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Jim Brey
Director, Education Program, American Meteorological Society
Jim Brey is the Director of the Education Program of the American Meteorological Society since May, 2008. Prior to that he was a Professor of Geography and Geology at the University of Wisconsin Fox Valley. Brey delivered AMS K-12 DataStreme courses to teachers in Wisconsin and was a leader in the development and offering of the AMS Weather Studies and Ocean Studies undergraduate courses. He contributed to the development of AMS Weather Studies and DataStreme Water in the Earth System. He considers himself to be a broad field earth system scientist and geographer. Brey is considered an expert in progressive educational delivery methods and the latest in pedagogical and technical innovation. He also is committed to further development of the AMS Education Program's weather, ocean and climate studies workshops for faculty of minority serving institutions. His research interests include new education and training approaches, work force development in STEM fields, effects of climatological hazards on subtropical agricultural production systems and the use of Geographical Information Systems in hazard mitigation, telecommunications and agriculture. Brey obtained his Bachelors, Masters and Ph.D. degrees in geography from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
Phillip Davis
Director, National Geospatial Technology Center
Phillip is the Director of the GeoTech Center, a collaborative effort between colleges, universities and industry to expand the geospatial workforce. He was responsible for assisting the Department of Labor in completing their Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) in 2010. He directed the curriculum development effort that created the GTCM Model GIS course curriculum used by more than 300 colleges and universities worldwide.
Dave Douglass
Dean, Natural Sciences, Pasadena City College
Dave Douglass currently serves as Dean of Natural Sciences at Pasadena City College. Dave grew up in the Pasadena Area, and attended PCC off and on for three years before transferring to UCLA. He received his bachelor's Degree in Geology from UCLA in 1980 and then, after working one summer for the U.S. Geological Survey, he started graduate work at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. In 1984, Dave received his Masters Degree in Geology at Dartmouth, completing a thesis with the exciting title: "Stratigraphy and Paleomagnetics of the Morrison and Cloverly Formations, Big Horn Basin, Wyoming". During that time, he also spent three summers working in Spitsbergen, Norway under a grant from the Polar Programs Division of the National Science Foundation. Some of this work evolved into his Ph.D. project completed in 1987 and titled: "Geology and Paleomagnetics of Three Old Red Sandstone Basins: Spitsbergen, Norway and Scotland". Since graduating from Dartmouth, "Dr. Dave" taught for 19 years in the Geology Department of PCC, including several study abroad programs in Oxford England and Costa Rica. In 1993 he received the "Biggs Earth Science Teaching Award" from the Geological Society of America, and in 1995 he was the proud recipient of the J. Ray Risser Outstanding Teacher Award at Pasadena City College. Over the years, Dave has taught a variety of courses in the Geology Department, and has team-taught almost 20 Summer Field excursions to the Rocky Mountains and the Colorado Plateau. Dr. Dave became Dean of the Natural Sciences in January of 2006 and continues to teach as his schedule permits.
Laura Guertin
Associate Professor, Earth Science, Penn State Brandywine
Laura A. Guertin received her B.A. in Geology from Bucknell University and her Ph.D. in Marine Geology & Geophysics from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. She has been teaching at Penn State Brandywine since 2001, where she continues to be the only geologist on a campus that primarily serves as a two-year feeder school with no four-year science degree programming. Dr. Guertin's primary research focus is the effective integration of innovative technologies to improve student learning in introductory-level geoscience courses. Research projects with students have included using Palm Pilots, iPods, GPS, Google Earth, and other technological tools for geoscience research and outreach. She has been awarded the Penn State '"Commonwealth College Award for Teaching Excellence, Penn State's George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2009 was recognized at the national level with the Geological Society of America's Biggs Earth Science Teaching Award. She is the program coordinator for the campus Schreyer Honors Program, intercollege minor in environmental inquiry, and the Laboratory for Civic Engagement. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation, EPA, and the Society of Women Environmental Professionals. She is a co-principal investigator on a $9.2 million National Science Foundation" Targeted Math Science Partnership grant to improve middle school Earth & space science teaching in Pennsylvania. Dr. Guertin has published her pedagogical work in journals such as the Journal of Geoscience Education, Journal of College Science Teaching, The Earth Scientist, and the Journal of Science Education and Technology. She is the past chair of the Geoscience Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research and a former councilor-at-large with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. She currently is the president of the Pennsylvania Earth Science Teachers Association and serves on the Board of Trustees of Tyler Arboretum in Media, PA. She enjoys traveling to national parks, geocaching, and attending Philadelphia sporting events.
