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Greater Piedmont

The Greater Piedmont Chapter of The Explorers club was founded in 1976 by Horace Byrne, Jim Jackson, and Dr. George Fulton. These founders are now deceased, and scholarships are given to three students each year in their honor.

The Chapter website is www.gpexplorers.org

The Chapter holds monthly (except August) luncheon meetings with a speaker in Columbia, South Carolina. Attendance is usually between 25 and 35 persons. Throughout the year the Chapter sponsors field trips, and every December a Christmas dinner is held at a member's home.

Officers of the Chapter are elected for two-year terms. Current officers are Chair Jonathan M. Leader, Ph.D. FN'05, Vice Chair Brian Helmuth FN'07, Treasurer Dr. John Safko, FN'98, Secretary David Brinkman, MN', Program Chair Barry O'Reilly, MN'06, Science Committee Dr. Brian Helmuth, FN'07.

Speakers at meetings during 2009 include:

• Willard "Billy" S. More, Ph.D., "The subterranean estuary: An unseen mixing zone between land and the ocean."


• Meg Lowman, Ph.D., "It's a Jungle Up There-Exploration of the World's Treetops."


• Mr. Skip Steele, "40 Years after Apollo 11, an Insider's Perspective."


• Jerry T. Mitchell, Ph.D., "New 'shots' fired in Chile and Peru's Ten Cents War?"


• Mr. John Cely, "War Diary of a Fighter-Bomber Pilot: Claude M. Cely and the 367th Fighter-Group in the European Theater of Operations, 1944-45."


• Alan Shoemaker, Ph.D., Adventures in Thailand, Myanmar (Burma) and Laos.


• Ms. Elaine Nichols, "Fulbright in Africa."


• Mr. Raymond Knox, P.G., "Environmental Site Assessments Around the Word."


• Stephen Moysey, Ph.D., "Geoscientists Without Borders."


• Ms. Marcy L. Hayden, "Native Americans in South Carolina."

From left to right, Jim Welch, MN'93; Ceille Welch; William F. Vartorella, Ph.D., FN'91; Janet Ciegler, FN'04; Jon Leader, Ph.D., FN'05; John Adams Hodge, FN '74; and David Brinkman, MN'08.


In May 2009, the Greater Piedmont Chapter members participated in a public colloquium called "Meet the Explorers." They gave presentations about trekking in the High Andes of Chile on horseback; archaeological field work in the southeastern U.S.; beetle collecting expeditions in the U.S. and Mongolia; how to do historical research of WWII events; and "Tales from the Field - An Explorers Journey."

For information, contact:

Jonathan M. Leader, Ph.D., Chair
Tel: 803-576-6560
E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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