Dr. Rob Viens Dean of Science Geology/Environmental Science Instructor Bellevue College

Course Web Pages

Geology

• Geology Department Homepage
• Geology 101 - Introduction to Physical Geology (formerly called " Survey of Geology") - also online
• Geology 103 - History of the Earth
• Geology 106 / Geography 106 - Introduction to Natural Hazards and Disasters
• Geology 208 - Geology of the Pacific Northwest

Environmental Science

• Environmental Science 100 - Survey of Environmental Science (formery called Env. Sc. 204 - Ecology and the Biosphere)
• Environmental Science 207 - Field & Laboratory Methods in Environmental Science
• Environmental Science 281/282/283 - Environmental Issues Seminar

Interdisciplinary Classes

• Exploring the Solar System - Geology and Astronomy with Art Goss (Winter 2007/2006/2005)
• Looking Outward: Connecting to the Natural World - Environmental Science and English with Wendy Pickering (Spring 2004)
• The Value of Nature - Environmental Science and Economics with Rebecca Baldwin (Spring 2003)

Other Activities

• BC Student Science Association (Science Club)
• BC Astronomy Club & BC Pre-Vet Club
• Environmental Advisory Committee
• Environmental Volunteer Activities
• Earth Week (Every April)
• Focus the Nation / National Teach-in on Global Warming
• NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador
• Google (Just because it is useful!)
• Is the college closed for bad weather? - Check the BC Emergency Closure Website

Brief Bio

Rob was born in upstate New York. He entered Cornell University with plans to be an astronomer (studying with the late Carl Sagan), but found geology to be much more down to Earth. He moved to Seattle to pursue his PhD at the University of Washington, where he specialized in glaciers, climate, and Northwest geology. Rob spent his summers in Alaska "tracking glaciers" - trying to determine where they had been in the past and how they were affected by climate change. He spent several years teaching geology and environmental science around Puget Sound, designing web pages, and volunteering and working at the Woodland Park Zoo, before settling in at Bellevue College. At BC Rob is currently serving as the Dean of Science, but over the years he has kept himself busy teaching several geology and environmental science classes (see the list above) and he is the advisor of the BC Student Science Association. Rob is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambasssatro( contact me if you are interested in a talk). He tries to spend as much time as he can in the mountains, tracking elisive serpentinites, bears, and rare plants. Rob currently resides on the planet Earth, on the Eocene Blakeley and Renton formations in Bellevue, with his wife, daughter, son and cat.

Research/Publications

• Late Holocene climate change and calving glacier fluctuations along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield, Alaska (2001)
  -PhD Dissertation (University of Washington) - Abstract / HTML Format
• Dynamics and mass balance of tidewater calving glaciers of souhern Alaska (1995)
  -Master thesis (University of Washington) - Abstract / HTML Format

• Viens. R.J. and Goss, A.F., 2005, Exploring the Solar System: Student-Designed Planetary Missions: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 37, No. 7, p. 490. (View abstract in html)
• Post, Austin, and Viens, R.J., 2000, Preliminary bathymetry of Shoup Basin and late Holocene changes of Shoup Glacier, Alaska:  U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigation Report 94-4093, 26 p., 2 pls. (Online at the USGS in pdf format - Report / Plate 1 / Plate 2)
• Viens and Post, 1995, Preliminary bathymetry of Unakwik Inlet and late Holocene changes of Meares Glacier, Alaska:  U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigation Report 95-xxxx, 42 p., 2 pls (in press).

Contact Information

Bellevue College
3000 Landerholm Circle SE
Bellevue, WA 98007-6484
(425) 564-3158 (Office)
(425) 564-4125 (FAX)
rob.viens@bellevuecollege.edu
Office: L200X

Life Science Program / Physical Science Program / Science Division / Bellevue College Home Page

Monday, January 24, 2011