Geoscientist at Williams College Studying Planet's Youngest Sea

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Williamstown – Markes E. Johnson, the Charles L. MacMillan Professor of Natural Sciences at Williams College, has been awarded a Petroleum Research Fund grant for $50,000 by the American Chemical Society. The grant is the eighth award Johnson has received through the American Chemical Society since 1979. The Petroleum Research Fund, which promotes research participation in geology and chemistry on both the undergraduate and graduate levels, has enabled more than 50 Williams students to accompany Johnson on his frequent excursions to the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico since 1990. The current grant will support research on his project, "Paleography and Correlation of Pliocene Basins in the Gulf of California." The project is aimed at understanding the development of one of the planet's youngest seas, also known as the Sea of Cortez. Expansion of the Gulf over the last five million years is being traced by Johnson and his students along former shorelines uplifted by as much as 650 ft. above sea level. Johnson has been at Williams since 1977, and has taught courses in historical geology, paleobiology, and stratigraphy. He is the author of "Discovering the Geology of Baja California – Six Hikes on the Southern Gulf Coast" (University of Arizona Press, 2002) and co-editor of "Pliocene Carbonates and Related Facies Flanking the Gulf of California" (Geological Society of America Special Paper, 1997), among works most closely related to ongoing field studies in Mexico. Previous awards include a Class of 1945 World Fellowship for his project, "Island Ecology Through Geologic Time" and grant support from the National Geographic Society for research on former shorelines in Western Australia, Siberia, and China's Inner Mongolia. Johnson is a fellow of the Geological Society of America and a member of the Paleontological Society, among other professional groups. He received his B.A. from the University of Iowa in 1971 and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1977.
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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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