David Voorhees, Assistant Professor of Earth Science and Geology at Waubonsee Community College, was recently published as co-author of a field trip guidebook, “Mastodon Lake at Phillips Park, Aurora, Illinois: History, Educational Outreach, Mastodons, Cosmic Dust, and Geology,” in Deglacial History and Paleoenvironments of Northeastern Illinois.
The publication was presented in DeKalb in May at the 54th Midwest Friends of the Pleistocene Field Conference. The conference is an annual event where glacial geologists meet and then explore glacial geology in the region.
During this year’s conference, Voorhees was asked to discuss the 2004 mastodont dig, which was a partnership among Waubonsee, Aurora, the Illinois State Museum and the Illinois State Geological Survey.
Voorhees shared the educational and outreach activities developed for that summer-long dig. Voorhees has instructed earth science and geology at Waubonsee since 2002. His research specializes in glacial geology, geomorphology, and sedimentology, and includes coursework in hydrology and soils.
He previously spent seven years as an exploration geologist for two major oil companies.