NAGT News - Vol 22 - No 9 - September 2022

Announcing the 2023 Earth Educators' Rendezvous

Save the date for the ninth annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous! NAGT and the Rendezvous Planning Committee are pleased to announce that next year's Rendezvous will be held July 10-14, 2023, and is hosted by the Division of Natural Sciences at Pasadena City College (PCC) and the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at California Institute of Technology (Caltech)! We look forward to another exciting event next year in Pasadena, CA.

Interested in leading a workshop or roundtable?

Submit your workshop or roundtable proposal. The deadline for workshop and roundtable proposals is October 15. The Planning Committee will review all proposals received following the submission deadline with the aim of creating a balanced program that serves diverse audiences and community needs.

Have ideas for programming?

Submit your ideas and suggestions for the 2023 program by October 15.

Want to stay in the loop?

Join an NAGT Committee

Development Committee

Do you want to help NAGT continue to offer successful and accessible programs? NAGT is seeking nominations for individuals who would like to serve on the Development Committee. This committee oversees and implements fundraising strategies to support NAGT's programs, scholarships and stipends, new initiatives, and general financial health. The Development Committee meets monthly and reports to the NAGT Executive Committee.

Self-nominations are encouraged. Nominate online.

Professional Development Planning Committee

NAGT is looking for new members of the Professional Development Planning Committee, the Teach the Earth Website Subcommittee, and the Webinar Subcommittee. Joining one of NAGT's professional development committees is a great way to get involved in the NAGT leadership, meet new colleagues, and help shape NAGT programming. For more information about each committee, and to nominate yourself or a colleague, please visit NAGT's Get Involved in NAGT Leadership page.

Self-nominations are encouraged. Nominate by October 3, 2022.

Webinar Committee

Are you interested in serving NAGT community needs, finding appropriate speakers to deliver interactive and timely webinars, and facilitating webinars by NAGT programs and divisions? Have you attended NAGT webinars and thought about potential topics or themes for new webinars? If so, consider applying to join the NAGT webinar planning committee. Committee members meet quarterly to develop the series schedule and then work independently to support and coordinate speakers for upcoming webinars. Most committee members support a few webinars per year. Committee members serve 3-yr terms starting in mid-October.

Self-nominations are encouraged. Nominate online.

NAGT at GSA 2022

NAGT is pleased to sponsor a variety of symposia and sessions at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America held in Denver, Colorado, from October 9-12, 2022. The NAGT, GSA GED, and CUR Joint Awards Luncheon will be happening in person this year at GSA! We are excited to celebrate awardees and their accomplishments. Award luncheon tickets are available for purchase when registering for GSA.

The Annual NAGT Council and Business Meeting, typically held during GSA, will be held online this year on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at 12:30pm-2:30pm PT / 1:30pm-3:30pm MT / 2:30pm-4:30pm CT / 3:30pm-5:30pm ET. Details on how to connect are posted on the information page along with information on the NAGT Divisions Meetings.

Volunteer at the NAGT Booth

Stop by NAGT booth #1906! We're looking for volunteers to help staff the NAGT booth in the exhibit hall. If you haven't staffed the booth before, it's a fun time. The booth acts as a meeting place and hub for conversations. We also get plenty of visitors interested in learning more about NAGT. We always make sure to have more than one person at the booth, and try to pair experienced volunteers with new ones.

The exhibit hall is open:

Sunday, October 9, 2022 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Monday, October 10, 2022 10:00 am - 6:30 pm
Tuesday, October 11, 2022 10:00 am - 6:30 pm
Wednesday, October 12, 2022 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

If you are interested in staffing the booth, please contact Mitchell Bender-Awalt (mawalt@carleton.edu) by September 26. Volunteers will be contacted after the 26th to confirm assignments and generate a final schedule.

NAGT at the AGU Fall Meeting 2022

NAGT is pleased to sponsor a variety of geoscience education sessions and activities planned for the Fall 2022 AGU meeting, held in Chicago, IL, and online from December 12-16, 2022. The meeting theme this year is Science Leads The Future.

