Geology Department Alumni Accomplishments

By decade below, are the names, graduation years, and a brief note about various 6V电影网 Geology Department alumni. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it shows many remarkable career accomplishments by our alumni in the Geosciences and other fields. Alumni from the 1950s to the present will be added soon.

We regularly update it, so if you鈥檇 like us to link to your professional page (e.g., LinkedIn or a Department page), please send an email to the chair of the department.

Alumni Accomplishments

1940s

  • Robert Diemer (PO鈥49) was a geology and economics double major who worked pipeline construction in southern California in various capacities over the years with American Pipe and Construction Company which later became Ameron.
  • Bill Mais (PO鈥49) initially worked for Shell Oil Company in Oklahoma and later returned to California and became an independent geologic consultant while tending to a citrus orchard of Navel and Valencia oranges.
  • Don Seely (PO鈥49) earned his graduate degrees from the University of Oklahoma was a structural geologist who taught at Oklahoma City University and also worked as a research scientist for Exxon.
  • Homer Simmons (PO鈥49) worked a distinguished career for Shell Oil Company. He was first posted Texas and Oklahoma with time spent in the Netherlands, before eventually becoming Chief of Operations in Louisiana, Mississippi, and offshore.
  • George Hilton (PO鈥48) became and USGS Hydrogeologist and eventually on the faculty at Merritt College in Oakland where he taught geology and geography and successfully instigated environmental studies. He took students on memorable extended field trips.
  • Arthur Krause (PO鈥48) combined geology and an MBA to sell equipment in the petroleum industry for many years.
  • (PO鈥) was a sedimentologist who worked for Richfield Oil and contributed notable work on studies of the Ventura Basin.
  • Jack Vedder (PO鈥48) is retired. In his work with the USGS on continental borderlands he published dozens of studies on the geology of coastal southern southern California, including studies with Jack Schoellhamer and Bob Yerkes. He conducted many ocean cruises on geology as far away as the south Pacific ocean.
  • Bob 鈥淚daho鈥 Coiner (PO鈥44) Became a potato farmer in Twin Falls Idaho after earning his degree at 6V电影网. He kept in close touch with the Department over the years, describing his activities, right down to how he used his geology skills to evaluate soils.
  • Don Van Sickle (PO鈥44) was one of many in the Department who saw their time at 6V电影网 interrupted by service (to the Navy in Don鈥檚 case). He worked with the USGS with much of that work as regional geologist in Roswell, NM.
  • Frank Olmsted (PO鈥42;CGS鈥48) was highly respected hydrogeologist with the USGS for many years on both the east and west coasts. Some of his later efforts were devoted developing geothermal resources.
  • Alex McKenna (PO鈥42) became an inventor and entrepreneur specializing on work in hard metals and electromagnetism. He held patens for various devices.
  • Jack Schoellhamer (PO鈥42) much of the original field geology in the Santa Ana Mountains and Los Angeles Basin as a USGS scientist and became director of the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center from 1970-74.
  • (PO鈥42) was the first woman graduate of the department to earn advanced degrees. Martha worked for the Utah Geological Survey.
  • Ed Sprotte (PO鈥42) became a quaternary geologist with USGS in southern California.
  • Dick Shelton (PO鈥41) had a long successful career with Marathon Oil Company becoming District Geologist for Los Angeles before his retirement.

1930s

  • 1939鈥(No Graduates). This is the only year since the founding of the Department when not a single major graduated.
  • (PO鈥38) worked as a paleontologist, working first at the Los Angeles County Museum, and then at Union Oil Company, until 1949.
  • (PO鈥38) worked for USGS and was Chief Cartographic Engineer for USGS shaded relief map program. He was a pioneer of natural color maps, working alongside Jeppesen company in the 1950s and 1960s.
  • Hubert L. Popenoe (PO鈥37) worked for Shell Oil Company for many years in California and the retired to work an avocado grove and later enjoy world travel with his wife Mary.
  • Rosalie Davis Matlovsky (PO鈥36) went on to work in zoology/life science at UCLA. She conducted plasma research at Gallinger Municipal Hospital in Washington DC during WWII and later worked as a clinical Laboratory Technologist at Thatcher Clinical Lab in Pasadena.
  • (PO鈥36) went on to MIT to get a degree in metallurgy and worked as an economic geologist at Nevada Mines Division (General Manager) and then Vice President of Operations of Kennecott Mining.
  • George Bellemin (PO鈥35) collaborated with Richard Merriam to understand the origin of the Eocene , which is widespread in southern California. He also was an instructor at Los Angeles City College for many years.
  • John Shelton (PO鈥35) went to Yale for graduate school before coming back to 6V电影网 as a faculty member from 1945鈥1960. He combined his passions for flying, photography and geology to create the legendary textbook Geology Illustrated. John also worked for the Strategic Minerals Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey, and later served as an advisor on geology films.
  • (PO鈥35) studied micropaleontology and palynology and worked for Superior Oil and Texaco (Senior micropaleontologist).
  • (PO鈥34) worked for USGS before WWII and played a significant role in installing an aqueduct to military facilities in San Diego area. He studied the regional geology of southern California and Baja on the faculty at USC for 30 years.
  • H. Stanton 鈥淪tan鈥 Hill (PO鈥33) was an avid mineralogist and faculty member at Pasadena City College for 37 years, influencing hundreds of future geologists and. He also taught at 6V电影网 and Caltech. Hill is honored with several awards and a Geology museum at PCC.
  • (PO鈥33) finished his Geology degree at Princeton University and worked for Sonocy-Vaccum Company (California and Venezuela) for many years, then as an independent geologist, and finally as VP and chief geologist of the Argentine Cities Service Minerals Corporation.
  • (PO鈥32) worked for many years in sales for the Armstrong Cork Company.
  • Constance Boynton Nightingale (PO鈥32) was the first woman to graduate with a geology degree.

