Julian C. Gray

Julian C. Gray

Julian Gray is the former curator of Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Georgia and the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals, in Hillsboro, Oregon. Julian also served as Executive director of the Rice Museum. A Georgia native, Julian studied at Georgia State University where he earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in geology. He received additional training in micro-analytical techniques from the McCrone Research Institute in Chicago, Illinois. Julian is particularly interested in optical mineralogy, identifying minerals through their optic properties using a combination of spindle stage and polarized light microscopy.  Julian has worked with the U.S. Geological Survey and several commercial laboratories and environmental consulting firms. Julian lives in Hillsboro, Oregon with his wife, Barb Epstien.

Bonnie Prange

Bonnie Prange

Bonnie Prange (that’s me) joined GSOC in 2004 and just a year later was the only candidate for GSOC Vice-President, an office that at the time involved scheduling speakers for the Friday night lectures.  This was a challenge for me since I had just recently joined the Portland geological community and had no prior affiliation with PSU faculty.

I networked with contacts and became acquainted with professionals at PSU and DOGAMI and managed to fill the events calendar that year but felt I was inadequate to the task.  By the time I became GSOC President, in 2006, I was able to coordinate the multi-day President’s Field Trip (Klamath Basin) because I had the prior year’s  experience and guidance from former president Bart Bartels (who scheduled his own camp-out field trip extension from Klamath Falls to Lava Beds National Monument that year).  I found that both the VP and the office of President required a great deal of time and attention, especially for someone with no professional background or academic credentials in geology.

My education was actually focused on biology and botany.  I have a BA in Biology and Master’s degree with emphasis on fungal genetics (which at the time was considered botany) from Humboldt State University in California.

Fifteen years later I returned for a Masters in Environmental Studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.  After earning that degree, I worked for Thurston County helping to develop and implement a county gravel mining ordinance.  I then worked in a temporary position with the Washington DNR doing field inspections for mine reclamation permits.

My last employment in the mining field was several years at a Longview consulting firm where I wrote mine reclamation plans for clients who needed to meet the DNR permit requirements.

My interest in geology grew from an interest in mining economics and the history of mining which I didn’t start exploring until my first year at Evergreen and from my associated exposure to Ecological Restoration via coursework and a decade of national and international conferences.  I see myself as a “backdoor” geology enthusiast…. living proof that a lack of formal academic training need not be an impediment to lifelong learning and pursuing new interests. 

I’m grateful to GSOC for encouraging me to jump in all those years ago when I attended my first meeting at PSU and experienced a lecture that fascinated me even though technically over my head.  I could probably follow it now!

Paul Edison-Lahm

Paul Edison-Lahm

Paul Edison-Lahm is a retired educator and attorney whose interest in geology began abruptly in his childhood home in Northridge, California when he was awakened by the February 9, 1971 Sylmar Earthquake. He moved to SE Portland in 1979 to attend Reed College and has never really gone far from the area. His various careers have included: COBOL programmer, domestic and sexual violence prevention educator in the public schools, and advocate for families in the legal system.

He met his wife Peregrine on the salsa dance floor and her work in environmental science helped him rediscover his fascination with the natural world. Migraines ended his legal career, but noticing fossils in the county courthouse floor led to him collaborating with GSOC board members to revive our Downtown Building Stone Geology Tour. Paul led the redesign of our website and communications strategy.

Paul is grateful to GSOC for providing him with the opportunity to pursue his love of both geology and graphic design — and being part of building our local geoscience community.

Carol Hasenberg

Carol Hasenberg

Carol Hasenberg grew up in West Virginia in the steel town of Weirton. Her interest in the Pacific Northwest began when she went with her parents on a car trip to Oregon in 1963 at the age of 7. She got a degree in Landscape Architecture from Michigan State University and moved to Oregon.

After working for several years as a landscape designer, she went back to school in 1984 in Civil Engineering and had a modest career designing at a structural engineering consulting firm and performing seismic hazard assessment projects while teaching at Portland State University. Her interest in Geology solidified while taking engineering geology courses and learning about the Cascadia Subduction Zone and earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest.

Carol joined GSOC in 1995 mainly due to Richard Bartel’s very interesting and informative seminars. She was GSOC President in 1999-2000 and 2009- 2010. She was the newsletter editor from 2000 to 2020 and is currently the Field Trip Director.

Scott Burns

Dr. Scott Burns

Scott Burns is a 6th generation Oregonian who loves geology.  He went to Beaverton High School where he was student body president, and then got  BS and MS degrees from Stanford University and a PhD in geology from the University of Colorado.  He has been teaching geology at the college level for 53 years, with past positions in Switzerland, New Zealand, Washington, Louisiana and Colorado before coming to Portland State 33 years ago.  In geology he has specialties in engineering geology (landslides), environmental geology (radon and heavy metals in soils), soils (terroir of wine), Quaternary geology and geomorphology (Missoula Floods).  He has been active in AEG (national president), Oregon Soil Science Society (president), IAEG (international president) and Geological Society of America (head of engineering geology division and treasurer of the Quaternary Geology Division).  He has been married for 48 years to Glenda and has three kids and 2 grandchildren.  He lives in Tualatin and is a hay farmer.  He leads trips around the world each summer for the Smithsonian (Washington, DC) and the Stanford Alumni Association.  He has been failing retirement for the past 8 years because he teaches classes in the spring at PSU - Geology of the National Parks and Geodisasters.  He has been a member of GSOC since the early 1990's and has lectured over 10 times to the group and has led field trips for GSOC.  He is the only professor of geology at PSU who has a rock collection - come to his office. 

