Early Career Geoscience Faculty Workshop Program

Note: the 2012 workshop is over. Find out more about the Early Career Geoscience Faculty workshops, or read on for more information about the 2012 workshop, including most of the workshop presentations.

Jump down to Monday * Tuesday * Wednesday * Thursday * Friday

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Check in to the hotel (the Williamsburg Hospitality House ) at any time (your room might not be ready until 3:00 pm). Registration for the workshop will be in the William and Mary Parlor of the Hospitality House from 3:00-5:00; workshop registration for later arrivals will be at the Sadler Center during the reception, dinner, or evening program.

5:30 Informal Reception with Cash Bar, Sadler Center, Tidewater A and B

6:00-7:00 Dinner, Sadler Center, Tidewater A and B

7:00-9:00 Welcome and Introductions, Workshop Goals, Discussion, Logistics, Sadler Center, Tidewater A and B

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Monday, June 11

7:00-8:00 Breakfast, Sadler Center Dining Hall

8:15-8:30 Preview Workshop and Announcements, Sadler Center, Tidewater A

8:30-9:30 Strategic Decisions: Elements of a Successful Career (PowerPoint 742kB Jun8 12), Tidewater A - Richard Yuretich

9:30-9:50 Break, Tidewater B

9:50-11:15 Course Design (Acrobat (PDF) 3.8MB Jun8 12), Tidewater A - Rachel Beane & Heather Macdonald

11:15-12:00 Interactive Lectures (PowerPoint 482kB Jun11 12), Tidewater A - Greg Hancock, College of William and Mary

12:00-1:20 Lunch, Sadler Center Dining Hall

1:20-2:10 Teaching Strategies: Concurrent Sessions.

Participants will attend one session from the list below (Sadler Center):

  • Engaging Students in Large Classes (Acrobat (PDF) 4.9MB Jun11 12), Tidewater A - Andrew Goodliffe and Robert Rhew
    • We will discuss the benefits of using interactive activities in a lecture class, as well as several other ways to engage students, such as student clickers, multimedia clips, in-class demonstrations, course website tools and connecting the topics to students' lives. We will demonstrate some short activities that actively engage a diverse and potentially unmotivated student group and that can easily be incorporated into lecture classes. And we will spend some time brainstorming about ways to incorporate these strategies in your own classroom.
  • Improving Students' Spatial Thinking Skills (PowerPoint 12.3MB Jun11 12), York Room - Carol Ormand
    • Spatial thinking is essential in many subdisciplines of the geosciences, yet many of our students struggle with spatially demanding concepts and tasks. Fortunately, as with any other intellectual skill, spatial thinking improves with practice. We will discuss how to assess and strengthen students' spatial thinking skills in light of research on spatial thinking from both the cognitive sciences and geoscience education.
  • Keeping Seminar Courses Lively and Engaging, Tidewater B - Richard Yuretich
    • Seminar courses should be exciting and interactive, yet they are too often just the opposite. This session will model some ways to keep all participants focused and involved in the discussions.To benefit from this session, you should come prepared by reading the paper that we will discuss.
  • Responding Effectively to Student Writing (Microsoft Word 29kB Jun8 12), James Room - Sharon Zuber
    • Evaluating writing takes time and students often think the process is totally subjective. We will discuss specific ways to give students useful feedback without being overwhelmed with work by sequencing assignments to build on student skills and using a rubric that sets students up for success and minimizes the time it takes to grade. Participants will be given handouts for teaching and evaluating writing.

2:20-3:10 Teaching Strategies: Concurrent Sessions.

Participants will attend a session from the list below (Sadler Center):

3:10-3:30 Break, Tidewater B

3:30-4:45 Lesson Design: Preparing for a Class Period (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 1.7MB Jun10 12), Tidewater A - Rachel Beane and Heather Macdonald

4:45-5:00 Overview of Individual Consultations, Daily Roadcheck, Tidewater A

5:30-6:30 Dinner, Sadler Center Dining Hall (serving ends at 6:30, Dining Hall closes at 7:00)

7:00-8:00 Informal Session (optional) - Sharing Ideas about Specific Courses, Alumni House (open until 9:00)

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Tuesday, June 12

7:00-8:00 Breakfast, Sadler Center Dining Hall

8:15-8:30 Report From Yesterday's Roadchecks; Introduction to Your Research/Scholarly Career, Sadler Center, Tidewater A

8:30-9:40 Working Effectively with Research Students: Different Models, Tidewater A - Richelle Allen-King

9:40-10:00 Break, Tidewater B

10:00-10:50 Strategies for Research and Scholarship: Concurrent Sessions.

Participants will attend one of the sessions listed below (Sadler Center):

11:00-11:50 Strategies for Research and Scholarship: Concurrent Sessions.

Participants will attend one of the sessions listed below (Sadler Center):

12:00-1:00 Lunch, Sadler Center Dining Hall

Optional Interest Group Discussions: dual academic careers, large classes, two-stage exams, (teaching with) mobile devices, and diverse classes.

1:30-3:00 Finding and Being a Mentor: Listening and Giving Feedback, Alumni House, Leadership Hall - Susan Lozier

Contrary to popular opinion, a career in science is filled with interpersonal interactions and relationships that are essential to our success. In this session, we will focus on how to make our engagement with people in our community more productive and rewarding.

