The National Honor Society for the Earth Sciences
Upcoming Deadlines
Advisors: Please check our Awards Page for changes to the James C. Walters Quality Chapter Award and Chapter Service Award Applications. There is a new form for the Service Project information.
Academic Regalia for graduation. Please submit your orders for Honor Cord sets or Honor Stoles with 10 business days lead time so we may process the order. Regalia orders for more than one graduate will be shipped to the chapter advisor. Please look on the SGE products page
November 1, 2024 Deadline for submission of Fall 2024 Chapter Members Form (found at www.SGEearth.org > Officer Resources > Member Form). Be sure to include returning Life Members even if you only initiate new members in the Spring. This is a prerequisite for applying for the Quality Chapter Award. NOTE: we are happy to take your member form whenever you initiate new members.
March 15, 2025 Deadline for submission of Spring 2025 Chapter Members Form If you are still in the process of initiating new Members, please do submit the form as you are able.
April 1, 2025 Deadline for submission of 2025 Tarr Award Applications (found at www.SGEearth.org > Awards > W A Tarr Award Application). If your chapter has not yet finalized the award process, please DO submit an application. We ask at least 7 business days before the date of presentation.
April 11-13 SGE 47th Biennial Convention, Moline, Illinois: Check below for key registration deadlines and other information as it becomes available.
May 31, 2025 Submit applications for Chapter Awards: Please submit applications for James C. Walters Quality Chapter Award and Chapter Service Award by this date. Look for information on the Awards page
October 19-22, 2025 GSA Connects 2025 San Antonio, Texas We will update this with information about the 37th SGE Student Poster session as it becomes available
Call to Convention
First Notice
The National Council has accepted an invitation from the Delta Psi Chapter (Western Illinois University) to host the Society’s 47th Biennial Convention on WIU’s Quad Cities Campus – located in Moline, Illinois, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The convention is scheduled for April 11-13, 2025 and planning is underway. The Friday afternoon through Sunday noon schedule is designed to minimize the number of class days that delegates would need to miss. The Quad Cities International Airport (MLI) serves the area. At this time, we encourage chapters to “save the date” and to start making plans for a delegate to attend. We welcome chapters to send more than one member if possible; chapter advisors are also welcome and encouraged to attend.
In addition to being a lot of fun and a chance to expand networking – there will be field trip to explore the local geology on Saturday – the biennial conventions serve an important function in that the delegates set policy for SGE as a student-run organization. Your national officers advise and carry out the policies established at the national conventions. For this convention, the National Office will provide a $500 stipend for one official delegate from each active chapter. Alternates will receive stipends of $50. Chapter advisors participating in this meeting will receive $250 stipends. Stipends can be combined if your chapter would like to bring a group (e.g. – rent a van and travel together). Meals and lodging during the meeting will be provided.
Complete details, including registration instructions, will be provided to chapters at a later date.
Wildcat Den State Park
(S. W. Bennett photo)
Black Hawk State Historic Site
(S. W. Bennett photo)
Western Illinois University-Quad Cities Riverfront Campus (S. W. Bennett photo)
Fryxell Geology Museum, Augustana College (S. W. Bennett photo)
Welcome to our newest chapter: Iota Delta!
The National Council of Sigma Gamma Epsilon welcomes our newest chapter Iota Delta at The University of Hawai’i at Manoa
We are pleased to announce the successful petition of students at The University of Hawai’i at Manoa, to become the 217th Chapter of SGE – Iota Delta!
The Iota Delta chapter will be installed during Spring 2025 with the initiation of Student Charter Members. Welcome!
Want to start a chapter at your school? All you need to do is ask! (submit a petition). Interested schools should check the information on our About Us and FAQ pages.
Submit a manuscript to The Compass
We are glad to announce that The Compass is accepting manuscripts for the March 1, 2025 Issue! The deadline for submission is January 31, 2025.
Look for the newest issue here https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/compass/
We look forward to your manuscript submissions. For many professionals, The Compass was thier first publication venue.
Fall 2024 Letter from the National President
Fall 2024 Letter from the National Secretary-Treasurer
SGE OUTSTANDING RESEARCH AWARDS
Geological Society of America CONNECTS 2024
36th Annual Undergraduate Research Exhibition (Technical Session 20)
Anaheim, CA | September 23, 2024
Austin A. Sartin Award
The 2024 Austin A. Sartin Award was awarded to Adrienne Hammontree, a member of Iota Alpha Chapter at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio. Adrienne was the presenting co-author on a poster that reported on the compilation of published analyses of Martian meteorites in support of a future space mission to explore the possible origins of the Martian moons. Spacecraft-borne remote sensing of Gamma Ray and neutron spectra will be facilitated by reference to a library of Martian meteorite chemical analyses, with emphasis on the inclusion of much of the full compositional range of Martian meteorite clans. More complete details may be found in the abstract linked Here
Charles J. Mankin Award
The 2024 Charles J. Mankin Award was awarded to Katherine Belt, a member of Theta Omega Chapter at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tennessee. Katherine was the presenting co-author that reported on the provenance of some Carboniferous foreland-basin strata from the Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee, using U-Pb dating of detrital zircon. Developing a dataset from a previously under-sampled area, data in this poster suggest a uniformity of ages that conforms to the broader Appalachian Basin. They conclude that this uniformity is the result of reworking of sediments from one or more sources along the basin-front. More complete details may be found in the abstract linked Here
The session (Session T20) was sponsored by SGE, and by GSA Limnogeology Division; GSA Coastal and Marine Science Division; GSA Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, and Volcanology Division; and GSA Soils and Soil Processes Division. Poster judging was completed by SGE National Officers Steve Bennett, Scott Beason, Norman Levine, Claire Marshall, and Alexander Stewart. Text and photo credit L. Potter. Look for complete details and abstracts in the January 1, 2025 issue of The Compass. Plans are already underway for SGE’s poster session at the 2025 GSA annual meeting. Details will be provided on this site later in 2025. We hope to see you in San Antonio, Texas!
