Learn more about the dedicated staff members of the Institute, their backgrounds and responsibilities.
Dr.
George VeniNCKRI Executive Director (since 2007)
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
400-1 Cascades Avenue,
Carlsbad,
New Mexico 88220-6215 USA
Office: (575) 887-5517 Fax: (575)
887-5523
gveni@nckri.org
Ph.D., Geology, The Pennsylvania
State University, 1994
Master of Science, Geography, Western
Kentucky University, 1985
Bachelor of Science, Geology, The
University of Texas at San Antonio, 1982
Dr. Veni is an internationally recognized hydrogeologist specializing in caves and karst terrains. Prior to NCKRI, he owned and served as principal investigator of George Veni and Associates for more than 20 years. Much of his work has been in Texas, but he has also conducted extensive karst research throughout the United States and in several other countries. He served as the Executive Secretary of the National Speleological Society’s Section of Cave Geology and Geography for 11 years and President of the Texas Speleological Survey for 13 years. He was the Chairman of the 15th International Congress of Speleology, a member of the governing board of the International Union of Speleology from 2002-2009, and the Union’s Vice President of Administration from 2009 to the present. He has served as a doctoral committee advisor for geological, geographical, and biological dissertations for multiple universities and taught karst geoscience courses as an adjunct professor for Western Kentucky University for 12 years. Three cave-dwelling species have been named in his honor. He has published and presented nearly 170 papers, including four books, on hydrogeology, biology, and environmental management in karst terrains.
Veni, George. 2011. National Cave and Karst Research Institute: growing capabilies and federal partnerships. U.S. Geological Survey Karst Interest Group Workshop, Fayetteville, Arkansas, April 26-29, 2011, Scientific Investigation Report 2011-5031, 113-117.
Golubovic Deligianni, Miljana, George Veni, and Kosmas Pavlopoulos. 2011. Land use and limitations in the sinkhole and polje karst of the Ksiromero Region, western Greece. Program with Abstracts, 12th Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst,St. Louis, Missouri, 23-24.
Veni, George. 2011. The National Cave and Karst Research Institute: a new home for the Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst. Program with Abstracts, 12th Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst, St. Louis, Missouri, 26.
Gary, Marcus, Beverly Shade, Robin Gary, and George Veni. 2010. Spatial and temporal recharge variability related to groundwater interconnection of the Edwards and Trinity Aquifers, Camp Bullis, Bexar and Comal counties, Texas. Geological Society of America Convention, Denver, Colorado (on CD).
Veni, George. 2010. Cave and karst research institutes, FEALC, and the UIS: directions of growth for partnerships and success. Keynote Address, Program General y Cientifico, 6th Congress of the Federation of Latin American and Caribbean Speleological Associations and 70th Anniversary of the Cuba Speleological Society,Matanzas, Cuba, 3.
Johnson, Steve, Geary Schindel, and George Veni. 2010. Tracing Groundwater Flowpaths in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, Panther Springs Creek Basin, Northern Bexar County, Texas. Report No. 10-01, Edwards Aquifer Authority, 112 pp.
Veni, George. 2009. The Great Plains. In Caves and Karst of the United States, Arthur N. Palmer and Margaret V. Palmer, eds., National Speleological Society, 200-210.
Stafford, Kevin W., Lewis Land, and George Veni, eds. 2009. NCKRI Symposium 1, Advances in Hypogene Karst Studies. National Cave and Karst Research Institute, Carlsbad, New Mexico, 182 pp.
Gregory, Lucas, Bradford P. Wilcox, Bev Shade, Clyde Munster, Keith Owens, and George Veni. 2009. Large-scale rainfall simulation over shallow caves on karst shrublands. Ecohydrology, 2(1): 72-80.
Veni, George, Nickos A. Poulianos, Miljana Golubovic Deligianni, and Aris N. Poulianos. 2009. Preliminary hydrogeologic survey of Petralona Cave, Chalkidiki, Greece. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Speleology, William B. White, ed., Kerrville, Texas, 1,717-1,722.
Honorary Board Director, Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, June 2010.
Inclusion in the Texas Legacy Project, an interview archive of the Conservation History Association of Texas with “people who have shaped and continue to influence the protection of Texas natural resources.” February 2006.
