Last December, associate geography professor Harry Jol and assistant geology professor Colin Shaw received a one-year grant of almost $275,000 from the Landmark Graphics Corp.
| “Personally, I would like to see this grant used in the classrooms and not just for student research.” –Chris Drabandt, Geology Club vice president |
LGC specializes in products and services, including geophysical technology, drilling and well services, and reservoir management.
The grant was for the purchase and use of Geographix software, which is designed to give students and faculty of geography, anthropology and geology an aide in research and lab work.
No money was awarded, however. The departments instead received a licensing agreement.
Landmark Corp. gave the departments a license worth about $300,000 for their exploration software, Shaw said. The company also provided greatly reduced prices for software training.
“We are working … to get it installed on our research computers and some student lab computers,” Shaw said.
“It is true our computer lab needs updating,” said senior Chris Drabandt, Geology Club vice president and geology major. “Personally, I would like to see this grant used in the classrooms and not just for student research.”
Even if students can’t get intimately involved with the Geographix system, an overview of how the system works could be useful to any geology major or minor, Drabandt said.
With the use of the software, Jol and an UW-Eau Claire student were able to pinpoint a location for a possible archaeological find in Israel.
The software was coupled with ground penetrating radar that helped to find the area.
Nothing has been confirmed at the site.
Right now, Jol is on sabbatical in New Zealand and couldn’t be reached for comment.
Shaw has used the software and is working on learning more about it.
“As far as my research and teaching goes, I plan to use Geographix in my research into the crystal structure of the Rocky Mountain region and in teaching,” he said.
He plans to travel to Houston over spring break to take a training course for Geographix so he will be able to use it more effectively.
Shaw also plans to incorporate the Geographix software in his upcoming fall semester class.
“My students will be able to use this industry standard research to integrate and interpret geophysical data,” Shaw said. “It’s a great chance to learn on cutting-edge software.”
