Assistant Professor Roland Scal, Ph.D.

Contact info: Tel. 718-631-6071 or

Email: rscal@qcc.cuny.edu

Office Hrs. for Fall 2006

Mondays & Tuesdays 2:00 to 3:00 P.M.

Thurdays 12:00-1:00 P.M.

About me: Professor Scal has been teaching at Queensborough since 1999. He teaches courses in both geology and biology which reflects his interests in earth sciences systems and ecology of both the present and past.

His interests in geology include: sandstone depositional systems, mineralogy, and gemology. His interests in biology include: brachiopod ecology past and present, marine coastal ecology, and the Eastern woodlands of the United States. In pursuit of these interests Professor Scal conducts field research and laboratory analysis of Paleozoic marine sandstones of the Appalachian Basin, terrestrial and marine sandstone mineralogical studies of the Devonian Catskill Sediments, and fossil collecting of these units and Cretaceous through Triassic units in New York and New Jersey and from the south coast of England.

At present Professor Scal is course coordinator for Physical Geology (GE 101) and is developing new curricula in both lecture and laboratory on the Study of earthquakes and Earth's interior in a collaboration with Mr. Dominick Naccarato, an Earth science teacher at Cardozo High School and Professor Hugh Rance. We were lucky to be 1 of 13 award recipients in the Seismographs for Schools Program for 2004 given by IRIS and will soon be receiving an AS1 seismograph (identical to the one on display in the Hall of Planet Earth at the American Museum of Natural History). The seismograph will be used for laboratories at both Cardozo and here and will be on display in the Department's Computer Laboratory. We hope to have a website operating soon that will have live seismic data from our station. If properly place, we have the possibility of recording earthquakes from around the world!

Also under development is a new course on gemology called Gems and Semiprecious Stones. We hope to be able to offer this course within the next year.

Courses Taught

1. Gems and Semiprecious Stones (Ge 105)(3 credits, 3 class hrs.) (go to Prof. Scal's class lecture notes)

2. Physical Geology (Ge 101) An Introduction to Geology (4 credits, 3 class hrs., 3 lab hrs.) (go to Prof. Scal's class lecture notes)

3. Historical Geology (Ge 102) An Introduction to Earth's History (4 credits, 3 class hrs., 3 lab hrs.) (Go to Prof. Hugh Rances website)

4. Biology 202 (Bi 202) Introductory Biology II (4 credits, 3 class hrs., 3 lab hrs.) (Textbook Publisher's Website)

5. Biology 110 (BI 110) Fundamentals of Life Science(3 credit, 3 class hrs.) (Course Description)

You can e-mail me by clicking on the ICON (photograph of the mineral tourmaline) below...

Roland Scal

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