Western Kentucky University:

Karst Field Studies

2024 Summer Class Offerings

Karst Hydrogeology

May 19-24. 2024

Dr. Chris Groves and Lee Anne Bledsoe, Crawford Hydrology Lab

Cave & Karst Data Visualization

June 9-15, 2024

Dr. Pat Kambesis

Exploration of Mammoth Cave

June 16-21, 2024

Bruce Hatcher

Cave & Karst Management

June 24-28, 2024

Joel Despain

International Union de Spéléologie: Speleological Events Support

Dear colleagues, Dear Friends,

We are glad to inform you, that the new Call for speleological events support is open! Granted can be the international expeditions or other events, focused on exploration, study, or protection of caves and karst, with emphasis on educational, technical and/or scientific cooperation.

All requests should contain description of proposed event as detailed as you are thinking is important for understanding of aims of project, purpose for which the funds will be used and show explicitly, that the proposed event is in agreement with the Statutes, Internal Regulations and Code of Ethics of the UIS. Requests which do not meet this requirements will not be accepted.

Detailed conditions and more details about Speleological events support can be found in Speleological Events Support Guidelines, or please, do not hesitate to ask UIS Vice President of Administration Zdenek Motycka at z.motycka@mediform.cz

All request received till deadline, May 31,2024, will be evaluated by UIS Bureau and the best projects will be supported. For this Call, the UIS Bureau decided to dedicated max. amount of 4000,‐ EUR, it means, that this amount is maximum, what can be split between ALL supported projects. All requests received after deadline will not be accepted, but can be submitted for next call.

Your requests must be sent before deadline to the UIS via Secretary General ‐ Johannes Mattes at johannes.mattes@univie.ac.at

Before submitting, please ensure that:

1. The proposal and all supporting documents are submitted in one single PDF file.
2. The proposal includes a statement from the applicant(s) that the proposed event meets the Statutes, Internal Regulations and Code of Ethics of the UIS.
3. The proposal states the amount of funding requested and the purpose for which the funds will be used.

Zdenek Motycka

UIS Vice President of Administration

Geological Society of America:

Karst Division Awards

The GSA Karst Division is soliciting nominees for their three annual awards. Please nominate one or more of your deserving colleagues! Nominations are due March 31st.

Meritorious Contribution Award: Awarded to the author of a published paper or body of work of distinction that has significantly influenced the intellectual direction of karst or broadly enhanced the knowledge of the discipline.

Early Career Scientist Award: Awarded to a distinguished scientist (35 or younger throughout the year in which the award is to be presented, or within 5 years of their highest degree or diploma) for outstanding achievement in contributing to the karst  profession through original research and service, and for the demonstrated potential for continued excellence throughout their career.

Distinguished Service Award: Awarded as a highly esteemed award in recognition of distinguished personal service to the karst profession and to the GSA Karst Division.

To submit nominations for any of these awards, please send an email to

awards.gsakarst@gmail.com and include the Division Secretary, daniel.s.jones@nmt.edu

All nominations should include:

1. GSA Karst Division Award Nomination Form
2. A letter of recommendation explaining the merit of the nominee's work and its role in advancing karst studies. (You may also solicit additional letters of support.) 
3. A Curriculum Vitae for the nominee

NCKRI National Seed Grant and Scholar Fellowship Program

NCKRI is pleased to announce our next call for grants in support of cave and karst research. NCKRI is currently advertising two opportunities:

The NCKRI National Seed Grant Program is designed to enable investigators to initiate new cave and karst research, and incentivize new principal investigators to enter the field. We especially encourage projects within the National Park System. Proposals for NCKRI National Seed Grants are due April 25th, 2024. 

The NCKRI Scholar Fellowship Program to designed to support cave and karst research by exceptional graduate and undergraduate students. Proposals for NCKRI Scholar Fellowships are due May 15th, 2023.

Applications for both programs can be submitted at the following link: https://www.nmt.edu/research/organizations/nckri.php

Please direct any questions about submission or budget preparation to Judith McShannon (Judith.McShannon@nmt.edu, 575-835-6940). Other questions about this RFP can be directed to Daniel Jones, NCKRI Academic Director (daniel.s.jones@nmt.edu, 575-835-5049).

NMT BIOL 3043 students collect samples during a field trip to investigate microbial communities in caves systems.

On February 2, 2024, undergraduate and graduate students visited Lincoln National Forest and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. This field trip was part of an environmental microbiology class (BIOL 3043 & BIOL 3043L) at New Mexico Tech. The laboratory portion of the course is designed as a research-based course. Students collected environmental microbial communities and then will design and execute laboratory experiments aimed at enriching, isolating, and characterizing new bacteria and archaea from the cave that may be important for subsurface biogeochemistry and possibly even the formation and evolution of the cave system itself. At the end of the semester, they will present their results at NMT’s Student Research Symposium or a regional geobiology meeting.

BIOL 3034 students apply learned sampling techniques, site identification and documentation in subterranean field environments.