Rick Oches

Rick became a member of the Bentley faculty in 2008, joining the Natural & Applied Sciences (NAS) Department after a decade as a faculty member in the Geology Department and Chair of Environmental Science & Policy at the University of South Florida. He served as NAS Department chair for seven years, and he became Dean of Arts & Sciences in 2018. His undergraduate and graduate degrees are in geology, and his teaching and research interests have focused on Earth's recent climate history and human and environmental response to past climate changes in different parts of the world. Increasingly his academic interests center on Earth and environmental science education, transdisciplinary course and curriculum development, and interdisciplinary faculty engagement to foster improved science literacy for non-STEM majors.

Education

• Ph.D. Univ of Massachusetts-Amherst
• MS Univ of Massachusetts-Amherst
• BS Purdue Univ/West Lafayette

Teaching Interests

Science of environmental sustainability; Global climate and environmental change; Earth systems science; Earth Resources - extraction, consumption, disposal, and environmental impacts; Surficial geology

Research Interests

• Reconstructing Earth's climate history;
• Earth & Environmental Science Education; Environmental response to climate change;
• Human - environment interactions;
• Earth surface processes; Geoarchaeology

Awards and Honors

• 2019, Fellow, Geological Society of America
• 2011, Bentley Rainbow Award, Bentley University
• 2010, Bentley University Faculty Publication Award
• 2009, Bentley University Faculty Publication Award
• 1999, University of South Florida Presidential Young Faculty Award for project titled "Global Dust Storms and Ice-Age Climate: Reading the Terrestrial Record of Past Climate Change". $10,000 (7/99 - 11/00)

