Boyd Dent's Home Page

Dr Boyd B Dent


Current Appointment: Lecturer Course Director: BSc in Environmental Biology Contact: Department of Environmental Sciences University of Technology, Sydney P.O. Box 123 BROADWAY NSW 2007 Australia Office: Rm CB04.05.62A (City Campus) Phone: +61 2 9514 1765 Fax: +61 2 9514 4079 E-Mail: Boyd.Dent@uts.edu.au *National Study of Cemetery Groundwaters* Key Words: hydrogeologist; medical and forensic geology; cemetery; microbiology of groundwater; landfill; adipocere; rural groundwater supply; leachate; aquifer vulnerability Profile Boyd Dent is a hydrogeologist and engineering geologist. He has experience in small groundwater supply systems from unconsolidated aquifers, waste disposal issues including landfill leachate, the hydrogeology of cemeteries, hillside development and slope stability, and the investigation of road and dam foundations. He has worked as an engineering geologist with NSW government bodies - Dept. Main Roads, and Public Works Dept. in the 1970s and 1980s, and in private consulting specialising in urban development. He has experience in readymixed concrete component investigation and control. Boyd has been employed at UTS since 1995 where he is currently a Lecturer in Applied Geology within the Department of Environmental Sciences. During this time his research efforts have been focused on the National Study of Cemetery Groundwaters as his PhD studies [formally entitled - The Hydrogeological Context of Cemetery Operations and Planning in Australia] and on the delineation of the geological setting and history of closed municipal landfills in the Greater Sydney Area. Boyd has been recognised by the World Health Organisation and practitioners in the USA, UK, Brazil and Germany, as a specialist in cemetery processes and geological factors. His research on cemeteries was strongly supported by grants from the Australian cemetery and crematorium industry. Boyd has considerable other experience in the education sector and in industrial marketing of technical products. He has worked as a high school science teacher specialising in chemistry and as a distance educator in chemistry and environmental sciences within the NSW OTEN system. He also designed the Physical Geology subject for a TAFE Civil Engineering based course. In the commercial sector Boyd specialised in industrial marketing of thermal and acoustic insulation products, then in recycled plastics. He attained prominent national positions within the plastics recycling industry an sat on several national committees which provided advice to the federal government. Boyd Dent is a Member of the Geological Society of Australia, the International Association of Hydrogeologists [MIAH] (formerly NSW Branch Secretary and Past President), and the National Groundwater Association (USA). He is a foundation and continuing member of the Management Committee of the Geodiversity (Research) Group of the Australian Museum. Boyd's work has been featured by major metropolitan newspapers and the university in UTS News [1] & [2] Research Interests Groundwater microbiology and hydrogeochemistry Medical and forensic geology Small users/community water supply and waste & sewerage management Closed municipal landfills and medical geoscientific aspects of leachate Unsaturated zone processes in hydrogeology Minesite rehabilitation Hillside building and damsite geology Current projects include: Extension of the National Study of Cemetery Groundwaters. - key concepts; review travels, further considerations of the issues. Human decay products Adipocere Research Program Refereed Articles Dent, B.B., Long-term storage and disposal of dead bodies (Ch 8 major contribution), in, Morgan, O., Tidball-Binz, M. and Van Alphen, D., eds, 2006, Management of Dead Bodies After Disasters: A manual for first responders, Pan American Health Organisation, Washington D.C., 59pp (ISBN 9275126305) [LINK] Forbes, S.L., Stuart, B.H., Dent, B.B. and Fenwick-Mulcahy, S., 2005, Characterisation of adipocere formation in animal species, Journal of Forensic Sciences 50, 633-640 Stuart, B.H., Craft, L., Forbes, S.L. and Dent, B.B., 2005, Studies of adipocere using attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy, Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology 1 (3), 197-202 Forbes, S.L., Stuart, B.H., and Dent, B.B., 2005, The effect of the burial environment on adipocere formation, Forensic Science International 154 (1), 24-35 (initially published online in 2004) Forbes, S.L., Dent, B.B. and Stuart, B.H., 2005, The effect of soil type on adipocere formation, Forensic Science International 154 (1), 35-43 (initially published online in 2004) Forbes, S.L., Stuart, B.H., and Dent, B.B., 2005, The effect of the method of burial on adipocere formation, Forensic Science International 154 (1), 44-52 (initially published online in 2004) Forbes, S.L., Stuart, B.H., Dadour, I. and Dent, B.B., 2004, A preliminary investigation of the stages of adipocere formation, Journal of Forensic Science 49 (3) Dent, B.B., Forbes, S.L. and Stuart, B.H., 2004 , Review of human decomposition processes in soil, Environmental Geology, 2004, 45 (4), 576-585 (initially published online, 2003) Forbes, S.L., Keegan J., Stuart B.H. and Dent B.B., 2003, Development of a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the detection of adipocere in grave soils, European Journal of Lipid Science & Technology, 2003, 105, 761-768 Forbes, S.L., Stuart, B.H. and Dent, B.B., 2002, The identification of adipocere in grave soils, Forensic Science International, 127, 225-230 Stuart, B.H., Forbes, S.L., Dent, B.B., and Hodgson, G., 2000, Studies of adipocere using diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy, Vibrational Spectroscopy, 24, 233-242 Refereed Conference Papers Dent, B.B., 2005, Vulnerability and the Unsaturated Zone – The Case for Cemeteries. Proceedings “Where Waters Meet”, Joint Conference - New Zealand Hydrological Society, International Association of, Hydrogeologists Australian Chapter) and New Zealand Soil Science Society, Auckland, Nov 30 – Dec 2, 2005, paper A13 (pdf). Dent, B.B. and Knight, M.J., 1998, Cemeteries: A special kind of landfill. The context of their sustainable management. Groundwater: Sustainable Solutions, Conference of the International Association of Hydrogeologists, Melbourne, Feb. '98, 451 – 456 (pdf). Dent and Knight, 1998, as above but republished with minor editorial change in: ACCA News, Autumn 1998, 37 - 40 Expanded List of References Teaching Duties Boyd has been teaching at UTS since 1995. Over that period he has taught the following subjects: Geology 1 Earth Science 1 Field Studies 1 Geology for Engineers Lithology Environmental Geology Engineering Geology Soil Behaviour Field Project Field Studies 1 Honours Projects *and contributed to the team teaching in:* Geophysics Technical Communication Geological Mapping Field Studies: Introductory Marine Sciences The courses and subjects within the Department have undergone considerable evolution in the period 1997-2003. His current teaching duties in the Department's programs are: 66102 - Introduction to Earth Systems (formerly Earth Science 1) - Subject Co-ordinator 66512 - Environmental and Groundwater Geology - Subject Co-ordinator Other Stage 4-6 Earth Science subjects Other teaching involvement: Undergraduate Supervision - Forensic Honours Program Postgraduate Supervision Qualifications and Work History