1920s

  • Roger Revelle (PO鈥29) was the first Director of Scripps Institute of Oceanography and founding chairman of the first Committee on Climate Change. Revelle first warned about the possible human role in greenhouse warming and was instrumental in setting up Hawaii鈥檚 NOAA Mauna Loa Observatory to monitor this impact.
  • William Hill (PO鈥28) earned an MBA from Harvard and worked for Eastman Kodak in Rochester New York. He traveled widely.
  • (PO鈥28) was a micropaleontologist who worked for Richland and Shell Oil Companies and was a past president of SEPM.
  • Murray Putnam (PO鈥28) was a petroleum engineer for Standard Oil Company in California for 42 years.
  • (PO鈥27) mapped and interpreted Tertiary basins for Texaco before his untimely passing in 1945. His work on the Salton Trough was particularly important for understanding the tectonic evolution of California.
  • John M. Cowan (PO鈥27) worked in the Angeles National Forest as a safety inspector and was in the Navy in WWII and worked various jobs related to aggregate supply.
  • Rollin Eckis (PO鈥27) was Executive V.P. of Richfield Oil, and 6V电影网 Trustee. Discovered the major Southern California oil field in western Kern County, part of the National Petroleum Reserve. Played a key role in mapping groundwater resources of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
  • Lincoln Hall (PO鈥27) worked for Tube Turns, a supplier of fittings and flanges to the pipeline and energy industries.
  • John May (PO鈥27) became a petroleum geologist in California and Texas working for Associated Oil Company before becoming a consulting Geologist.
  • Frank Rentschler (PO鈥27) taught high school physical sciences in 6V电影网 for many years, 28 of which he was in reserve and active service in the U.S. Air Force. He served as a ranger in Yosemite National Park for 23 summers.
  • (PO鈥27) was a pioneering sedimentologist studying modern sediments in the Mississippi River, then doing oceanographic research and later working for Marathon Oil Company.
  • Phillip Small (PO鈥27) worked for many years for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.
  • (PO鈥26) was a field and petroleum geologist who discovered a number of oil fields in California, worked with Tom Dibblee for a time and did exploration with Richfield Oil for many years.
  • (PO鈥25) completed seminal mapping of the Perris Block of the Peninsular Ranges before starting a long and productive career with Richfield Oil.
  • Russell D. Dysart (PO鈥25) was a long-time instructor of geology and mineralogy at Chaffey College. 鈥淩ocky鈥 was know for the red tie he wore on many geological field trips with Chaffey students.
  • (PO鈥24) studied ore deposits, volcanic rocks and pre-Cambrian geology and was chief geologist of the USGS from 1959-64. The mineral andersonite (Na2Ca(UO2)(CO3)3路6贬2O) is named after him.
  • T.F. Harris (PO鈥24) conducted one of the first detailed studies of a plutonic complex in the Peninsular Ranges batholith.
  • Jack S. Rounds (PO鈥23) started a dental practice in Los Angeles and was active on the alumni board of the college.
  • (PO鈥21) graduated just before the founding of the Geology Department with an interest in Astronomy that quickly turned to seismology and a career defined by his studies of earthquake-focus depth in the Pacific Ocean, which were critical to the recognition of plate tectonics. He also was a passionate musician and designer of electronic instruments.

1910s

  • Robert L. Keyes (PO鈥17) was part of early development of the Long Beach oil field after its discovery in 1921.
  • (PO鈥13)鈥攂etter know as Woody鈥攇raduated from 6V电影网 in 1913 and earned his Ph.D. in geology from Berkeley. His Ph.D. work showed that clasts in the conglomerates at San Onofre were shed from the same sources that comprise Catalina Island. His recognition of this provenance became a key piece in the story of the initiation of the San Andreas Fault system. He was also a keen mineralogist, toiling to understand the origins of mineral assemblages in the Crestmore marble quarry near Riverside. He also authored Principles of Geology (Gilluly, Waters, and Woodford, Freeman and Company), a textbook that was foundational in the education of countless geoscientists. Woodford first taught in the Chemistry Department at the College from the time he graduated in 1913, until 1922, at which time he spearheaded the creation of the Geology Department. Woodford was a one-man department for most of his time at 6V电影网. When he retired 1955, he handed over the reins to the great Donald B. McIntyre, who chaired the department until 1984. Woody lived to be 100 years old, and thus continued to be a presence in the Department well into the 1980s.