Certificate of Appreciation from Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, for work on Proposition 3 Scientific Evaluation Team, identifying preferred areas for acquisition for protection of the Edwards Aquifer through $45 million bond, January 2003.
Outstanding Book in Speleology Award for co-editing Living with Karst: A Fragile Foundation; International Union of Speleology, 2001.
Dr.
Penelope Boston NCKRI Academic Director (since 2002)
Director
of the Cave and Karst Studies, New Mexico Tech (since 2002)
Professor,
Cave & Karst Science Earth and Environmental Sciences
Department
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech)
801 Leroy Place Socorro, New Mexico 87801 USA
Office: (575) 835-5657
Fax: (575) 835-6436
pboston@nmt.edu
Post-doctoral Fellowship – National Research Council,
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA. 1986-1988.
PhD - Microbiology
and Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO & NCAR
(National Center for Atmospheric Research) Advanced Studies Graduate
Fellowship, Boulder, CO. 1985.
MS - Microbiology, University
of Colorado, Boulder, CO. 1981.
BS - Microbiology, geology, and
psychology. University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. 1979.
Dr. Boston teaches cave and karst science, geomicrobiology, astrobiology, and global systems, and supervises a suite of graduate students working on various aspects of cave and karst science. Several of her research projects and students are funded by NCKRI. She founded and operated her own non-profit research institution, Complex Systems Research, Inc., for 14 years before joining NCKRI. She serves and has served as officer, advisor, and fellow of several national science organizations and journals. Her research ranges across cave, mine, and selected surface environments, focusing on geomicrobiology of the subsurface and other extreme environments. She applies her work in Earth extreme environments to astrobiological issues and the future search for microbial life on other planets, pioneering the idea that studying caves on other planets is a worthy objective of future missions. Dr. Boston is also working on mathematical modeling projects looking at micrometerological conditions in caves and the production of microbial distribution patterns in caves. She has authored over 130 scientific and popular papers, edited four volumes, and gives literally dozens of public presentations each year. Her work has appeared for many years in numerous national and international television, radio, and print media venues and documentaries.
Boston, P.J. 2010. Location, Location, Location! Lava caves on Mars for habitat, resources, and science. J. Cosmology 12:3957.
Northup, D.E., Snider, J.R., Spilde, M.N., Porter, M.L. van de Kamp, J.L., Boston, P.J., and Nyberg, A.M. 2010. Diversity of rock varnish bacterial communities from Black Canyon, New Mexico. J. Geophys. Res. – Biogeosci. 115:G02007.
Kuhlman, K.R., Behar, A.E., Jones, J., Boston, P.J., Antol, J., Hajos, G., Kelliher, W., Coleman, M., Crawford, R., Rothschild, L., Buehler, M., Bearman, G., and Wilson, D. 2010. Tumbleweed: A new paradigm for surveying Mars for in-situ resources. Earth and Space 2010.
Boston, P., Todd, P., Van de Camp, J., Northup, D., and Spilde, M. 2009. Mars simulation challenge experiments: Microorganisms from natural rock and cave communities. Grav. Space Biol. 22(2):39-43.
Melim, L.A., Liesheidt, R., Northup, D.E., Spilde, M.N., Boston, P. and Queen, J.M. 2009. A biosignature suite from cave pool precipitates, Cottonwood Cave, New Mexico. Astrobiology, 9(9):907-917.
Curry, M., Boston, P.J., Spilde, M.N., Baichtal, J., and Campbell, A. 2009. Cottonballs: A unique subaqueous moonmilk, and abundant subaerial moonmilk in Cataract Cave, Tongass National Forest, Alaska. International Journal of Speleology 38(2):111-128.
Snider, J.R., Goin, C., Miller, R.V., Boston, P.J. and Northup, D.E. 2009. Ultraviolet radiation sensitivity in cave bacteria: Evidence of adaptation to the subsurface? Int. J. Speleology 38(1):1-12.
Boston, P.J., Curnutt, J., Gomez, E., Schubert, K., Strader, B. 2009. Patterned growth in extreme environments. In, Proceedings of the Third IEEE International Conference on Space Mission Challenges for Information Technology, pages 221-226, EES Press.
Boston, P.J., Summers-Engel, A., Barton, H.A., Northup, D.E., Curry, M.C., and Spilde, M.N. 2009. Geomicrobiology of Caves. In, A. N. and M.V. Palmer, eds., Caves and Karst of the USA. Nat. Speleo. Soc. Press, Huntsville, AL. pp. 403-410.
