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Robert Schenck

Sr College Lab Tech-Class

Physical Sciences

Biography

Robert Schenck is both a College Laboratory Technician and an Adjunct Instructor for the Department of Physical Sciences at Kingsborough. As an Adjunct Instructor, Mr. Schenck usually teaches Oceanography, and occasionally other courses. Mr. Schenck is the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Operator for the Cosmochemistry Facility within the Department of Physical Sciences. This instrument is used to carry out research by Departmental Faculty, instruct students, and is also rented out to outside researchers which generates revenue for the College as a whole. Mr. Schenck is certified by the college's Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Committee to teach Writing Intensive versions of college courses.

Mr. Schenck studied biology and geology as an undergraduate at SUNY Albany. Mr. Schenck enrolled in Adelphi University's MS program under the Biology Department, where his advisor and mentor was Professor Beth Christensen. It was with Dr. Christensen that Mr. Schenck first started studying foraminifera (tiny chalky plankton) from ocean sediment cores. This lead to his dissertation research on climate, oceanography, and the history of upwelling off the coast of Southern Africa. In the course of this research Mr. Schenck also worked with Dr. E. C. Farmer of Hofstra University and performed some lab work at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) in Palisades NY. This research involved traditional work: identifying and tabulating different species of foraminifera based on the shape of their fossil tests, and also isotopic work: examining the ratio of Mg and Ca in the plankton using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrophotometer (ICPOES). It was also at Adelphi University that Mr. Schenck began serious use of a Scanning Electron Microscope to examine foraminifera and other specimens.

Courses

Adjunct Instructor: 
EPS 32: Oceanography 
EPS 31: Meteorology 
Sci 51 Lab: Chemistry and the Environment 

CLT Lab responsibilities: 
EPS 31: Meteorology 
EPS 33: Physical Geology 
EPS 35: Introduction to Astronomy 
EPS 36: Solar System 
EPS 38: Introduction to Earth Science (multiple lab sections)

Education

2001 SUNY Albany, Albany, NY. BS in Geology and Biology

2007 Adelphi University, Garden City, NY. MS in Biology

College Teaching

For the Department of Physical Sciences: 
Lab setup and equipment maintenance for the Department of Physical Sciences 
Instruction as an Adjunct Instructor for Physical Sciences for Lecture and Lab classes
Instructor and Lab Technician for the Kingsborough Excelsior Scholars Program and Middle School Students Oceanographic Science and Technology Program (MSS-OST)
 


College-Wide: 
Pre-Nursing program Science Tutor 
Writing Across the Curriculum Committee (WAC) certified to teach Writing Intensive Courses (W)

Selected Publications and/or Other Resources

Schenck, Robert. 2008. The Kingsborough Community College Middle School Students Oceanographic Science and Technology Program. [Poster]. National Association of Geoscience Teachers, Eastern Section Annual Meeting. May 1-4, 2008. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY.

Schenck, Robert. 2008. The Middle School Students Oceanographic Science and Technology Program, a multi-disciplinary, multi-method approach. Ocean Sciences Meeting; Session:042 2008 Mar 2-7; Orlando Fl.

Schenck, Robert. 2007. Mg/Ca and Faunal Proxies of Pleistocene South Atlantic Sea Surface Temperatures and Inter-hemispheric Heat Transport. [dissertation] [Garden City, NY]: Adelphi University

Schenck, R J, Christensen, B A, Foote, J. (2006) A Foraminiferal investigation of Pleistocene South Atlantic Sea Surface Temperatures and Inter-hemispheric Heat Transport. Eos Trans. AGU, 87(36) Jt. Assemb. Suppl. Abstract PP43A-04

Research Interests

Paleontology, Oceanography, Foraminifera, Scanning Electron Microscopy

Institutional Affiliations / Professional Societies

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

American Geophysical Union