Publications

Journal Articles

• Bricker, J. L., Bateman, J. B., Mitsunaga, B. A., Mering, J., Yanes, Y., Oches, E. A., Eagle, R. A., Tripati, A. (2023). A Multi-Region Study of Clumped Isotope Data from Terrestrial Shells. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology. (Link)
• Radakovic, M. G., Oches, E. A., Hughes, P., Markovic, R. S., et al., . (2023). Reconstructing July Malacotemperatures from the last nine glacials over the southeastern Carpathian Basin (Serbia). Atmosphere, (14) 791-804.
• Markovic, S. B., Oches, E. A., Peric, Z. M., Gaudenyi, T., Jovanovic, M., et al., . (2021). The Pozaravec loess paleosol sequence: A record of increased aridity in the southeastern margin of the Carpathian Basin during the last 350ka. Journal of Quaternary Science, (36) 8 1436-1447.
• Oches, R., Bernardo-Sousa, M., Quigley, R. (2018). Out of the Shadows: Science & Technology buildings emerge as campus experience hubs. Planning for Higher Education, (27) 1 1-9.
• Buffington, A., McCorriston, J., Harrower, M., Oches, E. A. (2017). A niche construction approach to vegetation community development in the South Arabian Neolithic: preliminary results. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, (47) 31-42.
• Meldrum, H., Szymanski, D. W., Oches, E. A., Davis, P. T. (2016). A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Commentary of Broadcast Meteorologists on the Visual Presentation of Climate Change. International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development, (7) 4 1-16.
• Szymanski, D. W., Oches, E. A., Fletcher Brown, D., Sipe, T. W., Nesteruk, J., Turner, S. P., Mooney, C. H., Iverson, E. R. (2016). Developing transdisciplinary sustainability curricula requires an academic culture change. In The Trenches, (6) 3 12-13.
• Bouldin, R. M., Hall, G. J., Oches, E. A., Szymanski, D. W., Ledley, F. D. (2015). Connecting Business and STEM Education Through Undergraduate Research. Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly, (35) 4 17-24. (Link)
• Grimley, D. A., Oches, E. A. (2015). Amino Acid Geochronology of Gastropod-bearing Pleistocene Units in Illinois, Central USA. Quaternary Geochronology, (25) 10-25. (Link)
• Henton, E., McCorriston, J., Martin, L., Oches, E. A. (2014). Seasonal aggregation and ritual slaughter: isotopic and dental microwear evidence for cattle herder mobility in the Arabian Neolithic. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, (33) 119-131.
• McCorriston, J., Harrower, M., Martin, L., Oches, E. A. (2012). Cattle cults of the Arabian Neolithic and early territorial societies. American Anthropologist, (114) 45-63.
• Harrower, M., Oches, E. A., McCorriston, J. (2012). Hydro-geospatial analysis of ancient pastoral/agro-pastoral landscapes along Wadi Sana (Yemen). Journal of Arid Environments, (86) 131-138.
• Markovic, S. B., Hambach, U., Stevens, T., Kukla, G. J., Heller, F., McCoy, W. D., Oches, E. A., Buggle, B., Zoeller, L. (2011). The last million years recorded at the Stari Slankamen loess-paleosol sequence: revised chronostratigraphy and long term environmental trends. Quaternary Science Reviews, (30) 9-10 1142-1154.
• Strahl, J., Luckert, J., Krbetschek, M., Machalett, B., Meng, S., Oches, E. A., Rappsilber, I., Wansa, S., Zoeller, L. (2010). Geologie, Palaontologie und Geochronologie des Eem-Beckens Neumark-Nord 2 und Vergleich mit dem Becken Neumark-Nord 1 (Geiseltal, Sachsen-Anhalt). Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart, (59) 1-2 120-167.
• Kehrwald, N., McCoy, W. D., Thibeault, J., Burns, S., Oches, E. A. (2010). Paleoclimatic implications of modern and LGM European land-snail shell delta-18O. Quaternary Research, (74) 1 166-176.
• Grimley, D. A., Larsen, D., Kaplan, S. W., Yansa, C. H., Curry, B. B., Oches, E. A. (2009). A multi-proxy paleoecological and paleoclimatic record within full glacial lacustrine deposits, western Tennessee, USA. Journal of Quaternary Science, (24) 8 960-981. (Link)
• Novothny, A., Frechen, M., Horvath, E., Bradak, B., Oches, E. A., McCoy, W. D. (2009). Luminescence and amino acid racemization chronology of the loess-paleosol sequence at Sutto, Hungary. Quaternary International, (198) 1-2 62-76. (Link)
• Machalett, B., Oches, E. A., Frechen, M., al, e. (2008). Aeolian dust dynamics in Central Asia during the Pleistocene: Driven by the long-term migration, seasonality, and permanency of the Asiatic polar front. Geochemistry, Geophysics & Geosystems, (9) Q08Q09 1-22. (Link)
• Markovic, S. B., Bokhorst, M. P., Vandenberghe, J., McCoy, W. D., Oches, E. A., Hambach, U. (2008). Late Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequences in the Vojvodina region, North Serbia. Journal of Quaternary Science, (23) 73-84. (Link)
• Markovi, S. B., Oches, E. A., McCoy, W. D., Frechen, M., Gaudenyi, T., Jovanovic, M. (2007). Malacological and sedimentological evidence for "warm" glacial climate from the Irig loess sequence, Vojvodina, Serbia. Geochemistry Geophysics & Geosystems, (8) Q09008 (Link)
• Rao, G. S., Appel, E., Gautam, P., Oches, E. A., Wehland, F. (2007). The lacustrine section at Lukondol, Kathmandu Basin, Nepal: dating and magnetic fabric aspects. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, (30) 73-81.
• Carter-Stiglitz, B., Banerjee, S. K., Gourlan, A., Oches, E. A. (2006). A multi-proxy study of Argentine loess: marine oxygen isotope stage 4 and 5 environmental record from pedogenic hematite. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, (239) 45-62.
• Markovic, S. B., Oches, E. A., Sumegi, P., Jovanovic, M., Gaudenyi, T. (2006). An introduction to the Middle and Upper Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequence at Ruma Brickyard, Vojvodina, Yugoslavia. Quaternary International, (149) 80-86.
• Machalett, B., Frechen, M., Hambach, U., Oches, E. A., Z�ller, L., Markovic, S. B. (2006). The loess sequence from Remisowka (Northern Boundary of the Tien Shan Mountains, Kazakhstan), Part I: Luminescence dating. Quaternary International, (152-153) 192-201. (Link)
• Markovic, S. B., McCoy, W. D., Oches, E. A., al, e. (2005). Paleoclimate record in the late Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequence at Petrovaradin Brickyard (Vojvodina, Serbia). Geologica Carpathica, (56) 6 545-552.
• Markovic, S. B., Kostic, N. S., Oches, E. A. (2004). Fossil soils in the Ruma loess section, Vojvodina, Yugoslavia. Revista mexicana de Ciencias Geologicas, (21) 79-87.
• Markovic, S. B., Oches, E. A., Gaudenyi, T., Jovanovic, M., Hambach, U., Zoeller, L. (2004). Paleoclimate record in the late Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequence at Miseluk (Vojvodina, Serbia). Quaternaire, (15) 4 361-364.
• Frechen, M., Oches, E. A., Kohfeld, K. E. (2003). Loess in Europe - Mass accumulation rates during OIS 2. Quaternary Science Reviews, (22) 1835-1857. (Link)
• McCorriston, J., Oches, E. A., Walter, D. E., Cole, K. (2002). Holocene Paleoecology and Prehistory in Highland Southern Arabia. Paleorient, (28) 1 61-88.
• Harrower, M. J., McCorriston, J., Oches, E. A. (2002). Mapping the Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia: The application of satellite remote sensing, global positioning system (GPS) and geographic information system (GIS) technologies. Archaeological Prospection, (9) 35-42.
• Oches, E. A., McCoy, W. D. (2001). Historical developments and recent advances in Amino Acid Geochronology applied to Loess Research. Earth-Science Reviews, (54) 173-192. (Link)
• McCorriston, J., Oches, E. A. (2001). Two early Holocene check dams from southern Arabia. Antiquity, (75) 675-676.

