Rank: Professor
Office location: Huggins Science Hall,
Rm. 331/320
Telephone: +1-902-585-1340
E-mail: sandra.barr@acadiau.ca

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Dr. Sandra M. Barr is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She is originally from St. Stephen, New Brunswick, completed her BSc with honours in geology at the University of New Brunswick in 1968, and her PhD in geology at the University of British Columbia in 1973. After 1.5 years of post-doctoral work at Dalhousie University and Bedford Institute of Oceanography, in Halifax/Dartmouth NS, she taught at Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand for two years as a CUSO volunteer. She returned to Canada in 1976 to assume a faculty position in the Department of Geology at Acadia University, and was promoted to associate professor in 1980 and full professor in 1986. She currently teaches courses in introductory geology, igneous petrology, global tectonics, geological mapping, and Appalachian geology, and during her career has supervised more than 100 undergraduate and graduate thesis projects.

Dr. Barr's research is focused on the geological evolution of the northern Appalachian mountain belt of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with strong emphasis on field mapping. She also has had projects in Labrador and Thailand. In 1995, she was awarded the Gesner Medal of the Atlantic Geoscience Society in recognition of her contributions to the geosciences in Atlantic Canada. Over the years, her research work and that of her students has been funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Geological Survey of Canada through Federal-Provincial research agreements, NATMAP, and TGI projects, the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Departments of Natural Resources, and various industry contracts. Dr. Barr has over 160 publications in peer-reviewed research journals, as well as hundreds of other publications, including book chapters, government reports, maps, open files, field trip guides, and conference presentations. In 2015, she co-authored a popular book on the Geology of Nova Scotia, published by Boulder Publications, followed in 2020 by a similar book on the Geology of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island by the same publisher.

She is also active in the Canadian earth science community, and has served on numerous committees, including the NATMAP Coordination Committee (1998-2002) and the NSERC Grant Selection Committee for Solid Earth Sciences (1994-1997). She was a member of the Canadian delegation to International Geological Congresses in Kyoto (1992) and Beijing (1996). She has been co-editor of the Atlantic Geoscience Society journal "Atlantic Geology" (now Atlantic Geoscience) since 1986. She served as a member of the Local Organizing Committee for the Wolfville 1992 and Halifax 1980 and 2005 GAC-MAC meetings. She co-chaired the organizing committee for the GAC-MAC-CSPG-IAH meeting in Halifax in May 2022, for which she and co-chair Rob Raeside were given the Nelly Koziel Award for their "significant contribution to geoscience, beyond the call of duty, in the Atlantic Provinces" by the atlantic Geoscience Society in February 2022. During 2004-2005, she was President of the Geological Association of Canada, and was the GAC Books Editor until 2020. She served successively as president-elect, president, and past-president of the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences from 2013-2019. In 2015, Dr. Barr received the prestigious Ambrose Medal from the Geological Association of Canada for sustained and dedicated service to the Earth science community in Canada. In 2020 she was inducted into Nova Scotia Science Hall of Fame, and in 2021 she received the Mentorship Medal of the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences "for her role in training several generations of geology students, and her contributions to the advancement of the geological understanding of the northern Appalachians in Atlantic Canada".