srcornell@ship.edu

I have completed all coursework toward my Ph.D. in the Department of Geology at the University of Cincinnati, and am currently “writing up” my dissertation. Although I just began at Shippensburg this Fall (2006), I have taught full time for the previous 2 years (at Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA, and St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY).

I am a sedimentary/stratigraphic geologist with interests in both modern and ancient carbonate sedimentary environments, and their oceanographic, climatic, and biologic circumstances through time. My dissertation deals with the field analysis of Ordovician (~460 million year old) carbonate rocks of Eastern North America in order to interpret the record of tectonic and biologic change during a critical period of rapid (?) global climatic change. In addition to my Ph.D. studies, I have also worked on modern carbonate depositional systems and their ecology in tropical marine environments of the circum-Caribbean region including in the Florida Keys, the Bahamian Platform, and the Netherlands Antilles. These modern depositional environments provide a wealth of information for interpreting analogous environments recorded in ancient rocks.

Given my background, I teach a number of Geology courses including Introductory and Physical Geology, Historical Geology, and Oceanography. I will also, in the future, teach courses at the upper-level in the broad area of Sedimentary Environments, Geologic Hazards, and Geologic Field Studies.

Having spent most of my life growing up in rural northern New York, the “rural-feel” of the Shippensburg region is certainly not a new concept for me… well maybe a little less snow. Nonetheless the “hills” of the easternmost Appalachian fold and thrust belt are intriguing to me as a geologist and I spend as much time as I can investigating the Geology of our once grand, in fact Himalayan-scale, mountains. The substantial tectonic history of this region is certainly not lost on me and I hope that I can at least share a small part of this knowledge with my students.

Cornell, S.R., Andrews, J., Agle, P., & Thomas, D., 2005, Classic Localities of the Black
River and Trenton Groups (U Ordovician) in the Black River Valley: Revisited
Through Traditional and Sequence Stratigraphy, In: New York State Geological Association Field Trip Guidebook, Trips A4, B1.

Cornell, S.R., 2005,Stratigraphy of the Middle and Upper Ordovician Black River and
Trenton Groups in the Mohawk and Black River Valleys, In: Field Trip Guidebook, Northeast Section Meeting, Geological Society of America, Saratoga Springs, New York, Trip A-1,

Brett, C.E., McLaughlin, P.I., Cornell, S.R., & Baird, G.C., (2004), Comparative
Sequence Stratigraphy of two classic Upper Ordovician Successions, Trenton Shelf (New York-Ontario) and Lexington Platform (Kentucky-Ohio): implications for eustasy and local tectonism in eastern Laurentia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology. Vol. 210, No. 2-4, pp. 295-329.

McLaughlin, P.I., Brett, C.E., Taha McLaughlin, S.L., and Cornell, S.R., (2004), High-resolution sequence stratigraphy of a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic, cratonic ramp (Upper Ordovician; Kentucky–Ohio, USA): insights into the relative influence of eustasy and tectonics through analysis of facies gradients, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology, Vol. 210, No. 2-4, pp. 267-294.

Cornell, S.R., C. Sumrall, C.E. Brett, (2003), Paleoecology and Taphonomic
Implications of an Edrioasteroid Encrusted Hardground from the lower Devonian
of eastern New York State. Palaios, Vol. 18, pp. 212-224.

Cornell S.R., Cundiff, J., Corbett, M., Caudill, F., Collier, F., Hanken, J., Geology and
Paleontology of Trenton Falls, New York, URL:
http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/departments/invertpaleo/trenton/index.html

Cornell, S.R., 2005, High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy and Event Bed Correlations
of the Upper Ordovician Black River and Trenton Groups in Central Pennsylvania: Unraveling (Adding to?) A Century of Controversy, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, (Salt Lake City, UT), Paper No. 47-1.

Cornell, S.R., Brett, C.E., McLaughlin, P.I., 2005, Sequence Stratigraphic Comparisons
of the Black River-Trenton Boundary Interval: Implications for Taconic Foreland Basin Dynamics, Geological Society of America, Northeast Section Meeting (Saratoga Springs, NY), Abstracts with Programs Vol. 37, No. 1.

Cornell, S.R., Cundiff, J, Collier, F., Corbett, M., Caudill, F., Hanken, J., 2004, A New
Resource in Geoscience Education: Taking Invertebrate Paleontology Collections Online and Back to the Field, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Denver, Co), Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 36, No. 5, p. 349.

Cornell, S.R., & Brett, C.E., McLaughlin, P.I., 2004Comparative Sequence Stratigraphy
of the Black River to Lower Trenton Group Interval (Upper Ordovician): Implications for Climatic, and Associated Faunal Changes, American Association of Petroleum Geologists 33rd Annual Eastern Section Meeting, (Columbus, OH), Program with Abstracts, pp. 71-72.

Cornell, S.R., C.E. Brett, P.I. McLaughlin, 2003, Synchronous Modfication of Upper
Ordovician Facies Gradients Along Two Shelf-to-Basin Ramps: Influences of Taconic Tectonism on Eustatic Cycles, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting, (Salt Lake City, UT), AAPG Bulletin Vol. 87, No. 3.

Cornell, S.R., and C.E. Brett, 2003, Tectono-Eustatic Modification of the Early Trenton
Shelf: Evidence for Shelf Reorganization During the onset of Taconic Tectonism
(Vermontian Tectophase), Geological Society of America Northeast Section Meeting (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 35, No. 3.

Cornell, S.R., C.E. Brett, & P.I. McLaughlin, 2001, Sequence Stratigraphy and Spectral
Gamma Ray Analysis of Upper Ordovician Carbonates of the northern Appalachian Basin: Linking surface and subsurface stratigraphy, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Boston, MA), Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 33 No. 6.

• Member: SU Geography & Earth Science Dept. Curriculum Committee
• Co-Rep. Academic Committee, Marine Science Consortium, Wallops Island, Va.
• Member: Geologic Society of America; Geoscience Education and Sedimentary
  Geology Divisions
• Member: North American Geoscience Teachers Association
• Member: Paleontological Society
  

ESS 110: Introductory Geology
ESS 211: Physical Geology
ESS 212: Historical Geology
ESS 220: Oceanography

October 22, 2006