Take a Survey on the Culture and Ethics of Geological Sampling by September 15

You're invited to participate in a survey on The Culture and Ethics of Geologic Sampling that is being conducted on behalf of the Geological Society of America (GSA) to collect information to better understand geologists' attitudes about, and practices of, geologic sampling. This topic is particularly important in a time of increased pressures on natural systems, decreased accessibility to field sites, degradation of irreplaceable geological resources, and raised international awareness of the importance of geoheritage, geodiversity, and geoconservation. Responsible sampling is relevant to protecting important geoheritage sites, being respectful of indigenous cultures, and in consideration of other societal issues.

Students and professionals at all career stages are encouraged to take this 15-20 minute survey. All responses will be submitted anonymously. The results will be presented in aggregated form at the 2022 GSA Annual Meeting Noon time forum on Culture and Ethics of Geological Sampling on Monday October 10 and presented to GSA with recommendations for community-based guidelines for ethical and responsible geological sampling into the future. This survey is co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), American Geosciences Institute (AGI), the International Association for Promoting Geoethics (IAPG), the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA), National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT), and the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Geological Sciences (USNC-GS).

Please respond by September 15, 2022. The more input we have, the better we can report on the current status of our culture. As an incentive, at the end of the survey you have the option to be entered into a raffle for a $50 GSA Bookstore credit.

Take survey

Become an Associate Editor for JGE

Do you enjoy reviewing manuscripts and providing constructive feedback to authors? Are you interested in engaging more deeply in the review process? Would you like to be more involved in the geoscience education community? If so, you might be interested in serving as an Associate Editor.

Apply by October 1

Apply for the AGU Bridge Program as a Partner Institution by October 1

Applications are now open to partner with the AGU Bridge Program, which works with graduate geoscience departments across the U.S. to promote equitable practices in graduate education and to recruit and retain students from historically marginalized groups.
As a Partner department in the AGU Bridge Program, you will have:

Access to resources for improving your department's equity practices and a connection to a community of peer departments.
Access to the AGU Bridge Program student applicant database.
Recognition by AGU of your department's commitment to diversity and inclusion in the Earth and space sciences.
Recommendation of your department's educational environment to prospective AGU Bridge Program students.

You are invited to apply on behalf of your graduate department on our AGU Bridge Program website. Click on the "Partner Benefits & Applications" tab to get started. The deadline for partner applications is 11:59 p.m. ET on 1 October 2022.

Apply

Apply for a Traveling Workshop: Customized programming to strengthen your department or courses by October 15

The NAGT Traveling Workshops Program (TWP) brings national leaders in geoscience education to your campus or regional event to help you and your colleagues with strategic planning. Designed for departments, institutions, or groups of institutions with shared interests, TWP offers workshops on strengthening geoscience departments, fostering collaboration in the development of cross-campus environmental and sustainability programs, developing strategies for supporting the success of all students, and more. Apply to bring facilitators to you for a Spring/Summer 2023 workshop by October 15, 2022.

Apply for a Traveling Workshop

Season Three of "Every Rock Has A Story" has premiered!

"Every Rock Has A Story" is back for a third season, premiering Sept 8th! ERHAS is a growing collection of YouTube videos for kids designed to inspire wonder, curiosity, and engagement in the sciences... especially the geosciences. Hosted by Earth & Environmental Sciences Prof. Ethan Baxter of Boston College, each 5-10 minute episode features a different rock and the story it holds inside. The storytelling approach is critical in engaging a diverse array of children by bringing to life myriad topics spanning climate change, natural hazards, natural resources, tectonics, Earth history, history of life, and even outer space. In Season Three we are taking our show on the road, featuring a diverse array of co-hosts in the lab and the field. Look for episodes filmed at UMass Amherst, Brown University, MIT, Amherst College, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park and field sites in Massachusetts. While you watch, encourage children to create their own science journal based on the episode content. To help spark ideas, we've created educational resources that can be found in the "About" section of the YouTube Channel. New 2022 episodes will feature 3rd and 4th grade NGSS aligned content.

Check out Season Three on Youtube!

Submit Article Suggestions to In the Trenches

Are you doing something creative, innovative, or inspiring in your geoscience teaching? In the Trenches (ITT) would like to spread the word! ITT articles are short (2500 words or so) pieces that describe what you're doing and how others can try your techniques. Submit ITT article suggestions here.

Go check out the July Issue!

The January 2023 issue of ITT will focus on using art to teach!

