Dr. Michael O. Rischbieter
Department Chair
Professor of Biology
B.S., University of Washington
M.S., Western Illinois University
Ph.D., University of South Carolina
Email: miker at presby. edu
Phone: (864)
833-8403
Office: 215 Richardson Hall
Joined PC Faculty: 1987 |
Areas of Specialty:
Paleontology, with primary interests in Carboniferous Coal Swamp plant paleoecology, and South Carolina Pleistocene palynology.
Courses Taught:
Introductory Biology
Evolution
Biogeography
Paleontology
Botany
Dr. Rischbieter's excursion to the Galapagos Islands :
Galapagos Adventure Image Gallery (over 60 pictures and counting), 2004
Watch Dr. Rischbieter swimming with three Galapagos Reef sharks!
This is a movie created with Microsoft Windows Movie Maker. To watch the movie, click the link or save it to your hard disk.
For the best viewing experience, use Microsoft Windows Media Player.
Click this link to get the latest version.
Research:
My primary focus at this point is to involve students in the research process.
My particular area of interest has been the Carboniferous paleoflora of the southeast. I
have been actively collecting fossils from Virginia south through Georgia and
west to Alabama. With student help, I have been attempting to reconstruct the
change in plant communities in the southeast through geologic time. Along the
way, students have been learning how to curate and maintain a paleobotanical collection, and
how to manage a fossil database.
The other more recent and exciting line of research biology students and I have been involved in is the study of the palynology of the 450,000 year old Pleistocene deposits from Harleyville, South Carolina. Two Honors Projects (Delaney and Hayne [2004], and Beaty [2005]) have focused on the environmental interpretation made possible by the extensive palynoflora present in these sediments.
Flexicourses:
COMING NEXT FALL!! Fleximester 2006: The Natural History of the Galapagos Islands, and BellaVista Cloudforest, Ecuador.
Dates: May 2006
See the Pictures my trip to the Galapagos in 2004!! .
Fleximester 2005: The Natural History of the Florida Coastline; course being co-taught with Dr. Troy Nash; we will look at the botany, invertebrates,
and ecology of the Florida coastline, from Ft. Pierce/Stuart to the Keys, to Tampa Bay and finally St. Joseph Bay.
Dates: May 2005
See the Pictures of our trip!! .
Fleximester 2003: The Natural Historyof the Colorado Plateau; course being co-taught with Ron Zimmerman; we will look at the paleobiology, geology, and ecology of the western Colorado Plateau.
Dates: May 2003
View the PDF File for a full report (you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader!)
Fleximester 2001: Paleobiology of the Southeastern U.S
Participants: Joe Stillwell (Clearwater, Fl., graduated senior--major Theatre
Arts, minor Biology), Essie Buxton (Johnson City, Tn., rising sophomore-major
Biology), Dr. Rischbieter
Dates: May 7-25
View the PDF File for a full report (you'll
need Adobe Acrobat
Reader!).
Dr. Rischbieter's Alabama Dreamin' :
Back in the summer of 2001, I stumbled on to an amazing opportunity thanks to my good friend Dr. Jim Knight down at the South Carolina State Museum. He had just returned from a trip to Alabama, where he had met Dr. Jim Lacefield a geologist/biologist from Northern Alabama University. They had spent several days collecting plant fossils in the coal mines near Birmingham. When Dr. Knight returned, he gave me a call and said "you have to get yourself over to Alabama...the fossil hunting is out of this world!!" I called Dr. Lacefield soon thereafter, and made the first of what would be many trips to Jim's beautiful (and self-constructed) southwestern adobe-style home in the hills of northwestern Alabama. Since that summer, I have regularly taken my classes on weekend (and longer!) field trips to Alabama. Click here to see some of the sights we have been fortunate enough to see!! Click here to see the story (as told in the PC Bagpipeline) of an amazing discovery made by one of our students while on one of our field trips.
Publications/articles:
Rischbieter, M.O., Carpenter, J.R., and Saunders, O. Life Science Source Book:
A guide to Life Science Activities, Vol. 1: Ecology. Center for Science Education,
University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C. (1996)
Rischbieter, M.O., and Slater, T.A. "The use of alternative assessment strategies
in college-level science courses." In preparation, to be submitted to the American
Biology Teacher. (1996)
Rischbieter, M.O., and Carpenter, J.R. "The effect of a learning cycle-based teaching
strategy on the cognitive gains of earth science teachers." Submitted to The Journal
of Geological Education. (1995)
Rischbieter, M.O., Ryan, J.M., and Carpenter, J.R. "Use of microethnographic strategies
to analyze some affective aspects of learning-cycle-based minicourses in paleontology
for teachers." Journal of Geological Education, v. 41, p. 208-218. (1993)
Rischbieter, M.O., and Stidd, B.M. Anatomically and morphologically preserved
Linopteris obliqua Bunbury from the Herrin No. 6 Coal of Sokuthern Illinois. Amer.
J. Bot. Abstr., 72 (6): 899. (1985)
Stidd, B.M., Rischbieter, M.O., and Phillips, T.L.. "A new lyginopterid pollen
organi with alveolate pollen exines." Amer. J. Bot., 72 (4): 501-508. (1985)
Rischbieter, M.O., Stidd, B.M., and Phillips, T.L. "A new seed fern pollen organ
from the Pennsylvanian of Kentucky," Amer. J. Bot. Abstr., 71(5/2):77. (1984)
DiMichele, W.A., Rischbieter, M.O., Eggert, D.L., Gastaldo, R.A. "Stem and leaf
cuticle of Karinopteris: source of cuticles from the Indiana 'paper' coal," Amer.
J. Bot., 71(5): 626-637. (1984) |
