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William Elliott, Jr.

Dr. William S. Elliott, Jr., Ph.D.

Professor of Geology

Geology, Physics and Environmental Science Department

Interim Dean of the Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education

Geology, Physics and Environmental Science Department

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Dr. Elliott started his teaching career at Southern Oregon University in 2002 and joined the Geology and Physics Department at the University of Southern Indiana in August 2009.  He specializes in the study of earth surface processes, low temperature geochemistry, and sedimentary geology.  Dr. Elliott is actively involved in several research projects with undergraduate students investigating sedimentary rocks in southern Oregon, continental carbonates in the Cloverly Formation of Wyoming, and analyzing the distribution and variability of reservoir sediments deposited above Gold Ray Dam on the Rogue River in southern Oregon.

Dam Dam

Gold Ray Dam on the Rogue River in May 2005.  

Post removal of Gold Ray Dam at the same location in October 2010.

Additionally, he is studying a core that was recovered from a coal bed methane project at USI.  These cores contain several coal intervals collected from the Pennsylvanian Carbondale Group of Southwest Indiana. Along with his colleague, Dr. Kent Scheller, black shales above the coal seams were studied in detail as part of a project examining elevated home radon levels in Vanderburgh County, Indiana.

Poster presentation

Poster presentation at the Annual Conference and Exhibition
of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in
June 2015 in Denver, Colorado.

Dr. Elliott has also developed an interest in the historical significance of New Harmony, Indiana and its connections to the birth of Geology in North America.  He is currently building a new geology exhibit, "New Harmony, Indiana: Crossroads of Geology" that will be accessible to the public at the Working Men's Institute in New Harmony.  This work was accomplished from generous funding from Historic New Harmony and the Bingham Award of Historic Southern Indiana.  

New Harmony

New geology exhibit "New Harmony: Crossroads of Geology"
at Working Men's Institute in New Harmony, Indiana.
Aaron Feldhaus (left - 2015 USI Geology Alum)
with Dr. Elliott at the opening of the exhibit in October 2014.

His long term research goals are to evaluate the impact of tectonically induced climate on the distribution of depositional systems in ancient sedimentary basins and resolve Mesozoic tectonics and sedimentation in the western United States.  Dr. Elliott has been awarded over $350,000 in external funding from the Murdock Charitable Trust, National Science Foundation, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, and the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society. 

Dr. ElliottDr. Elliott with interbedded sandstones & conglomerates
of the Cretaceous Hornbrook Formation, northern California.