Dr. Peter Sak
Assistant Professor of Geology
(Structural Geologist)

Department of Geology
Kaufman Building, rm 137
Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA 17013-2896
USA

Phone: 717.245.1423
E-Mail:

Work Experience

  • Assistant Professor of Geology. Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 2004 - present.
    Courses Taught: Planet Earth, Geology of National Parks, Natural Disasters, First Year Seminar (100 Years of Earthquakes), Structural Geology, Field Methods, Geomorphology.

  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology. Bucknell University, 2003-2004.
    Courses Taught: Engineering Geology, Environmental Geology, Dynamic Earth.

  • Shipboard Scientific Party, R/V Sonne Cruise 173/1. July – August 2003.
    Characterization of the Middle American margin offshore Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua using seafloor magnetics, ocean bottom seismometers and hydrophones, Hydrosweep bathymetric mapping and deep tow seismometer. Responsible for forward raytrace modeling of wide angle seismic profiles.

  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology. Colorado College, 2002-2003.
    Courses Taught: Introductory Geology, Tectonics and Topography, Regional Studies (One month field course in Costa Rica), Structural Geology, Natural Disasters.

  • Postdoctoral Scholar. Biogeochemical Research Initiative for Education (BRIE), Penn State University, 2002-2004.
    Investigating rates of silicate dissolution in a near surface tropical environment.

  • Visiting Instructor of Geology. Bucknell University, Fall, 1999.
    Courses Taught: Environmental Geology and Structural Geology.

  • Instructor. Department of Geosciences, Penn State University, Fall, 1998.
    Taught: Introduction to Field Geology, a writing intensive course for Earth Science majors.

  • Graduate Assistant. Penn State University, Department of Geosciences, 1996-2002.
    Taught and/or assisted with teaching of: Structural Geology, Summer Field Camp, Geology of N. Am., Introduction of to Field Geology, Mineralogy, Environmental Geology, Intro., Physical Geology.

  • Staff Geologist. AGRA Earth and Environmental, August 1995 – May 1996.
    Approved payment for contractual items completed on numerous projects. Inspected and reported on seismic retrofitting of existing structures in the greater Seattle region. Inspected foundations and prepared inspection reports.

  • Intern. Water Resources Division USGS, Tacoma and Spokane, WA, Summer 1995.
    Duties including conducting a spring and seep inventory in the vicinity of Midnite Mine, Stevens County, WA and analyzing water samples.


Funded Research

  • Pennsylvania Geologic Survey.  2007. Constraints on regional –scale deformation across the Pennsylvania salient as deduced from geologic cross-sections.  Awarded $18,871.
  • Dickinson College Faculty-Student Research Grant. 2007. Relationship among rough crust subduction, interseismic coupling, and Quaternary uplift rates, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica.  Awarded $15,472.80.
  • Pennsylvania Geologic Survey.  2006. Constraints on regional –scale deformation across the Pennsylvania salient as deduced from geologic cross-sections.  Awarded $13,209.
  • Dickinson College Faculty-Student Research Grant. 2005. Late Cenozoic drainage capture, evolution of the Arkansas River, Colorado, and the recent cutting of Royal Gorge.  Awarded $13,919.70.
  • NASA. 2004. “An Investigation of Weathering on Mars”.  Co-wrote successful NASA proposal to investigate weathering.  I was awarded funding to support myself and a Dickinson College undergraduate to conduct a literature review of basalt weathering rates in natural systems.  Awarded $184,892.
  • Colorado College Natural Science Division Research and Development Board Grant. 2003.  “Timing and Evolution of the Arkansas River Drainage Basin, CO” Awarded $1520.
  • Geological Society of America Student Research Grant. 1998.  “Weathering rinds as a calibrated dating technique in a tectonically active tropical setting, Costa Rica” Awarded $1800.
  • Colorado College Natural Science Division Research and Development Board Grant. 2003. “Timing and Evolution of the Arkansas River Drainage Basin, CO” Awarded $1520.

  • Geological Society of America Student Research Grant. 1998. “Weathering rinds as a calibrated dating technique in a tectonically active tropical setting, Costa Rica” Awarded $1800.

Honors/Awards

  • Charles E. Knoff, Sr. Memorial Scholarship. Spring, 2000. Awarded annually to an outstanding graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Geosciences.

  • Ronald A. Landon Scholarship. Spring, 2000. Merit based award associated with the hydrogeology program.

  • Lenicker Field Geology Scholarship. Spring, 2000. Awarded by the Department of Geosciences to support field based investigations.

  • 2nd Place Best Oral Presentation Competition. 32nd Annual Graduate Colloquium, Department of Geosciences, Spring, 2000.

  • Ohmoto Fellowship. Spring, 2000. Awarded by the Department of Geosciences to recognize and support an outstanding graduate student.

  • USGS On-site Award. Summer, 1995. Presented for outstanding performance in the field.

  • Leeds Prize. Geology Department, Whitman College, Spring, 1995. Presented annually to an outstanding senior geology major.

Educational Workshops

  • Participant. Pew Midstates Science and Mathematics Consortium: “New Faculty Workshop.” Holland, MI, Summer 2002.

