Associate Professor of Geology
Dr Siewers is a sedimentary geologist with expertise in carbonate sedimentology,
stratigraphy and invertebrate paleontology. He received his Ph.D. in 1995 from the
University of Illinois, where he worked on the origin and stratigraphic significance
of discontinuity surfaces (hardgrounds and paleokarst surfaces) in Middle Ordovician
limestones of Nevada. He has a wide range of interests in geoscience research, including
instructional technology. In 1997 while teaching at Rock Valley College, Rockford,
Illinois, he founded and co-administered the Rock Valley EdNet, an educational intranet and on-line learning community. Since joining the Department
of Geography and Geology in 1998, Dr. Siewers has worked on the origin of "coal-ball"
concretions in Pennsylvanian coal seams and the preservation of plant remains in those
concretions. Dr. Siewers enjoys working with students and colleagues on research projects
and is always looking for new students and colleagues with whom to collaborate. He
has extensive experience in field geology as well as with a variety of laboratory
techniques, including sedimentary petrography, cathodoluminscence microscopy, scanning
electron microscopy, and geochemical microanalysis. He is actively involved in geoscience
education, both regionally and nationally, and enjoys maintaining a "web-log" of noteworthy happenings in geology. He is an associate of the WKU Center for Biodiversity Studies and is the secretary and treasurer of the WKU Chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific
Research Society. Additionally, he is the secretary of the Geology Section of the
Kentucky Academy of Science. Feel free to contact Dr. Siewers via e-mail or phone (270-745-5988).
