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8/27/07

SLU PROF GETS GRANT TO STUDY POSSIBLE NEW ENERGY SOURCES

CANTON - St. Lawrence University Associate Professor of Geology Jeffrey R. Chiarenzelli has been awarded a $55,000 grant by the American Chemical Society's Petroleum Research Fund to study the geochemistry and texture of Precambrian sedimentary rocks that may one day serve as new sources of energy. The Precambrian Era spans approximately 90 percent of Earth's history, and abundant sedimentary rocks from this vast time interval may hold large energy reserves.

The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, which was established to support advanced scientific education and fundamental research in the petroleum field, currently sponsors fundamental research in chemistry; the earth sciences; chemical and petroleum engineering; and in related fields, such as polymers and materials science.

The project will begin in the fall and extend over three years. Chiarenzelli will work with local colleague SUNY Potsdam Emeritus Professor of Geology Neal R. O'Brien, and a team of international workers from the Global Precambrian Sedimentology Syndicate. Funding from the grant also includes support for four undergraduate student researchers to participate in Chiarenzelli's work.

A 1981 graduate of St. Lawrence, Chiarenzelli holds a master's degree from Carleton University in Ottawa and earned the Ph.D. at the University of Kansas. A University faculty member since 2006, he previously taught at SUNY Potsdam and was a research associate at SUNY Oswego's Environmental Research Center. Chiarenzelli has done extensive research on Precambrian rocks that make up the Canadian Shield and the Adirondacks.

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More information: Chiarenzelli Wins Walker Fellowship Grant

Profile of Jeffrey Chiarenzelli '81

Science at St. Lawrence