago, equipment needs in the geology
1968 – Derring Hall (the site of most of today’s
department were modest. Quoting from the 1906 VPI
geosciences programs) opens
catalog: “Equipment— The professor’s office, three labo2003 – Department joins the College of
ratories, and a large lecture room are all well lighted. The
Science as part of university restructuring
lecture room is provided with a Bausch and Lomb projec2003 – Name changes to Department of Geosciences
tion apparatus for lantern and microscopic illustrations.
The laboratories are well equipped with new cabinets for a World-claSS program
storing mineral and rock specimens and work tables or
Today, Virginia Tech’s Department of Geosciences is
desks.”
known worldwide and has consistently been ranked
humBlE rootS, But promiSiNg!
among the best geosciences programs in the nation for

Holden continued to teach and lead the then-named Department of Mining Geology well into his seventies. After his death in 1945, Byron Cooper arrived to begin the
department on the upward trajectory that it still enjoys
today.

3

o f

EQuipmENt NEEdS thEN aNd NoW

1951 – Camp Holden field camp opens in Saltville, Va.

C o l l e g e

ogy A, the major’s introductory course, reads,”Lectures,
recitations, field and laboratory work. General outlines of
the subject including dynamics, structural and historical
geology. During the fall and spring, the laboratory period
is devoted to field study of geological phenomena near
the Institute.”