Baylor Geology Professor Elected President of Prominent Professional Society

Dr. Steven Driese, professor and chair of the geology department at Baylor University, has been elected president of the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) which has a current membership of 4,000 people with a significant number of international members. Driese will serve one year as president-elect and a second year as president of SEPM.

"This is an internationally recognized 'flagship' society for sedimentary geologists, particularly in North America, and I am extremely honored to have been elected," Driese said.

Based in Tulsa, Okla., SEPM is dedicated to the dissemination of scientific information on sedimentology, stratigraphy, paleontology, environmental sciences, marine geology, hydrogeology and many additional related specialties. Driese said his goals for the organization are to maintain the financial health of the Society and its two prestigious journals, Journal of Sedimentary Research and PALAIOS. He also would like to bring in new members from other communities with interdisciplinary ties, such as the soil science, physical geography and geoarchaeological circles.

Driese has been active member in SEPM since 1977 and has served in various capacities, including secretary-treasurer, associate editor of the Journal of Sedimentary Research, associate editor of PALAIOS, president of the mid-continent section, and chair of the Bedforms and Bedding Structures Research Group.

Driese received his bachelor's degree from Southern Illinois University and his master's and doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Madison. He was a member of the faculty at the University of Tennessee Knoxville for more than 20 years before coming to Baylor in 2004 as professor and chair of geology department. He has published more the 75 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is actively trying to bridge the divide that exists between geology and soil science, thereby demonstrating applications of sedimentary geology to hydrogeological and environmental concerns. His current research centers around the paleoclimate and paleolandscape records of soils preserved as paleosols in the geologic record.

He is a member of the Geological Society of America, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, Sigma Xi and the Soil Science Society of America.

For more information, contact Dr. Driese at (254) 710-2361.