Posted on Apr 12, 2002

Donald T. Rodbell, associate professor of geology,
was elected to a four-year position as one of 14 councilors to
the American Quaternary Association. He will be one of
two councilors who represent terrestrial geoprocesses.
The association (AMQUA) is a professional organization
of North American scientists devoted to studying all
aspects of earth science over the last 2 million years, a time of
frequent and dramatic environmental changes, exemplified by
growing and decaying continental ice sheets and mountain
glaciers. Beyond understanding the forces that shaped our
modern environment, studying the Quaternary Period is
significant because the “Ice Age”
environmental changes were the backdrop for global changes
in floral and faunal communities, including extinction of a
diverse megafauna, and for the evolution of modern humans
and their dispersal throughout the world.