(SGE is a GSA-Affiliated Society)
2024 Awards
The National Council is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 W. A. Tarr Awards. These awards are presented by chapters to an outstanding student in the Earth Sciences. This year, 29 chapters announced recipients. Each recipient receives a certificate and cash award. Congratulations!
A list of this 2024 recipients is located HERE
Congratulations to our 2024 SGE – James C. Walters
Quality Chapter Award winners!
Gamma Sigma, University of Northern Iowa
Gamma Chi, Eastern Illinois University
At the 2022 Biennial Convention, delegates voted to rename the Quality Chapter Award as the James C. Walters Quality Chapter Award. Dr. Jim Walters recently stepped down as National Secretary-Treasurer, but has held several National Offices, and served as advisor to the Gamma Sigma Chapter for many years. To qualify for this award, Chapters must regularly report returning and new members, and provide service to the community. These chapters exemplify the qualities described above and received a certificate and cash award. Congratulations!
Congratulations to our 2024 SGE Chapter Service Award winner!
Gamma Sigma, University of Northern Iowa
Gamma Chi, Eastern Illinois University
The SGE Chapter Service Award is presented to chapters that exhibit exemplary service to their communities. Required service hours are based on the number of active members in the Fall semester.
Spring 2023 Letter from the National President
2023 Letter from the National Editor
Spring 2023 Letter from the National Secretary-Treasurer
SGE OUTSTANDING RESEARCH AWARDS
Geological Society of America CONNECTS 2023
35th Annual Undergraduate Research Exhibition (Technical Session 11)
Pittsburgh, PA | October 16, 2023
Austin A. Sartin Award
The 2023 Austin A. Sartin Award was awarded jointly to Kathleen Farr and Michael Buchanan, two members of the Eta Nu Chapter at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Kathleen and Michael were co-authors on a poster presentation that reported on the use of a variety of data sets to produce a 1:24,000-scale geologic map of the southern half of the 7.5-minute Rawley Springs Quadrangle in western Virginia. The detailed mapping increased knowledge of the North Mountain thrust fault system and the fluvial geomorphology of the region. Their abstract is linked here.
Charles J. Mankin Award
The 2023 Charles J. Mankin Award was awarded to E Vigil, a member of Theta Omega Chapter at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tennessee. E was a co-author on a poster presentation that reported on the analysis of insect herbivory on fossil leaves from the Claiborne Formation (Middle Eocene) of Kentucky. The amount and diversity of insect damage were shown to be positively correlated with changes in the partial pressure of CO2 and temperature, thus providing an analog for the consequences of future climate change. The abstract is linked here.
Thanks to SGE member Scott Beason, Park Geologist at Mount Rainier National Park, for serving as a guest judge. Plans are already underway for SGE’s poster session at the 2023 GSA annual meeting. Details will be provided on this site later in 2023. We hope to see you in Pittsburgh, PA!
(SGE is a GSA-Affiliated Society)
46th SGE Biennial Convention
Selmer, TN
(click on heading to visit the Convention Page)
September 16-18, 2022
L. S. Potter Photo
Hosted by Eta alpha Chapter, University of Tennessee, Martin September 16 through 18. Delegates, national officers, alternates, and guests converged to conduct The Society’s business.
We visited a “type section” for the world famous Coon Creek Formation lagerstätte, a ~72 million year old fossil deposit that serves as Tennessee’s link to the Age of Dinosaurs. Over 400 species of perfectly preserved fossil clams, snails, crabs, lobsters, swimming reptiles such as mosasaurs, turtles, fish, plesiosaurs, and even plant fossils are readily collected by visitors on the site.
L. S. Potter photo
After a rustic banquet dinner our featured speaker, Dr. Roy Van Arsdale, presented “The Geologic History of the Mississippi River.” This was followed by presentations of honors and awards. Our evening culminated in a star party hosed by Dr. Lionel Crews, an Astronomy Professor at the University of Tennessee. During the festivities, student artists produced a “lasting” imprint of the Society’s presence at Coon Creek.
Please visit our Convention Highlights page!
Please address remaining convention questions and correspondence to Lee Potter, potter@sgeearth.org 319-505-3391
Congratulations to our 2022 SGE Quality Chapter Awards!
Gamma Sigma, University of Northern Iowa
Gamma Chi, Eastern Illinois University
Congratulations to our 2022 SGE Chapter Service Awards!
Gamma Sigma, University of Northern Iowa
Gamma Chi, Eastern Illinois University
Eta Gamma, Weber State University
Website modifications
Welcome to our remodeled website here at SGEearth.org!
We are working hard to fully transition to this domain. Some of your old links may not work.
If you find a link on this site that does not function properly, please contact the Webmaster at admin@SGEearth.org.
Please watch the site as we continue to evolve in Fall of 2022!
Our mailing address has changed. Please contact Lee Potter, admin@SGEearth.org with questions or concerns.