Tom Oliver Lecture Series
About the Series
The Tom Oliver Lecture Series is a public lecture series hosted by the Department of Earth, Energy, and Environment in the Faculty of Science. Normally taking place annually, the series seeks to bring in internationally renowned researchers to present stimulating lectures on topics of fundamental interest to the Department of Earth, Energy, and Environment, and the broader UCalgary community.
About Dr. Tom Oliver
Dr. Tom Oliver founded UCalgary’s Department of Geology in 1959 and was a former head of the department (1963-65) and dean of the Faculty of Science (1978-84). Dr. Oliver provided outstanding leadership as a researcher, instructor and administrator, and as the dean, assisted with the development of the geophysics program and the dramatic growth of the department in the late 1970s. He is remembered as an inspirational teacher, leader, respected petroleum geologist, humanist and humorist.
Kirstin Brink
When T. rex Had a Toothache
Pathologies and Paleobiology of the King
Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the most iconic and well-known theropod dinosaurs, represented by an impressive fossil record including SUE, one of the best-preserved specimens known to date. SUE preserves intriguing pathological features, including broken and healed bones and evidence of bone infections. Several holes in the lower jaw have been interpreted as being caused by a parasitic infection. Ultimately, it is unknown what caused the demise of SUE. In this presentation, we will examine a new piece of evidence, some deformed teeth, and consider new soft-tissue reconstructions of the face of theropod dinosaurs. Together, this information offers new insights into the life and death of the “King of the Lizards”.
Date/Time:
- Thursday, October 2, 2025
- 5 - 6:45 p.m. Student Research Posters and Lab Tour
- 7 p.m. Lives-stream and lecture begin
Location: EEEL Lobby
Secure your spot today by emailing: scievents@ucalgary.ca
In addition to our keynote presentation, this event includes lab tours, hands on activities and opportunities to connect with students about their research.
Our Speaker
Dr. Kirstin Brink is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Manitoba and Adjunct Curator of Fossil Vertebrates at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden, Manitoba. She is a vertebrate palaeontologist interested in the evolution and development of teeth and bones, and how teeth give clues to the way extinct animals interacted with their environments. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta, her Master’s degree at the University of Calgary, her PhD at the University of Toronto, and was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia. Ongoing projects in the lab involve dinosaurs, marine reptiles, and living animal models (green anoles and fish). Her lab uses a variety of microscopy, histology, and geochemical methods to reconstruct the past diversity and ecology of life in the fossil record.
Dr. Chris Herd
Sampling Mars: Insights into the History and Habitability of the Red Planet
The exploration of Mars since the beginning of the Space Age has revealed a planet with a diverse and complex geologic history, with strong indications that the surface may have been suitable for life in the ancient past. The next phase of Mars exploration involves the return of samples to Earth, to enable detailed laboratory studies with state-of-the-art methods to detect signs of ancient life, precisely determine the ages of rocks and mineral grains, and characterize the environmental conditions they represent. The NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission is the first stage in Mars Sample Return, having thus far collected 28 samples of diverse type, from well-documented and characterized locations within Jezero crater, the site of an ancient fluviolacustrine system. In the meantime, there are over 200 distinct Mars rocks in the form of meteorites; although these samples are biased towards young, igneous lithologies, they provide insights into the origin and convective evolution of the martian interior, and complementary information to that gained from orbiting and landed missions. This talk will summarize the diverse suite of samples collected by the Perseverance rover mission, and recent advances in martian meteorite studies that together provide a more complete view of the geologic history of Mars.
Date/Time: Saturday, April 12, 2025 from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Location: Taylor Institute at the University of Calgary main campus
Presenter:
Dr. Chris Herd, professor at the University of Alberta Faculty of Science – Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Admin
Bio: Christopher (Chris) Herd has had the dream of studying rocks from Mars since the age of 13. After an undergraduate degree in Geological Sciences from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, he studied meteorites from Mars for his PhD at the University of New Mexico, and then worked at the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the NASA Johnson Space Center. Since 2003 he has been a professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta. His research includes studies of meteorites of a variety of types, as well as ways of curating meteorites and future returned samples under cold and clean conditions. He is the curator of the University of Alberta Meteorite Collection—the largest university-based meteorite collection in Canada, and home to the world's only meteorite curation facility that operates at cold temperatures. Since 2020 he has been a member of the science team on the NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, in a leadership role in the selection, collection, and documentation of samples acquired by the mission.
Dr. Russell Callahan
Lithologic and climatic controls on subsurface weathering and ecosystem dynamics in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA
The breakdown of rock near Earth’s surface due to chemical and physical weathering processes releases nutrients and creates pore-space for water storage making it vital to sustaining terrestrial ecosystems. However, subsurface weathering is not uniform across landscapes and can vary with factors such as bedrock composition and climate. Here I will explore how variations in weathering influence ecosystem productivity and forest drought response across seven sites with variations in lithology and climate in the Sierra Nevada batholith, California. Results suggest that lithology is as important as climate in dictating the magnitude of forest dieback during the 2011-2017 California drought. These findings have important implications for understanding and managing forest ecosystems under a changing climate.
Date/Time: Wednesday, April 10, 2024 from 12:15 - 1:15 p.m.
Location: University of Calgary, Downtown Campus (906 8 Ave SW, Calgary)
Presenter:
Dr. Russell Callahan, Assistant Professor at University of Connecticut
Bio: Dr. Russell Callahan is an Assistant Professor at University of Connecticut. His research focuses on understanding how the depth and extent of subsurface weathering varies across landscapes and how variations in weathering influence hydrologic and ecosystem processes. His works uses a variety of methods including near-surface geophysics, geochemical analyses, and remote sensing. Russell received his Ph.D from the University of Wyoming where he worked with the Critical Zone Collaborative Network to understand connections between weathering and ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada, California. He also completed a postdoc in the Watershed Hydrology Lab at University of California, Santa Cruz where he collaborated with hydrologists to understand how subsurface weathering influences hydrologic partitioning in the critical zone.