Clark Niewendorp

Clark Niewendorp

My Dad was an officer in the U.S. Air Force which meant the family moved every couple of years from one base to another, but finally after his retirement we settled in Missouri. Because I graduate from high school in Missouri, I will call it my home state. I was a football walk-on at the Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) and made the team. However, my playing days didn't last too long, but I met and married my college sweetheart, Joyce, and that has continued to last. In 2000, I brought my family across the Oregon Trail from South Carolina, settled in Tualatin, and now we happily call Oregon our home. 

A 38-year career as a geologist started out as a mine geologist in Missouri followed by work as an independent consultant in central Kentucky's "poor-mans" oil field and a hydrogeologist in Florida. For a decade, I worked as a project geologist with the South Carolina Geological Survey principally mapping. In 2018, after nearly two decades with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI), it was time to bid adieu and I retired. While there, I sported a few hats from cartographer to industrial minerals geologist and geothermal evaluator, finishing as a field geologist. My education includes a BS in geology from SEMO, MS in geology from Western Michigan University, and a GIScience Certificate from Louisiana Tech.

I am starting my third and final term as GSOC's President. It been an enjoyable experience working with a great and talented Board. I love what GSOC does and being part of it is point of great pride for me, and I look forward to a long association with GSOC after my term expires.

Barb (Barbara) Stroud

Barb Stroud

Barb grew up in Philadelphia, but moved to Oregon at age 23.  She cannot think of a better place to live, so she’s still here!  Jon and she found each other in the mid 70s. He was into backpacking and hiking and introduced her to both. They are lucky enough to have been able to retire early and travel extensively world-wide since the year 2000.

Barb’s work background is in Finance and Systems in the Tech sector, which led to a natural fit volunteering to help GSOC in the treasurer’s position and in transitioning GSOC’s membership system from Google Sheets to Wild Apricot.

She has no formal education in geology, but soils (‘Tree Hugging Dirt Worshipper’) have interested her in respect to gardening and the environment.  It is a very short distance from traveling, hiking and gardening to ROCKS!  So when she was invited to a GSOC meeting by her step-mother and partner (Jan Kem), Jon and she went and really enjoyed themselves.  They joined GSOC and have attended one or more events nearly every year since.  Geesockers rock!

Carole Miles

Carole Miles

Carole’s interest in Geology began when she made the connection that her favorite grandfather was a grandson of Thomas Condon, Oregon's premier geologist. At a community college in California she took all available geology courses then decided to pursue a B.S. in geology at the University of Oregon where, in 1876, Condon was one of the University’s first professors. Her career path changed when she realized, two weeks prior to beginning a masters program in micropaleontology, that she would most likely be employed by an oil company. Following an enjoyable forty year career as a Medical Technologist managing hospital Blood Banks, she retired and pursued certification as an Oregon Master Naturalist. She now spends her time in Gresham, OR with her husband plotting when they can return to France to see their two grandsons, studying French and Geology, volunteering for environmental organizations as a master naturalist, hiking, gardening, and writing a blog about the amazing interconnections we find in nature (naturalconnections.blog). She enjoys serving on the GSOC board with a wonderful group of like-minded geology enthusiasts.

Randall Humiston

Dr. Randall Humiston

Randall (Randy) Humiston is a Veteran of 28 years Naval service and 14 years of Navy Civil Service. The Naval service included jobs as a submarine Reactor Operator, a Surface Warfare Officer, and as a Meteorologist/Oceanographer.  His Civil Service included jobs as a Nuclear Engineer and a Safety Officer. He has earned his undergraduate degree in Occupational Education.  Graduate degrees include a MSEd in Curriculum and Instruction, a MS in Physical Oceanography and Meteorology, and a PhD in Organizational Training and Performance Improvement. Since childhood his true passion has always been Geology. His primary area of interest is in Geomorphology: the processes and events that shaped our current landscape and that inform how it will look in the future. Randall is an avid hiker, camper, and overlander (off-road 4x4 treks).  He is married to fellow GSOC member Cheryl.  Between them they have five children and 10 grandchildren.  They reside in both Waipahu, HI and Hillsboro, OR.

Nancy Collins

Nancy Collins received a master’s degree in geology from Humboldt State University. Most of her career was spent working for DOGAMI in the Mined Land Regulation and Reclamation program. She started out processing aerial photos of mine sites and ended with administering the storm water permit program for regulated mines. She now enjoys retirement! She has been volunteering at the Rice Museum of Rocks and Minerals. In addition, she loves hiking, camping, rockhounding, kayaking, gardening, and hot springs. She moved to Oregon in 1995 and considers the Pacific Northwest her true home.