  • Teaching Fellow. Center for Excellence in Learning & Teaching, Penn State University, 1999-2002. Organized and conducted workshops for new graduate assistants in the Department of Geosciences.

  • Participant. NAGT Workshop: “Developing Quantitative Skills in the Geosciences.” Colorado Springs, CO, Summer, 2000.

  • Participant. NAGT Workshop: “Preparing Graduate Students for Teaching Careers.” Denver, CO, Fall, 1999.

Professional Affiliations and Service

  • Member - Geological Society of America, American Geophysical Union, Geochemical Society

  • Referee for: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Journal of Structural Geology and Tectonics.

Field Experience

  • Field Research. Conducted independent field research along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica for 15 months. Work included surficial and bedrock mapping, measurement of mesoscale fault populations, and measuring detailed stratigraphic sections.

  • Co-Fieldtrip Leader. NSF MARGINS Central America Tectonics Workshop , July 2001. Co-led an internationally attended pre-conference field trip to the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.

  • Field Assistant. Taiwan Slate Belt. Assisted with sample collection as part of ongoing low temperature thermochronometry study in southern Taiwan, January, 2001.

  • Participant. Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA Costa Rica GPS campaign, May 1997.

  • Field Assistant. Measured diffuse CO2 emissions in Yellowstone National Park, WY, August 1996.

  • Field Research. Conducted detailed geologic mapping of the Tarbela Lake region, NWFP, Pakistan, Summer, 1994.

  • Participant. Indiana University Summer Field Camp, Cardwell, MT, Summer 1994.

  • Participant. W.M. Keck Geology Consortium Undergraduate Research Project, “Structure and Pretrography of Quetico-Wawa Subprovince Junction, Quetico Provincial Park, ON, Canada”, Summer, 1993.

Supervised Research

  • Thesis co-advisor. Department of Geology, Colorado College, 2004. Supervised Geoffrey Christensen’s Bachelor of Science (with Honors) Thesis: “Exhumational History of Pikes Peak, El Paso County, Colorado”.

  • Thesis co-advisor. Department of Geology, Colorado College, 2003. Supervised Cortney Kitchen’s Bachelor of Science (with Honors) Thesis: “The Petrology and Geochemcial Analysis of Volcanic Deposits in the Tenorio Volcanic Complex, Bijagua, Northwestern Costa Rica”.

  • Mentor. Women in Science and Engineering Research (WISER), Penn State University, Fall, 2000-Spring 2001. Oversaw design, implementation and completion of a one-year independent research project by a third-year undergraduate (Kim Gehman).

  • Thesis co-advisor. Department of Geosciences Penn State University, 2001. Supervised James R. Arthur’s Bachelor of Science Thesis: “Constraints on the structure of the Fila Costena fold and thrust belt based on low temperature thermochronometry Pacific coast, Costa Rica”.

  • Thesis co-advisor. Department of Geology, Bucknell University, 2000. Supervised Adrienne Johnson’s Bachelor of Science Thesis: “A structural study and assessment of economic reserved at the National Limestone Quarry, Middleburg, PA”.

  • Thesis co-advisor. Department of Geosciences Penn State University, 1999. Supervised Michael Lang’s Bachelor of Science Thesis: “Estimating ages of Quaternary river terraces in Costa Rica from chemical analysis of weathering rinds and soils”.

  • Thesis co-advisor. Department of Geosciences, Penn State University, 1998. Supervised Joy Wise’s Bachelor of Science (with Honors) Thesis: “Analysis of weathering rinds as a method for dating Costa Rican river terraces”.

Invited Talks

  • Department of Geology Dickinson College, February 2004, “Ridge subduction has its ups and downs: effects of rough crust subduction along the erosive Middle American Margin, Costa Rica.”

  • Department of Geology Washington and Lee University. December 2003, “Ridge subduction has its ups and downs: effects of rough crust subduction along the erosive Middle American Margin, Costa Rica.”

  • Department of Geology Washington and Lee University. December 2003, “Rates of weathering rind formation on Costa Rican basalt: a tool for dating alluvial fill terraces”

  • GEOMAR Institute for Marine Geophysics, Kiel, Germany. July 2003, “Ridge subduction has its ups and downs”

  • Department of Geology Bucknell University. April 2003. “Fore arc neotectonism and structure: a signature of seamount subduction, Pacific coast, Costa Rica”

  • Department of Geology Wesleyan University. March 2003. “Effects of subducting seafloor roughness: a bumpy ride for the Costa Rican fore arc”

  • Department of Geology Colby College. February 2003. “Effects of subducting seafloor roughness: a bumpy ride for the Costa Rican fore arc”

  • Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre Centre de Géochimie de la Surface, Strasbourg, France. September 2002. “Rates of transport-limited weathering: basaltic weathering rinds in Costa Rica”

  • Department of Geology Colorado College. April 2002. “Effects of subducting seafloor roughness: a bumpy ride for the Costa Rican fore arc”

  • Nichols School of the Environment Duke University. March 2002. “Effects of subducting seafloor roughness: a bumpy ride for the Costa Rican fore arc”

  • Geodynamics Seminar Series, Penn State University. October 2001. “Ridge subduction has its ups and downs”

  • Department of Geology Bucknell University. April 1999. “Landscape evolution and structure of the Pacific coast region, Costa Rica”