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Dr. Johnny Waters elected to Explorers Club
June 15, 2004
CARROLLTON, GA - Dr. Johnny Waters, professor of geology at the University of West Georgia, has been elected a national fellow of the Explorers Club. Explorers Club fellows have distinguished themselves by directly contributing to scientific knowledge in the field of geographical exploration or allied sciences and documenting their work in scientific publications.
Founded in 1904, the Explorers Club is a multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the preservation of the instinct to explore. It promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air and space through research and education in the physical, natural and biological sciences.
Waters’ primary research interests are the paleontology of Paleozoic echinoderms (radially symmetrical invertebrate marine life), the systematics of Echinodermata, and mass extinctions. In addition to fieldwork in Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, Australia and Canada, Waters has made seven trips since 1987 to China, where he has worked primarily in the Gobi in Xinjiang Province, in Yunnan Province in western China, and in Guizhou province in the southeastern part of the country.
Waters is currently working on fossils collected from Morocco, Iran and Algeria with colleagues in the United States and abroad. He will retire from UWG at the end of July to become chair of the Appalachian State University Department of Geology.
Explorers Club members include field scientists and explorers from more than 60 countries in such disciplines as aeronautics, anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, biology, ecology, entomology, geology, marine biology, mountaineering, oceanography, paleontology, physics, planetology, polar exploration and zoology. For more information about the club, visit its web site at www.explorers.org.
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