NAGTNews - Vol 15 - No 8 - August 2016

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1. AGU Abstract Deadline - August 3

Don't forget that the deadline for submitting abstracts for this year's American Geophysical Union Fall meeting is almost here - August 3. The meeting is in San Francisco, CA, December 12-16.

You can see all the Education sessions and other events on the NAGT website. So go find a session and submit an abstract to present your work!

2. 2016 Earth Educators' Rendezvous Follow-up

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2nd Earth Educators' Rendezvous in Madison, WI. 330 participants took part in the workshops, presentations, posters, and panels over the course of the week. What a tremendous time of learning, sharing, networking, and collaborating. We hope you were able to connect with colleagues old and new and left with concrete ideas and inspiration for teaching as well as creative ways to continue to build our community.

Please remember to complete the End of Meeting Survey before you get caught up in "real life" again. Your feedback on how the meeting went is crucial to continuing to improve the event and deliver high-quality experiences to future participants.

Speaking of future participants, be sure to save the date now for the 2017 Earth Educators' Rendezvous in Albuquerque, NM, July 17-2, 2017. Planning has already begun and you can be a part of it. If you have ideas or suggestions for the 2017 EER Program, use the form on the website to tell us about them.

Thank you again for your enthusiasm and energy last week. The Rendezvous wouldn't be a success without your participation.

The Rendezvous Leadership Team and Staff

3. GSA News

Seeking Volunteers for the NAGT Booth at GSA

We are actively soliciting NAGT members to help staff the booth during the GSA meeting in Denver. The vendors area will open at 2:00 PM on Sunday, September 25th and there are opportunities to volunteer each day until the showcase closes at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, September 28th.

This is a great way to meet other NAGT members from around the country and share your excitement about geoscience education. Your commitment and enthusiasm is really critical to helping bring new members on board. If you've never volunteered at the booth before, it's so easy! And there will be experienced NAGT officers and staff on hand so newbies won't be thrown in the deep end.

If you have even a little time you can give to representing NAGT, please contact Krista Herbstrith (kherbstr at carleton.edu) in the Executive Director's Office and she can get you on the schedule.

And be sure to check out all of the NAGT and education activities (workshops, field trips, topical sessions, meetings and events...) going on at GSA - http://nagt.org/nagt/profdev/GSA/2016GSA/index.html.

Workshops at GSA

As you're finalizing your pans to attend GSA, don't forget to register for a short course. NAGT is cosponsoring a number of workshops on Saturday, September 24th on a wide array of important education topics. You can see all the NAGT sponsored workshops on the website and all of the available workshops on the GSA meeting website.

4. Search for NSF DUE Division Director

The Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) of the National Science Foundation announces a nationwide search to fill the position of Division Director, Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE). The mission of EHR is to provide the research foundation to develop a diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-literate public and a workforce ready to advance the frontiers of science and engineering for society. To support this mission, the DUE embraces a comprehensive approach to strengthening STEM undergraduate education by investing in research, development, institutional capacity building and change, and financial and co-curricular support to students at two- and four-year colleges and universities.

The successful candidate will have managerial and oversight responsibilities for organizational goals and objectives by building teams and coalitions for the effective use of division staff expertise and resources within EHR and across NSF. This includes leading the activities of DUE, assessing emerging needs and trends in undergraduate education, developing breakthrough opportunities, implementing overall strategic planning, and policy setting.

At NAGT, we know that there are a number of geoscientists with strong qualifications for this position who can make valuable contributions to strengthening undergraduate education across the disciplines at the national level. For more information about the position and how to apply, see the Dear Colleague Letter on the NSF website.

5. In The Trenches Seeks an editor-in-Chief

NAGT is seeking an individual to serve as the next Editor-in-Chief for In The Trenches (ITT), a quarterly NAGT publication. ITT is practitioner-oriented and features short articles that share stories, teaching, ideas, resources, NAGT activities, and news related to teaching geoscience at all levels, from K-16.

In The Trenches provides a venue for contributors to inform NAGT members about their best teaching ideas, resources, and special topics relevant to our profession and offers a more informal outlet for innovative ideas and experiences that can inform the larger community.

Are you interested in connecting and working with creative individuals from a broad range of geoscience disciplines and having an opportunity to bring to light some of the newest and most interesting teaching strategies and resources? Consider being a part of this important NAGT publication.

6. Invitation to the Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB Workshop

We invite you to the Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB workshop focused on building students' ability to solve problems with computation using MATLAB in their STEM courses. Participants will share their successes developing computational skills using MATLAB in the undergraduate classroom and discuss best practices for the community. By attending the workshop, you will be part of a community effort to bring together best practices and teaching materials that will be made freely available through the SERC website. MathWorks (makers of MATLAB®) is sponsoring the workshop.

Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB

Carleton College, Northfield, MN
October 23-25, 2016 (5PM Sunday – 2PM Tuesday)
Application Deadline: September 2, 2016

The Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB workshop will bring together faculty from the sciences, including Chemistry, Geoscience, Physics, Biology, and allied fields, who teach computation and quantitative thinking skills using MATLAB. Computation is broadly defined as using computers in scientific work to understand and solve problems, or formulating problems in ways that can be computed. Computational skills are critically important for students to understand complex systems, analyze data, and create numerical models and visualizations–all essential aspects of modern science. These skills require students to have comfort and skill with languages and tools such as MATLAB. To achieve comfort and skill, computation and quantitative thinking must build over a 4-year degree program across courses and disciplines. Participants will help build a collection of teaching activities that showcase computation, quantitative thinking, and applied math using MATLAB and design approaches to integrating these skills throughout science degree programs.

This workshop target is 30 college educators (by application). There is no registration fee to attend.

We hope to see you there!

Lisa Kempler
MATLAB Community Strategist, MathWorks

Cathryn A. Manduca
Director, Science Education Resource Center
Executive Director, National Association of Geoscience Teachers

Kristin Jenkins
Executive Director, BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium

Kelly Roos
Professor, Department of Engineering Physics, Bradley University
PICUP Leadership Council

Frederik J. Simons
Associate Professor, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University

Wendy Thomas
Associate Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington

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Rock and Mineral Exchange

Available Samples

• Petrology Samples
• ophiolite, Tertiary sedimentary, misc metamorphic

Are you looking for new specimens for your collection? Do you have extra samples to share with colleagues?
Post in the Rock and Mineral Exchange.

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