2008 NAGT Awards

NAGT Neil Miner Award Citation

It is with great pleasure that I present to you today Professor Yildirim Dilek, the 2008 winner of the Neil Miner Award of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. As you are well aware, the Neil Miner is the most prestigious award of the NAGT, given only to the most dedicated, innovative and successful geoscience educators.

Professor Dilek is a most worthy recipient of this award. Many of us hope to exvel in one or more of our common academic endeavors - teaching, research and service. However, very few of us manage to achieve excellence in all three fields.

Professor Dilek has an amazing record of achievement in all his endeavors. He is a stimulating, innovative educator who places his students first in his academic activities. In addition, he is a world-renowned researcher in the field of tectonics, with a focus on ophiolites of the Mediterranean region. He has published more than 120 excellent papers in world-class journals and has edited or co-edited 15 books and special journal issues. Not content with these achievements, Professor Dilek has also devoted an extraordinary amount of time and effort to service, both at his university and to national and international societies. His achievements are too numerous to list but I can highlight a few of these – Fellow of the GSA, the Geological Society of London, and the AGU. Member of NAGT and Council of Undergraduate Research, Editor of the GSA Bulletin and Associate Editor of several other journals, Chair of the GSA International Division, Vice-Chair of the History of Geology Division, and member of numerous national, international and university committees. All in all, an astounding record for someone, who is, at least to me, still a young scientist.

We are here today to focus on Prof. Dilek's achievements in the field of teaching and mentoring. I have long believed that the real test of good teaching is not popularity in the classroom but the success of one's students as they move on to further education or careers in the workplace. By any measure, Prof. Dilek has been extremely successful in opening student's minds to new ideas, stimulating their curiosity and providing them with an interest in life-long learning. Let me just quote from a few supporting letters from former students

Dr. Dilek's interaction with students nurtured a curiosity in me. I was amazed at his ability to see connections between seemingly disparate topics." Another student wrote "Dr. Dilek took an interdisciplinary approach to geology that opened my eyes to the impact it has had on human history, as well as to its current cultural relevance. Dr. Dilek's class was unique in the way it lead me to think critically about geological phenomena in relation to civilizations and their social/cultural histories." A first-year student wrote "Dr. Dilek is not only a great teacher for whom I have much respect but he is a good person truly concerned about his students. Unlike some professors who avoid incorporating cross-disciplinary material in their classes, Dr. Dilek made a concerted effort to include relevant issues like history, political science, religion and classics into our discussions." A Geology major reflected on his experience: "Dr. Dilek shows an incredible, unbounded, infectious enthusiasm for structural geology and tectonics. Working with him, it becomes clear that he is fascinated by and appreciative of the complexity and power of tectonic processes, and he seeks to understand them as fully as possible. His enthusiasm in the field is indescribable."

Prof. Dilek's achievements have been recognized and rewarded at Miami University. He received the College of Arts and Science 2002 Distinguished Educator Award, and subsequently the 2003 E. Phillips Knox Excellence in Teaching Award. In Spring 2008, Prof. Dilek was awarded the Benjamin Harrison Medallion for "his global recognition for exceptional scholarship and international contributions in the disciplinary field and for outstanding national contributions to education". One of his colleagues writes "I would like to stress his efforts outside the classroom to educate our students scientifically and culturally and to stress his exceptional contribution to the stimulation of interest in the geosciences." His Dean at Miami University reports "Yildirim takes a remarkably refreshing approach to his teaching, and stretches the students and material far beyond the traditional." Another Dean states "Yildirim is widely recognized on the Miami campus for his inquiry-based approach to teaching, which also involves international perspective, interdisciplinary activity, and experimental learning."

Clearly, Prof. Dilek is an outstanding educator in the broadest sense and a most worthy recipient of the Neil Miner Award for teaching excellence.

Recent message from a former student, who is now a graduate student in California:

"Congratulations on the NAGT award. You deserve it. You are truly one the best in all of science and in teaching. You were the best teacher I ever had. It was always a pleasure being your student. Enjoy the awards ceremony at GSA, I wish I could have been there to say a few words about what a great teacher and mentor you were to me and told some amusing anecdotes of times in the field. I definitely would have said that you made me a scientist and taught me how to do research and enjoy life while doing it. Also, that your enthusiasm for science inspired me to follow in your academic steps." Emily A. Davis, 30 Sept 2008.