Melim, L.A., Northup, D.E., Spilde, M.N., Jones, B., Boston, P.J., and Bixby, R.J., 2008. Reticulated filaments in cave pool speleothems: Microbe or mineral? Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, v. 70, p. 135-141.
NASA Institute for Advanced
Concepts External Council, Mar 2011-Present
NSS (National Speleological
Society) – Science Award, Aug. 2010
NASA Advisory Council, Planetary
Protection Subcommittee - 2008- Present
AME (Association of Mars
Explorers) – President, 2006-2008
NASA Institute for Advanced
Concepts Fellow (NIAC) – Bestowed, May, 2000
Dianne Gillespie NCKRI Education Director (since 2009)
National
Cave and Karst Research Institute
400-1 Cascades Avenue, Carlsbad,
New Mexico 88220-6215 USA
Office: (575) 887-3640 Fax: (575) 887-5523
dgillespie@nckri.org
Bachelor of Arts, Theatre,
University of Kentucky, 1993
Master of Arts, Science and History
Education, Union College, 2006
Ms. Gillespie is an experienced educator in formal and informal techniques, with her focus on caves, karst, science, and math. Before transitioning into education, she spent nearly a decade in theatrical and television production experience with Kentucky Educational Television, the state of Florida, Discovery Channel, among others. In 2001, Ms. Gillespie stepped on a submerged can in an underground stream and took a nasty fall, and declared at that moment to make a difference in the world’s understanding of caves as important and vulnerable resources. She began teaching in a private school while working on her M.A. in science and history education at Union College. She joined the National Speleological Society (NSS) and began assisting with and developing cave education programs. In 2006, Ms. Gillespie held an internship with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers pilot Geoscience Teacher in the Park program at Mammoth Cave National Park. In her spare time, while teaching science, math and theater full time for public and private schools, she assisted with cave and karst education programs and workshops with Union College Outdoors, the American Cave Conservation Association, and Western Kentucky University. She currently serves as the NSS Education Division Chief.
Excellence in Teaching, Campbellsville University, 2006
Ann Dowdy NCKRI Advancement Director (since 2010)
National Cave and Karst
Research Institute
400-1 Cascades Avenue, Carlsbad, New Mexico
88220-6215 USA
Office: (575) 628-2702 Fax: (575) 887-5523
adowdy@nckri.org
Bachelor of Arts, Organizational Communication, St.
Edward's University, Austin, Texas, 2010
Certification in Nonprofit
Leadership and Management, Texas Association of Nonprofit
Organizations
Ms. Dowdy is a 28 year veteran in the fundraising and marketing profession. With a broad diverse career in this field she has worked at an art museum, science museum, crisis center, private school and private foundation, and a national nonprofit before coming to NCKRI. Ms. Dowdy was part of a team of museum professionals that built the Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI) in Tampa, Florida. MOSI is the 5th largest science museum in the United States. A campaign goal of $37 million was raised to expand the museum to 250,000 square feet that included an IMAX Theatre. MOSI's membership reached an all time high of 20,000. MOSI grew from a regional science center to a nationally recognized science center and now serves around 700,000 visitors a year.
Ms. Dowdy is a member of national level organizations such as the American Association of Museums where she serves as a AAM Peer Reviewer and the International Association of Fundraising Professionals/New Mexico Chapter. She is also a member of the Texas Association of Nonprofits, The Texas Museum Association, Border Museum Association, the Tourism Association of New Mexico, Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and the Carlsbad Rotary Club.
Dr. Lewis Land NCKRI Karst Hydrogeologist (since 2002)
NCKRI
Liaison with the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources
(2002)
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
400-1 Cascades
Avenue, Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-6215 USA
Office: (575) 887-5508
Fax: (575) 887-5523
lland@nckri.org
Ph.D., Geology,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1999
Master of Science,
Geology, University of Oklahoma, 1993
Bachelor of Science, Geology,
University of Oklahoma, 1981
Dr. Land focuses his research on regional investigations of karstic aquifers and associated phenomena in southern New Mexico. He is NCKRI’s lead geophysical investigator. Prior to his career as a hydrogeologist, he spent eight years in the petroleum industry exploring for new oil reserves in the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions of the U.S., and offshore West Africa. His doctoral research included submersible investigations of submarine sinkholes in the Straits of Florida. Before coming to work for NCKRI and NMBGMR in 2002, Dr. Land spent two years with the North Carolina Division of Water Resources conducting geophysical surveys of aquifers beneath the coastal plain of North Carolina. He has served on several graduate student committees at New Mexico Tech, and is an adjunct faculty member in the NMT Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He is a Past-President of the New Mexico Geological Society (NMGS), and served for five years on the NMGS Executive Committee.