Jack Hehn
Senior Fellow, American Association of Physics Teachers
Director of Education (retired), American Institute of Physics
Jack G. Hehn has a wide range of experience in physics and science education having taught and worked with students in elementary school through graduate school. He was reared and educated in Texas completing the Ph.D. (1990) from the University of North Texas. He has served in administrative and instructional roles within academic physics departments for 16 years and has spent much time developing and teaching the freshman physical science course for pre-service teachers, developing mentoring and training programs for teaching and learning assistants, and developing instructional laboratory programs using multimedia and interactive computer technologies. In 1992, Hehn joined the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) as the Associate Executive Officer. Two of the efforts he helped to direct included a high school textbook, "Active Physics," and a college physical science course for pre-service teachers, "Powerful Ideas in Physical Science." He was also active in the effort to create national science standards and in the development of a large-scale networking project for two-year colleges, TYC21. Hehn served three years (1996-1999) as a program director with the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) in the National Science Foundation (NSF). In August of 1999, Hehn joined the American Institute of Physics as the Director of Education. He served on the National Task Force on Undergraduate Physics which produced the "SpinUP Report" in 2000. He is a Co-Principal Investigator on the Physics Teachers Education Coalition (PhysTEC) an effort to prepare physics teachers; works in support of earth systems education efforts; and is encouraging and supporting the development of a physics digital library for educational resources through ComPADRE. He has been and continues to be active in proposing and directing large scale educational programs within learned societies, including science policy review and commentary, curriculum development, and technology and multi-media program development. Hehn retired from his position with AIP and is now providing consulting services in large scale project and association management. He is an active advocate in science and science education national policy.
Ann Johnson
Assocate Director, GeoTech Center
Ann Johnson received a BS from California State University in Fullerton and a MS from University of California Riverside in Geology focused on carbonate sedimentology and geochemistry. Her goals was to teach geology and Earth Sciences at community colleges. She became interested in Geographic Information Systems, believing it would be a useful tool for geology students and attended an NSF ATE funded "GIS for the 21st Century" program for college educators at Indiana State. Ann created a GIS Certificate program at San Bernardino Valley College and under a grant from the California Community College Chancellor's office, she helped developed the curriculum for and supported training in GIS to more than 125 instructors in California. In 1997, joined Esri as Higher Education Manager helping educators add GIS to their programs and continuing to teach workshops where her geology background provided the domain for geospatial exercises. Currently she is Associate Director of the NSF funded National Geospatial Technology Center of Excellence.
Karen Kortz
Professor, Physics, Community College of Rhode Island
I have been teaching at the Community College of Rhode Island for over 10 years. I earned my Ph.D. in geology from the University of Rhode Island doing geocognition research, specifically focusing on student misconceptions, and I continue to do research when I can. In addition, I develop curriculum, such as Lecture Tutorials for Geoscience, to help make classrooms more student-centered. I also lead faculty workshops on ways to increase interactivity in classrooms.
Kaatje Kraft
Geology Residential Faculty, Physical Science, Mesa Community College
I have been teaching Geology at Mesa Community College since 2000. In that capacity, I have developed curriculum, worked with universities for transfer agreements, supported undergraduate student research, and collaborated with colleagues in different disciplines. Community college students are such a wonderful population to teach, I have the benefit of working with students at all levels of interest, motivation, and skill sets. These experiences have led to my current work as a PhD student in Science Education at the Arizona State University looking at student motivation, interest, and use of self-regulatory strategies to learn content in these introductory geoscience courses. I am one of the PI's on an NSF collaborative research grant,
GARNET II: Self-Regulated Learning and the Affective Domain in Physical Geology. In addition, I currently serve as the webmaster for the new NAGT GEO2YC division in an effort to support the important representation of two-year faculty in the national conversation about geoscience teaching.
