Service
University
- Chairperson, Council of Department Chairs and Program Directors, University of Southern Indiana (2017-present)
- Chair of the Geology and Physics Department at the University of Southern Indiana (2009-present)
- Vice Chair, Council of Department Chairs and Program Directors, University of Southern Indiana (2016-2017)
- Co-Chair of Criterion 3, Higher Learning Commission Accreditation Team (2014-2016)
- Core Council Member, Faculty Senate - At Large Representative (2014-2016)
- Faculty and Academic Affairs Committee, University of Southern Indiana (2013-2015)
- Safety Committee of the Pott College, Geology & Physics Representative (2009-2014)
- Approval of the B.S. Environmental Science degree program from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE), Summer 2013.
- Helfrich Park STEM Academy Liaison, University of Southern Indiana (2009-present)
- President (2005-07) of the Southern Oregon Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. The mission of the Chapter focuses on inducting undergraduate students into membership in recognition of their research accomplishments.
- Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), American Geophysical Union (AGU), Geological Society of America (GSA), International Association of Sedimentologists, National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT), Sigma Xi, Indiana Academy of Sciences, and the Society of Sedimentary Geology (SEPM).
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| Dr. Elliott with students from the Helfrich Park STEM Academy examining Lunar samples under the microscope. | Photomicrograph of Lunar Basalt collected during the landing mission to the Moon by Apollo 17. |
Community
- In May 2014, I was awarded the Darrel Bigham Faculty Research and New Harmony Outreach and Engagement Awards to design and build a new geology exhibit in New Harmony, Indiana. The new geology exhibit entitled: “New Harmony: Crossroads of Geology” highlights the historic significance of the town to the development of North American geology. This exhibit is open to the public on the second story of the Working Men’s Institute in New Harmony, Indiana. This geology exhibit highlights contributions of William Maclure, Gerard Troost, David Dale Owen, Richard Owen, and Edward Cox to North American geology in celebration of New Harmony’s bicentennial.
- Participated in educational outreach with elementary and middle school day camps in New Harmony, Indiana in summer 2014 and 2015. Provided several hands-on activities for these camps involving mineral, fossil, and rock identification, along with impact
craters. - Develop and teach geology sessions with the Helfrich Park STEM Academy. This involves two class visits on each of 5 days over the academic year. The activities that I have developed include: (1) Mineral Identification (ore minerals & natural resources); (2) Physical Oceanography (minerals, fossils, & rocks of the oceans, ocean currents, and climate change); (3) Meteorites (mineral and rock identification, identifying meteorites, knowledge gained by study of meteorites); (4) Natural Hazards (flooding, earthquakes); includes campus field trip, if weather permits; and (5) Stratigraphy & Microfossils (evolution & geologic time).
- Identified rock, mineral, and fossil samples brought into the Department of Geology and Physics at USI by the general public.