3:00-3:20 Break. Leadership Hall Lobby

3:20-4:00 Connections, Extensions, Opportunities: Concurrent Sessions.

Participants will attend a session selected from an array of options (Alumni House):

  • Publishing your First Few Papers, 2nd Floor Conference Room - Richelle Allen-King
  • Scenarios on Mentoring and Feedback, Leadership Hall - Susan Lozier
    • In this session, we will practice what we preach with real scenarios from real (but unnamed) scientists.
  • Working with Industry (Acrobat (PDF) 85kB Jun8 12), Pollard Room - Andrew Goodliffe
    • Although the majority of us have made a conscious lifestyle decision to embrace academia, close ties to industry can still be beneficial for our research, teaching, and for the students that we advise. We will discuss ways in which mutually beneficial relationships with industry can be fostered that can produce excellent research experiences for students, opportunities to bring in industry experts for teaching, provide sources of student scholarships funds, and supplement funding for your research program. Examples of a variety of opportunities will be presented.
  • Working with K-12 Teachers, 3rd Floor Conference Room - Karen Kortz
    • We will discuss opportunities for working with K-12 teachers through teacher professional development and by helping develop curricula for K-12 students.

4:00-4:15 Daily Roadcheck, Leadership Hall

4:15-6:30 Individual Consultations, Alumni House

6:30 Picnic Dinner at the Alumni House followed by Individual Consultations

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Wednesday, June 13

7:00-8:00 Breakfast

8:15-8:30 Report From Yesterday's Roadchecks and Preview of Today's Sessions, Alumni House, Leadership Hall

8:30-9:50 Developing a Strategic Plan for Research/Scholarly Activity, Leadership Hall - Richard Yuretich

9:50-10:10 Break, Leadership Hall Lobby

10:10-10:50 Connections, Extensions, Opportunities: Concurrent Sessions (Alumni House):

  • Work-Life Balance, Pollard Room - Susan Lozier
    • Interested in fitting a career into your life rather than a life into your career? In this session, I will discuss strategies for maintaining a satisfying work-life balance.
  • Effective Display of Data (PowerPoint 4.7MB Jun13 12), Second Floor Conference Room - Rob Rhew
    • You've designed your study, invented a new measurement technique, collected your samples, measured them in your lab, broken your instrument, fixed it, re-calibrated, repeated this process 10 times, and finally have a dataset. Now you want your data display to reflect the care and thoughtfulness that you've executed through your entire experiment. It is not enough as a scientist to DO good research -- you need to convey that research effectively and honestly. We will go over rules of graphical excellence, discuss common types of graphs/figures, view pitfalls that commonly occur, and discuss tips for improving data display.

11:00-11:30 Writing Proposals and Getting Funded (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 101kB Jun8 12), Leadership Hall - Richelle Allen-King

11:30-12:45 Lunch, Alumni House

Optional Interest Group Discussions: kids, online courses, international faculty, clickers, interdisciplinary research/collaborations, effective use of start-up funds (lessons learned, advice), and mental health/violence issues with students.

1:00-3:00 Moving Your Research/Scholarly Activity Forward: Funding and Other Issues (concurrent sessions, Alumni House)

  • Improving Research Proposals Through Review of Your Proposal Summaries, Leadership Hall - Richelle Allen-King
  • Reviewing Successful Proposals and Developing a Proposal Idea of One's Own, Pollard Room - Heather Macdonald
    We will review successful proposals, then participants will develop a proposal idea (for research and/or teaching) and share feedback on these proposal ideas.
  • Issues at teaching-centered institutions, 2nd Floor Conference Room - Karen Kortz
    This session is geared toward those teaching at two-year colleges and other institutions where one is not expected to write research proposals.

3:00-3:20 Break, Leadership Hall Lobby

3:20-3:45 Poster Instructions - Daily Roadcheck - Discussion of NSF visit, Leadership Hall

3:45-5:45 Work on Poster, Individual Consultations, Alumni House

6:00 (or time you choose) Dinner in town (self-organized)

7:00-9:30 Work on Poster, Individual Consultations, Alumni House

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Thursday, June 14

7:00-8:00 Breakfast, Sadler Center Dining Hall

All morning: Coffee in the McGlothlin-Street Hall Room 20 Lobby

8:30-11:00 Poster Session, McGlothlin-Street Hall Room 20

11:00-11:30 Poster Follow-up and Reflection, McGlothlin-Street Hall Room 20

11:30-1:15 Lunch in town (self-organized)

1:15-2:15 Strategic Decisions: Elements of a Satisfying Life (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 2.2MB Jun8 12), Sadler Center, Tidewater A - Richard Yuretich

2:15-3:45 Strategic Action Planning, Sadler Center, Tidewater A

3:45-4:00 Break, Sadler Center, Tidewater B

4:00-5:00 Lessons Learned, Concluding Remarks, and Workshop Evaluation, Sadler Center, Tidewater A

7:00 Dinner, Nawab Indian Cuisine Restaurant, 204 Monticello Avenue, Monticello Shopping Center

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Friday, June 15

Optional Visit to the National Science Foundation