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... this library is truly indispensable in the conduction of my own work-and I suspect it is uniformly indispensable for the rest of the school of Earth Science faculty and students at all levels.
Julie Sweetkind-Singer, head librarian; GIS/map librarian & bibliographer, and W. G. Ernst in Branner Library, school of Earth Sciences, Mitchell Building.
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Since I joined the Stanford faculty in September 1989, I have found the holding of the school of Earth Sciences Branner Library and its personnel absolutely indispensable in support of my scientific research, my instructional efforts, and my service to the university as a Stanford alumni travel lecturer/leader. In all of the following areas, the Branner Library and its knowledgeable personnel (both absolutely top notch!) have provided terrific and sustained support of my scholarly activities in terms of helpful access to a remarkably wide range of scientific journals, books, and maps. My research spans study of the petrology and geochemistry of the deep Earth, the contrasting zones of vegetation communities in western mountain belts, experimental (laboratory) studies of phase equilibria at high temperatures and pressures, the mineralogic environment and human health, continental drift/sea-floor spreading/plate tectonics, and crustal growth/evolution. My teaching is now predominantly at the undergraduate level, and I must provide students with geologic and topographic maps as well as an appreciation for the origin, architecture, and geo-historical development of the entire western conterminous US. In addition, I need to provide ancillary back-up scientific materials that range from oceanography, paleoclimatology, classical Earth science, and Earth systems science. For my leadership activities on Stanford alumni trips, I need maps of the areas that we visit and investigate, as well as background geologic sources.
In all of these areas, this library is truly indispensable in the conduction of my own work-and I suspect it is uniformly indispensable for the rest of the school of Earth Science faculty and students at all levels.
W. G. Ernst
W. G. Ernst is the Benjamin M. Page Professor, Emeritus, and professor of Geological and Environmental Sciences, in the school of Earth Sciences. He served as dean of the school of Earth Sciences from 1989 to 1994. He received his MS in Geology from the University of Minnesota in 1955, and his PhD in Geochemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1959. Ernst's areas of research include petrology/geochemistry and plate tectonics of circumpacific and alpine mobile belts; ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism in Eurasia; geology of the California coast ranges, the central Klamath mountains, and White-Inyo range; geobotany and remote sensing of the Southwest; mineralogy and human health. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the 2004 Penrose Medal of the Geological Society of America, the 1998 Medal of the Geological Society of Japan, and elections to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He is past president of the Geological Society of America, and of the Mineralogical Society of America. Ernst's service to Stanford includes Earth Systems and GES undergraduate advisor, and freshman/sophomore advisor. His professional activities include editorships, trusteeships, and memberships in scientific societies. Courses most recently taught include Introduction to Earth Systems, and Fundamentals of Geology.
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