Lynsey LeMay
Adjunct Faculty, Geology, Thomas Nelson Community College
After completing by B.S. in geology from the College of William and Mary and my M.S. in marine science from the William and Mary/Virginia Institute of Marine Science, I immediately started teaching at Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, VA. I have been an adjunct geology instructor there for the the last five years, teaching Physical Geology, Historical Geology, and now Oceanography. I have always had a keen interest in geoscience education. I attended a planning workshop in 2010 on "The Role of Two-Year Colleges in Geoscience Education and in Broadening Participation in the Geosciences" which led to my participation on the steering committee for the development of Geo2YC. Geo2YC is now a division of NAGT and I am currently serving as President.
Mark Maier
Professor, Economics, Glendale Community College
I am working on a parallel NSF-supported SERC project,
Economics at Community Colleges. Our goal is to help community college economists be better connected to discipline-based efforts to improve teaching and learning. I live in Pasadena, CA and teach economics at nearby Glendale Community College. Based on insights from other disciplines, I've become interested in promoting just-in-time teaching, interactive lecture demonstrations and cooperative learning in economics instruction. My most recent economics publication looks at controversies in social science statistics.
Elizabeth Nagy-Shadman
Professor, Geology, Pasadena City College
For the past several years I have become increasingly involved in projects that focus on 2-year college (2YC) issues. In 2010 I completed 5 years of service on the Board of GSA's Geoscience Education Division as well as 5 years as a Member-At-Large on GSA's Education Committee. One of our highly visible accomplishments was the establishment of a 2YC social gathering at the annual GSA meetings that provides an opportunity for 2YC faculty to network and discuss issues unique to 2YCs. I have presided over several 2YC-related sessions at Section and Annual GSA meetings and have given many presentations on 2YC topics. Most recently I am a co-PI on an NSF-funded project called InTeGrate (Interdisciplinary Teaching of Geoscience for a Sustainable Future) which aims to improve geoscience literacy in today's students (tomorrow's workforce). My role is to ensure that 2YC faculty and institutions are included in all elements of the project, from materials design/development to assessment to classroom testing to dissemination.
Steven (Steve) Semken
Associate Professor of Geology and Geoscience Education, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University
I am an ethnogeologist and geoscience education researcher, interested in the ways that place, culture, and affect influence modes of inquiry, teaching, and learning in the Earth system sciences. Ive studied and worked for many years in Native American and Hispanic/Latino communities across the Southwest United States, and taught at Dine College (the tribal college of the Navajo Nation, and a 2YC) for 15 years before I came to Arizona State University in 2003. My interests include place-based science education and the function of sense of place; Indigenous and local ethnogeology; strategic K-12 STEM teacher professional development; geoscience interpretation in Southwestern National Parks; diversity in the geoscience community; and regional and environmental geology of the Southwest. I'm the deputy director of the EarthScope National Office at ASU, a past-president of NAGT, a desert rat, Southwest-style foodie, and grandpa.
James (Jim) Wysong
Professor of Earth Science / Program Manager for Sciences, Science, Hillsborough Community College - Brandon Campus
Jim Wysong is Professor of Earth Science and Program Manager for Sciences at Hillsborough Community College – Brandon Campus, in suburban Tampa, Florida. Jim's educational background includes undergraduate degrees in Geology and Geography from the University of South Florida (U.S.F.), and a Master's degree in Physical Geography – also from U.S.F. In 24 years of teaching at the community college level, he has primarily taught Earth Science (with lab), Meteorology, and Astronomy courses. Jim has long been active in curriculum issues, serving as General Education Committee chairman at his college for the past 12 years, board member for the Florida Geographic Alliance since 1990, committee member/representative on Florida's state-wide Physical Sciences Committee, and most recently, a member of the SAGE - 2YC Advisory Committee. In addition, Jim has been associated with the Chautauqua Program for faculty development, under the direction of the Center for STEM Education at the University of Texas at Austin, serving as course director for numerous field courses in the United States, Greenland, and Iceland.
