Faculty Profile

Peter Sak

Professor of Geosciences (2004)
Peter Sak

Contact Information

on sabbatical Fall 2022

sakp@dickinson.edu

Kaufman Hall Room 138
717-245-1423

Bio

He specializes in describing and quantifying temporal and spatial variations in near surface deformation and landscape evolution. To document variability in regional scale deformation he integrates structural, geomorphic, and petrographic data sets. His current research projects involve field work along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, in central Colorado, and Valley and Ridge of central PA.

Education

  • B.A., Whitman College, 1995
  • M.S., The Pennsylvania State University, 1999
  • Ph.D., 2002
Peter Sak

2025-2026 Academic Year

Fall 2025

GEOS 151 Foundations of Earth Sciences
How do mountains and oceans form? Why do the positions of continents shift? Can rocks bend or flow? What is the history of life on our planet? This course explores the materials that make up the Earth and the processes that shape it, both at and below the surface. Students will take field trips around the Carlisle area as well as complete analytical and computer laboratory activities in order to acquire basic field, laboratory, and computer modelling skills. This course serves as a gateway to the Earth Sciences major, but is also appropriate for non-majors. Three hours of lecture and three hours of lab per week.

Spring 2026

GEOS 204 Intro GIS Field Applications
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a powerful technology for managing, analyzing, and visualizing spatial data and geographically-referenced information. Using exclusively open-source software, this course provides a foundation of theoretical and applied skills in GIS technology with an emphasis on applications commonly employed in the field-based sciences. Students will learn to develop and use protocols for collecting spatially representative data in outdoor settings and then learn techniques for the manipulation, analysis, output and presentation of those data. The course will culminate in a final, independent project in which the students design and prepare a GIS analysis application of their own choosing. Three hours of classroom and three hours of laboratory per week. No prior GIS experience is needed.