Dr. Goodell joined the faculty in 1975, with
interests in geochemistry, economic geology, mineralogy, and Mexico. He
has a long and continuing interest in semi-metal and sulfosalt
geochemistry and how they relate to economic geology. Semi-metal
boiling in epithermal systems is an idea currently being tested.
Sulfosalts also serve as an entry into materials research.
Uranium resources in volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks
has also been an extended research activity for Dr. Goodell, including
the organization of national (1979) and international (1984) meetings
on the topic at UT El Paso. His expertise has taken him to China
(1987), Argentina (1995), and as an invited speaker on the topic at the
International Geological Congress in Beijing (1996). This avenue of
research has expanded into the environmental issues of nuclear waste
disposal. Field sites are under study which serve as analogues for
high- and low-level nuclear waste performance assessment studies.
Helicopter-to-burro mapping in the gold belt of southwestern Chihuahua
gives ground truth data in support of the new 'pull-apart' basin we
just discovered. Additional projects include exploration for optimal
locations for salinity gradient solar ponds, bioremediation of heavy
groundwater quality and movement in downtown El Paso-Cuidad Juarez are
being studies. The perched aquifer has been mapped for the first time
using RCRA Violator and LST Fields, and the aquifer was found to be
breached in several sites.
Dr. Goodell
continues to teach in the M.S. program in environmental engineering at
the Universidad Autonoma de Cuidad Juarez (UACJ), where he teaches
hydrogeology and other environmental topics, and advises graduate
students. He was also part of a research group in Juarez which produced
the 1.2 gigabyte "Ordanamiento Ecologico Territorial de Los Medanos de
Samalayuca," perhaps the first step in making the dune area a national
park.
Dr. Goodell has been involved in
curriculum reform on the undergraduate level for several years. The
mineralogy/petrology sequence has undergone significant modernization
and change, including HTML transitions. In addition, he initiated the
annual "Celebration of Our Mountains" event, which consists of hikes
and other activities for the public. He is now central to a group
effort to put the Franklin Mountains on the WEB. Watch for the
initiation of the Franklin Mountains Multimedia Information and
Learning Site (FMMMILS), where you can zoom in and out 15 orders of
magnitude of scale!
Between 1990 and 1994
Dr. Goodell was manager of the RCMS-UTEP program, a NSF-funded activity
designed to enhance minority participation in the sciences and
engineering. He organized discussion sessions/luncheons for mentors,
and expanded the program.
The long-time
belief of Dr. Goodell that the university is the place where one
"learns how to learn" is being borne out by modern educational
philosophy. It is a continual challenge to provide that challenge.