ISEM@SMU
ISEM is a mission-driven, interdisciplinary 501(c)3 organization with traditional interests in geology and archaeology.
Sea Monsters Unearthed
Sea Monsters Unearthed: Life in Angola's Ancient Seas is now at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. Visitors can dive into Cretaceous Angola’s cool coastal waters and examine the fossils of striking marine reptiles that once lived there and learn about the forces that continue to mold life in the ocean and on land.
Welcome from the President.
In these web pages you will be introduced to the ways in which ISEM welcomes students to the N.L. Heroy Science Hall on the SMU campus and to the ways in which ISEM reaches out to the community. Heroy Hall was built by the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man and that name is emblazoned on the façade at the entrance to the building.
ISEM is a mission-driven, interdisciplinary 501(c)3 organization with traditional interests in geology and archaeology. The ISEM focus has evolved since its inception and as the sciences have explored new directions. New challenges to society continually arise and new approaches are continually devised to face them. For the students of SMU, the world will face significant challenges in the decades ahead. Shell, the energy company, views the issues of the future as revolving around a linked food-water-energy nexus (http://www.shell.com/global/environment-society/environment/water-food.html). Earth is now home to over seven billion people, all of whom want and deserve good lives. By the year 2030 Earth will have over eight billion inhabitants. By 2030, the global demand for water will increase by 30%, the demand for energy will increase by 40%, and the demand for food will increase by 50%. Supplying those increased demands and improving the quality of life for citizens of an interwoven world where the tug of a single thread will cause widespread and sometimes unforeseen vibrations requires well-trained and creative people, willing to think originally and broadly across a wide range of disciplines. It will require people willing to seek out the knowledge of those beyond their own fields and to appreciate and respect the data from who-knows-where in order to obtain a synthesis for the common good. Students trained to appreciate interdisciplinary approaches are sorely needed now and for the future. That is why an interdisciplinary approach is the priority for ISEM.
Please visit the ISEM web pages through the drop-down windows and links to explore opportunities for students and to learn about ISEM programs of outreach, interdisciplinary projects, and research.
Dr. Louis L. Jacobs, President