Following completion of his doctorate at Yale under Carl O. Dunbar in 1959, Dr. Ross worked for the Illinois State Geological and thereafter began a long association (1964–1982–1992–present) with Western Washington University in Bellingham where he became Professor, Geology Department Chairman and now Research Associate. From 1982 to 1992 he was employed in both technical and supervisory positions by the Gulf and Chevron oil companies in Houston. During that time he was mostly involved in regional geologic/biostratigraphic studies of Paleozoic rocks from North and South America and central Asia.

Research published in the 1960s established Dr. Ross’ reputation as a premier fusulinid biostratigrapher/stratigrapher. His studies of regional Permian stratotypes in the Glass Mountains of West Texas largely defined the biostratigraphy of the Wolfcampian, Leonardian and Lower Guadalupian series in North America. Similarly, his numerous papers on Pennsylvanian and Lower Permian fusulinids of the southwestern United States established the standard biostratigraphic zonation for the southern Rocky Mountains. Other work added significantly to our knowledge of fusulinid taxonomy and biostratigraphy from the northwestern United States, western and Arctic Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Peru and Spitsbergen.

Although Dr. Ross has continued his North American fusulinid studies, his research and influence have extended far beyond that field. He has made notable contributions to the evolution and intercontinental correlation of fusulinaceans and has helped define Late Paleozoic global paleogeography and paleobiogeography. His fusulinid realms, which reflect the compositional differences between Old and New World faunas, are the basic paleobiogeographic units used by Late Paleozoic paleontologists around the world. In collaboration with his wife, Dr. June Ross, and others, he has described the makeup of accreted terranes along the western margin of North America. With June he has also published seminal papers on Late Paleozoic sealevel curves and global correlation of depositional cycles. These papers have been widely quoted and have been a catalyst for discussion and research on Late Paleozoic sequence stratigraphy and paleogeography.

In addition to his Late Paleozoic interests, Dr. Ross has studied Recent larger benthic foraminifers on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia to compare their biology, ecology and facies distribution to fusulinaceans. He has also authored or co-authored papers on charophytes, graptolites, rugose corals, fossil insects and bryozoans and revised his father’s textbook of entomology. Other publications include work on coal geology, coal petrology and coal fields of the western United States. In all, Dr. Ross has produced about 200 papers, including nine books and monographs, and 100 abstracts so far during his career.

His service to the professional community includes active membership in numerous geological and paleontological societies where he has served as reviewer, committee member, officer and editor. He has been Secretary-Treasurer of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists and President and Vice-President of that society’s foundation. International affiliations include memberships on the Ordovician, Carboniferous and Permian subcommissions. He became an Honorary Life Member of the SEPM Permian Basin Section (1987) and the national SEPM (1993), and received the best paper award in the Journal of Paleontology for 1967 and the W. Storrs Cole Memorial Research Award from the Geological Society of America in 1997. Of particular note has been his long association with the Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research where he has repeatedly served as President, Vice-President and symposium organizer. One of his latest symposia was the highly successful PaleoForams ’97 International Conference on Paleozoic Foraminifera at Western Washington University, which was the basis for Cushman Foundation Special Publication No. 36.

Few individuals in the latter half of the 20th Century have made as significant and varied contributions to Late Paleozoic foraminiferal paleontology, biostratigraphy and paleobiogeography as Charles A. Ross, and few have played such an active role in their scientific community. The multidimensional nature of his career and excellence of his research makes him a fitting candidate to receive this year’s Cushman award.

Paul Brenckle, Gregory Wahlman and John Groves

Journal of Foraminiferal Research, January 2001, v. 31, no. 1, p. 1