Loretta Dickson, Lock Haven University
Associate Professor
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania
ldickson@lhup.edu
Office:
(570) 484-2068
Expert In
Bio/Research
For Dr. Dickson, discovery both in and out of the classroom is the cornerstone of her career. Discovering three volcanoes in south-central Nevada, a previously unrecognized igneous rock texture, and ancient microbes inside 60 million year old agates from Brazil, are small pieces of Loretta’s acad...
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Bio/Research
For Dr. Dickson, discovery both in and out of the classroom is the cornerstone of her career. Discovering three volcanoes in south-central Nevada, a previously unrecognized igneous rock texture, and ancient microbes inside 60 million year old agates from Brazil, are small pieces of Loretta’s academic achievements.
She has also worked with the Nevada Nuclear Waste Projects Office and the U.S. Department of Energy to determine the volcanic hazard potential for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, written four geology field trip guidebooks, and one student manual for petrographic thin section preparation. She has conducted multiple research projects with LHU students, including pallasite meteorite composition and structures; magmatic differentiation and igneous layering in diabase rocks; investigating links between earthquakes and human activities; asbestos characterization; investigating the origin of fugitive dust; and geochemical analyses of rocks, soil, sediments, minerals, mushrooms, jewelry, and man-made materials.
She, along with students, currently maintains LHU’s seismograph and actively monitors local and worldwide earthquakes.
At LHU, it is strongly believed that students thrive in an environment of real-world experiences, preparing them for not only a career, but to be contributing members of their communities as well. Dickson has been involved in the successful collaborations with faculty in biology on interdisciplinary student research projects, where geology and biology students are paired together, teaching each other their respective laboratory methods and techniques.
She has also conducted research projects with students investigating the presence of harmful cadmium in costume jewelry marketed to children, and actively engages in community-outreach projects that offer her geological expertise to assist the public. Such community projects include offering geochemical analyses of soil, sediment, and peeling paint that may contain harmful lead, as well as other common man-made items that may contain heavy metals or contaminants.
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She has also worked with the Nevada Nuclear Waste Projects Office and the U.S. Department of Energy to determine the volcanic hazard potential for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, written four geology field trip guidebooks, and one student manual for petrographic thin section preparation. She has conducted multiple research projects with LHU students, including pallasite meteorite composition and structures; magmatic differentiation and igneous layering in diabase rocks; investigating links between earthquakes and human activities; asbestos characterization; investigating the origin of fugitive dust; and geochemical analyses of rocks, soil, sediments, minerals, mushrooms, jewelry, and man-made materials.
She, along with students, currently maintains LHU’s seismograph and actively monitors local and worldwide earthquakes.
At LHU, it is strongly believed that students thrive in an environment of real-world experiences, preparing them for not only a career, but to be contributing members of their communities as well. Dickson has been involved in the successful collaborations with faculty in biology on interdisciplinary student research projects, where geology and biology students are paired together, teaching each other their respective laboratory methods and techniques.
She has also conducted research projects with students investigating the presence of harmful cadmium in costume jewelry marketed to children, and actively engages in community-outreach projects that offer her geological expertise to assist the public. Such community projects include offering geochemical analyses of soil, sediment, and peeling paint that may contain harmful lead, as well as other common man-made items that may contain heavy metals or contaminants.
Click to Shrink <<