Department of Geosciences

Dr. Ken Neuhauser

Professor of Geosciences Office: Tomanek Hall, 243 Phone: 785-628-5349 Fax: 785-628-5389 Email: kneuhaus@fhsu.edu Curriculum Vitae

"Come sit by the campfire, enjoy the glowing sunset, and let's chat about the Earth."

Educational Background

Courses Taught

• Introduction to Geology & Lab
• Physical Geology
• Environmental Geology
• Field Trips in Geology
• Structural Geology
• Geologic Field Methods
• Applied Geophysics
• Depositional Environments

Research Interests and Specializations

Recent Publications

Neuhauser, K.R., 2008, A depositional environment interpretation of the Love Ranch volcanic ash deposit in northwestern Ellis County, Kansas: Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, manuscript, v. 111, no. 3-4, p. 239-250.

Awards Recieved

1993 Pilot Award Recipient (nominated 4 other times)

1999 President's Distingushed Scholar - "The Power of Thought"

- excerpted from the President's Distinguised Scholar publication

RESEARCH IN ANY FORM IS DEFINED BY THAT DISCIPLINE AS A TOOL THAT SHOULD BE A PART OF EVERY TEACHING PROCESS, ESPECIALLY IN THE SCIENCES

One of the key elements in my accepting a teaching position at Fort Hays State University was the opportunity to teach Geology Field Camp.  This course is a capstone course for the professional bachelor of sciences degree in geology.  Emphasis is on field projects during the intensive five-week session which focuses on all the undergraduate core geology courses.  As this course has evolved over past nineteen years, I have incorporated new technology involving local, state, and federal agency-related projects into the traditional requirement for the camp.  For example, students in the 1999 Field Camp conducted a magnetometer survey over Upheaval Dome in Canyonlands National Monument in Utah.  This project involved the United States Geological Survey (Flagstaff, AZ) and park officials.  The purpose was to obtain data to support one of two theories, salt diapirism or meteor impact, for the Dome.  In another project, at Dinosaur National Monument, students integrated remote sensing imaging using Landsat data to enhance their surface air photo mapping.

Several other very interesting research and teaching projects have this course.  Students will be involved in a dinosaur excavation project at Field Camp over the next five years.  I hope that the culmination of it will produce a dinosaur display in Tomanek Hall (where the Department of Geosciences is housed) - a “testimonial” excavated by, prepared by, and constructed by FHSU students. There are many ways to involve students in sciences.  I have included students in my research in geophysical investigations looking for buried toxic waste at archeological sites such as Historic Fort Hays as well as in purely geologic mapping projects in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Kansas.  No matter what the project, the students who participate excel.  As such, I feel complete as a teacher and a researcher.  - Ken Neuhauser

Professional Memberships

• Geological Society of America
• Kansas Academy of Sciences

Service Activities

Currently being updated...

Current Research

Dr. Neuhauser, Professor of Geology, and Director of the Geology Field Camp program, received his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and both his M.S. and PhD from the University of South Carolina (Columbia).  His research focus has been on geological mapping but he is also involved in a number of other research areas. Recent mapping projects involved the surficial geologic map of Osborne County, Kansas which is an integral part of the Kansas Geological Surveys State County Mapping Program.  Dr. Neuhauser has been involved in this State program since 1985 and has co-authored the mapping of Ellis and Ness counties. Each project involved both undergraduate and graduate students. His other mapping projects have involved mapping various structural styles in Utah, Colorado, and Kansas.  He was also involved in the State of Kansas GIS Strategic Planning process in the mid-1990s as a Docking Institute Fellow.
Other research endeavors include depositional environments projects, applied environmental and archaeological geophysics, as well as remote sensing and GIS. Many of his research projects are integrated into the courses he teaches such as applied geophysics and Geology Field Camp. As an example, he had students involved in a dinosaur dig at field camp from 2001-2004. The latter project led to the existing dinosaur dedicated in 2002 and now on display in Tomanek Hall. Similar projects include geophysical surveys over a number of cemeteries, brine spills, an historic military fort, buried gasoline tanks, toxic industrial spills, and 1930s prohibition buried still site, an old buried water well, a suspect meteor impact site, targeting old water lines on Hays Municipal Golf Course, and targeting material at a WWII B-29 crash site.
Recent research involves the depositional environment of a volcanic ash quarry in NW Ellis County, as well as using remote sensing and GIS in searching for 1880s remnants of a sunken steam-powered boat along Big Creek, and geophysical studies of a sink near Brownwell, Kansas and targeting bodies in a private cemetery in Ellsworth County, Kansas.  Research in progress includes strain partitioning analysis regarding the rotation of the Colorado Plateau – a rather ‘stressful’ structural challenge in Utah. 
He was involved in GIS projects on the City of Hays landfill volume/life expectancy, remote sensing focusing on targeting impervious surfaces for property parcels in Hays, Kansas, as well as on sink hole subsidence surveying along Interstate 70 in Kansas.  The list of potential "research" targets grow by the year. Neuhauser's research varies in as many geological disciplines as possible as long as it remains fun, challenging, and is useful in his main "research" area - - teaching.

Personal Interests

• Golf
• Photography
• Cribbage
• Bicycling