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H. Grant Goodell

Dr. H. Grant Goodell was a dedicated teacher and researcher who focused on groundwater geology and marine resource management. Dr. Goodell earned his PhD from Northwestern University in July of 1957. Before attending college he served in the Korean War as a Navy aviator and received a Purple Heart for his service. After graduation, he started his teaching career as a professor at Florida State University, where he worked actively to develop the oceanography department. In 1970, he moved to the University of Virginia's newly formed Department of Environmental Sciences, becoming its chair just a year later. He held this post for eight years. Dr. Patricia Wiberg, professor and current chair of the department said,

“At the time environmental sciences was created in 1969 (merging the former geology and geography departments), the department had only eight faculty and few undergraduate or graduate students. When Grant stepped down as chair, the department had grown to 24 faculty and had been home to more than 150 majors and 80 graduate students.”

Along with the development of these departments, in 1979, he also created an interdisciplinary program in marine affairs that drew from schools of Law, Engineering and Applied Science, Architecture, and the Graduate School of Arts and Science, a program that ran for more than twenty years. In 1973, he was awarded the President’s and Visitors’ Research Prize in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and in 1990, the Governor of Virginia, Doug Wilder, appointed him to a joint legislative subcommittee to study the impact of oil and gas drilling on the Chesapeake Bay. Dr. Goodell retired in 1998, but he remained active at the University of Virginia as a Professor Emeritus. Over his career he sat on more than 100 dissertation committees, published many articles in his field, and served on many scientific committees and boards relating to geology and the environment.

In addition to academia, aviation, and his family, he loved horses and carpentry. In 1976, he purchased 16 acres of land just outside Charlottesville where he eventually designed and constructed a solar house, a barn, and miles of fence line. He moved his family into the house in 1981, where he stayed for the remainder of his life. During this time he enjoyed riding horses, buying and restoring antique furniture, and tinkering in his woodworking shop. He passed away on December 19th, 2013.

The H. Grant Goodell Fellowship in Sedimentary Geology

Due to a generous bequest from the estate of Prof. H. Grant Goodell, the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern is pleased to announce the H. Grant Goodell Fellowship in Sedimentary Geology. Dr. H. Grant Goodell earned his doctorate at Northwestern in 1957 and pursued an academic career, including service as chair of the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Virginia. A candidate for the Goodell Fellowship will be chosen each year from among exceptional applicants in all subfields of sedimentary geology that are appropriate given the department's spectrum of faculty expertise.

Please contact the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences for more information.

Image and information sourced from UVAToday and The Daily Progress.