Book Chapters

• Oches, E. A., McCorriston, J., Anderson, J., Harrower, M., Cole, K. (2020). Geomorphology, Paleohydrology, and Paleoecology of the Wadi Sana Region, Yemen In , (Eds.) A Landscape History of Hadramawt in Southern Yemen: Survey and Excavations by the RASA Project, 1998-2008. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Monumenta Archaeologica Series
• Meldrum, H., Szymanski, D. W., Oches, E. A., Davis, P. T. (2017). Speaking out or staying quiet on climate change: Broadcast meteorologists influenced by the need to be pithy, popular and politically cautious In Walter Leal Filho, Jesse M. Keenan, (Eds.) Climate Change Adaptation in North America: experiences, case studies and best practice, W. Leal Fihlo and J.M. Keenan (editors). Berlin: Springer International Publishing (Link)
• Ledley, F. D., Oches, E. A. (2013). Business Education in an age of science and technology In Everett, D., and Hardy, G., (Eds.) Shaping the Future of Business Education: Relevance, Rigor, and Life Preparation. . Palgrave Macmillan (Link)
• Oches, E. A. (2009). Quaternary History In Cilek, Vaclav, (Eds.) Earth System: History and Natural Variability (Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems ). Oxford, UK: EOLSS Publishers - UNESCO (Link)
• Oches, E. A., McCoy, W. D., Gnieser, D. (2000). Aminostratigraphic correlation of loess-paleosol sequences across Europe In Goodfriend, G, Collins, M, Fogel, M, Macko, S, Wehmiller, J. F, (Eds.) Perspectives in Amino Acid and Protein Geochemistry. 331-348. New York, NY: Oxford University Press