Congratulations to NAGT Members!

2022 AGU Section Awardees and Named Lecturers

Each year AGU sections recognize outstanding work within their fields by granting awards and hosting numerous lectures. All section honorees are selected on the basis of meritorious work or service toward the advancement and promotion of discovery and solution science. All of the award recipients and named lecturers have dedicated themselves to advancing Earth and space sciences.

Education Section - Dorothy LaLonde Stout Education Lecture Award: Christy C. Vasaggi
Mineral and Rock Physics Section - Mineral and Rock Physics Graduate Research Award: Ming Hao
Mineral and Rock Physics Section - John C. Jamieson Student Paper Award: Wen-Yi Zhou

Do you have good news related to your geoscience education work that you would like to share with the NAGT community? Submit it to NAGT's Community Kudos!

Using the Lens of the Crosscutting Concepts to Design Effective Earth Science Learning Experiences

Dr. Brett Criswell - Assistant Professor, Secondary Education, West Chester University
Dr. Christopher Roemmele - Associate Professor, Earth and Space Sciences, West Chester University.

Dates: September 19, 2022
Time:1:00 pm PT | 2:00 pm MT | 3:00 pm CT | 4:00 pm ET
Registration deadline: September 16, 2022

Studying Atmospheric Processes with Airborne Data

Armin Sorooshian,Professor, University of Arizona
Joseph Schlosser, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, NASA

Dates: September 27, 2022
Time:9:00 am PT | 10:00 am MT | 11:00 am CT | 12:00 pm ET
Registration deadline: September 25, 2022

GETSI Short Course @ GSA: Teaching SfM and GNSS/GPS Methods to Undergraduates in the Field

Benjamin Crosby, Idaho State University
Bruce Douglas, Indiana University
Beth Pratt-Sitaula, UNAVCO

Dates: October 7-8, 2022
Location: Denver, CO (in conjunction with the annual GSA meeting)

Registerthrough GSA. Apply for travel support through GETSI.

IRIS Consortium for GSA Short Course #535: 'Using Geophysics to Address Societally Relevant, Urban and Environmental Real-World Questions in Introductory-Level Geoscience Courses'

Instructors: Andrew Parsekian; Sarah Kruse; Carol Ormand; and John Taber

Join us at the Geological Society of America Meeting on Saturday, October 8th, for a half day workshop on implementing IGUaNA (Introducing Geophysics for Urban and Near-surface Applications) modules in your undergraduate classroom. The cost is $10/person and registration is via the GSA meeting registration page.

Dates: October 8, 2022
Location: Denver, CO (in conjunction with the annual GSA meeting)

Apply to be a GEMS mentor

Are you a current or former geoscience student interested in attending a US-based graduate school? Apply to be a GEMS mentee to be matched with a mentor who can guide you through the process!

Are you a senior graduate student, postdoc, or faculty interested in providing mentorship support for underrepresented undergraduate and early-stage graduate students who are interested in going to US-based graduate school? Join our team of mentors.

Our goal is to match students with mentors based on needs, backgrounds, and interests. Mentees can request mentorship along two tracks: the Ruby Track is for individuals interested in going to graduate school in the future and the Sapphire Track is for individuals who are applying to graduate programs during the current application cycle. Mentors can choose to provide support in either track. Please note that we are not accepting applications from international students who have never been enrolled in a US degree-granting program.

We have two rounds of matching:
Round 1: Mentee applicants from August 1st to September 9th. Matches will be assigned September 19th.

Round 2: Mentee applicants from September 10th to October 14th. Matches will be assigned October 24th.

Mentor applicants that were not assigned in the first round could be matched in the second round.

Apply

Save the Date for NAGT-Far Western Section Field Conference 2022

NAGT Members in California, Nevada, and Hawaii - Save the Date! NAGT Far Western Section's Field Conference 2022 will be held October 14-16 at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, CA. Sign up to receive conference updates and access registration in September. We look forward to seeing you in October!

GEO2YC Division

Nominate an Outstanding Adjunct 2YC Faculty today!

The Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award (OAFA) is an opportunity to showcase the efforts of you or one of your adjunct colleagues who is doing great work in geoscience education. Nominations are accepted on a rolling basis. See the information page for more details about the award.