Land, L. & Huff, G. F., 2010, Multi-tracer investigation of groundwater residence time in a karstic aquifer: Bitter Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, USA: Hydrogeology Journal, v. 18, p. 455-472.
Land, L., 2009, Anthropogenic sinkholes in the Delaware Basin Region: West Texas and southeastern New Mexico: West Texas Geological Society Bulletin, v. 48, p. 10-22.
Land, L., 2009, The impact of hypogenic processes on water resources in the arid southwest: Examples from the lower Pecos region of New Mexico,USA, in Stafford, K. W., Land, L. & Veni, G. (eds.), Advances in Hypogene Karst Studies, National Cave & Karst Research Institute Symposium no.1, p. 149-156.
Stafford, K. W., Land, L. & Veni, G. (eds.), 2009, Advances in Hypogene Karst Studies, National Cave & Karst Research Institute Symposium no.1, Carlsbad, National Cave & Karst Research Institute, 182 p.
Land, L. & Burger, P., 2008, Rapid recharge events in a karstic aquifer: An example from Lake of the White Roses, Lechuguilla Cave, NM, in Yuhr, L., Alexander, Jr., E. C. & Beck, B., eds., Proceedings of the Eleventh Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst, Tallahassee, Florida: ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication no. 183, p. 396-403.
Stafford, K., Land, L., & Klimchouk, A., 2008, Hypogenic speleogenesis within Seven Rivers evaporites: Coffee Cave, Eddy County, New Mexico: Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, v. 70, p. 47-61.
Land, L. & Newton, B. T., 2008, Seasonal and long-term variations in hydraulic head in a karstic aquifer: Roswell Artesian Basin, New Mexico: Journal of the American Water Resources Association, v. 44, p. 175-191.
Land, L., Lueth, V., Raatz, B., Boston, P., & Love, D. (eds.), 2006, Caves and Karst of Southeastern New Mexico: New Mexico Geological Society, Guidebook 57, 344 p.
Davis, D. & Land, L., 2006, Recently discovered passages in Fort Stanton Cave, New Mexico, and implications for speleogenesis and regional geomorphic processes in the northern Sacramento Mountains, in Land, L., Lueth, V., Raatz, B., Boston, P., & Love, D. (eds.), Caves and Karst of Southeastern New Mexico: New Mexico Geological Society, Guidebook 57, p. 219-226.
Land, L., Lautier, J., Wilson, N., Chianese, G., & Webb, S., 2004, Geophysical Monitoring and Evaluation of Coastal Plain Aquifers: Ground Water, v. 42, p. 59-67.
Renewed appointment to adjunct professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences Dept., NMT.
Debbie HerrNCKRI Administrative Coordinator (since 2008)
National
Cave and Karst Research Institute
400-1 Cascades Avenue, Carlsbad,
New Mexico 88220-6215 USA
Office: (575) 887-5518 Fax: (575) 887-5523
dherr@nckri.org
Associate’s Degree, Secretarial Administration, New Mexico State University at Carlsbad, 1990.
Ms. Herr directs, coordinates, and, as needed, conducts NCKRI’s administrative operations. She oversees the Institute’s financial accounts, lays out and edits Institute publications, manages all supplies and equipping of NCKRI Headquarters, coordinates with the Headquarters Construction Team, and directs and advises NCKRI staff on administrative issues. Before joining NCKRI, Ms. Herr spent 11½ years in the Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, Municipal School District as a secretary and musical accompanist.
International Union of Speleology Bulletin, 52(2), 2010, layout and technical editor
NCKRI 2009-2010 Annual Report, editor
NCKRI 2008-2009 Annual Report, editor
NCKRI 2007-2008 Annual Report, editor
NCKRI 2006-2007 Annual Report, editor