NAGT James Shea Award Citation

Alan Cutler is a talented scientist and writer who has written about geology and the natural sciences for more than thirty five years. He got his start as a youngster writing and illustrating books about dinosaurs, stapling the pages together and handing them out to family members. He and his brother turned their backyard into a wasteland with their excavations, without finding a single dinosaur bone or Australopithecusskull. He had better luck as fossil hunter at Carleton College,where I met him, as he delved deeper into geologic research with his senior comprehensive project on the Ordovician brachiopods of the Decorah Shale.Though perhaps not as glamorous as dinosaurs or fossil humans, it was his first real foray into deep time – a major theme of his writing. He continued his work in paleobiology and paleoecology at the University of Rochester (M.S.) and the University of Arizona (Ph.D.). Over the years he has taught geology and evolution to undergraduates at the University of Rochester, the University of Chicago,and a number of other places, always bringing to the classroom the excitement forged in his childhood.

We are fortunate indeed that he has chosen to bring geoscience to a broader audience through his work on exhibitions at the Smithsonian, articles in the Washington Post, and as a contributing editor to Forces of Change: A New View of Nature, a joint publication of the Smithsonian and the National Geographic Society. For Forcesof Change he had the opportunity to work with two other talented writers and previous Shea Award winners – John McPhee and the late Stephen Jay Gould. Both were influential in Alan's development as a writer.Alan says that reading John McPhee's work on geology and other topics while in grad school convinced him that writing about science could be as intellectually engaging as the science itself. And from Gould he learned the value of a historical perspective on science.

Alan is currently a science writer with the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. However, today we honor him for his remarkable first book, The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Tale of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius Who Discovered a New History of the Earth. This book, placed within the broader context of Cutler's career as a geoscientist and science writer, is an exceptional contribution that details the life and accomplishments of Nicholas Steno for the general public, geoscientists, and Earth science teachers alike.Alan says that while writing the book he often had his experiences teaching undergraduate geology in mind – and he hoped geoscience teachers could use anecdotes from to spiff up their lectures.

Many students of geology know about Steno's contributions to stratigraphy (superposition, original horizontality, lateral continuity), some know of his contributions to paleontology (recognizing that objects in rocks were shark teeth rather than dragon tongues), and a few know of his contributions to mineralogy. Cutler's book presents a rich account of Steno's geological accomplishments in the context of the times. According to a Seattle Times (July 6, 2003)reviewer, the books is "more than just a work of geology. He [Cutler] thoughtfully portrays the uneasy intersection of religion and science, life in the 1600s and 1799s, and the beginnings of modern science. It is a book as complex and intriguing as the rocks that Steno studied." Book reviews by Kevin Padian in the New York Times,and Simon Winchester in the Boston Globe provide additional insights into the book. Padian writes that Cutler shows that Steno was a "complex man, living in complex times" and that this book "is marvelous for making one think about what qualifies as an explanation, and for exploring the endless debates that mix strands of partial knowledge with the need to reconcile religious testaments." Winchester writes that"Cutler has managed to make whole cloth out of the vague threads of the Steno story, and has interwoven tales from the scientific and social fabric of the time, enough to make this one of the best books of scientific history in recent years. The tale of Steno has been a long time coming, but on the evidence of this splendid volume, it has been well worth the wait."Seashell on the Mountaintop is being published overseas in the UK, Germany, Italy,Sweden, France, Spain,Denmark, Korea, and Japan and is also being released in audio, indicating the wide reach and impact of this book. Seashell on the Mountaintop is an insightful book that has even won accolades on the other side of the aisle, so to speak. Alan has been invited to churches to talk about his book and the thorny relationship between geology and religion. He has really come a long way from hunting dinosaurs in his backyard. I am delighted to introduce you to Alan Cutler, winner of the 2008 James Shea Award for his fascinating book, the Seashell on the Mountaintop.