Early Career Geoscience Faculty Workshop Program

Note about Workshop Participation

We encourage everyone to participate in as much of the workshop as is possible. Some aspects of the workshop build on others, so missing those parts would make participation less beneficial and in some cases confusing.

Note: Any file marked as 'Private' on this page is only accessible to workshop participants (when logged in to their SERC accounts). If you are a workshop participant who is logged in to your SERC account and cannot access the files, please email Monica at mbruckne@carleton.edu for assistance.

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Participant Workspace (limited access) »

Before the Workshop

After registering for the workshop, please view the Participant Checklist for logistical information and for important deadlines for sharing additional information prior to the workshop. These include travel information, NSF visit preferences, and contributing either a research proposal or teaching activity for feedback from other workshop attendees.

Sunday, June 25

Before 5 PM - Arrive on campus, check in to dorms - George Draper Dayton Hall

5:00 - 5:30 Welcome and overview - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballrooms

5:30-6:30 Catered dinner - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom

6:30-8:30 Overview, strategic decisions session, icebreakers, and gallery tour

Monday, June 26

8:45-9:15 Overview - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom

9:15-10:45 Plenary: Course Design (Acrobat (PDF) 9.2MB Jun6 23) - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom - Martin Wong and Mea Cook

Active_learning_posters_all.pdf (Acrobat (PDF) 14.7MB Jun24 23)

course_design_handout_all_EC23.pdf (Acrobat (PDF) 135kB Jun24 23)

10:45-11:10 Coffee Break - Walk to Olin-Rice Science Center

11:10-12:10 Teaching Strategies: Concurrent Sessions - Olin-Rice Science Center

During the concurrent sessions, participants will choose a session from the list below:

We will discuss the benefits of using interactive activities in a lecture class, as well as several other ways to engage students, such as personal response systems, 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 student group and that can easily be incorporated into lecture classes of any size. And we will spend some time brainstorming about ways to incorporate these strategies in your own classroom.

We will expand upon the active learning ideas introduced in the previous session on Course and Lesson Design. We will explore the rationale behind using active learning, compare different techniques, and allow participants to design and share their own.

We will share strategies for designing and evaluating student writing assignments to support learning at all levels. Strategies include small-scale, low-stakes writing activities that can be readily incorporated into courses, longer assignments that support learning objectives within the sciences, and the use of online discussion tools.

  • Open Educational Resources (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) PRIVATE FILE 3.8MB Jun1 23) - Olin-Rice 175 - Gretchen Miller and Cailin Huyck Orr

Open Educational Resources (OERs) for college-level geoscience classes are becoming increasingly abundant and have numerous advantages for students and faculty. OERs include open textbooks, open online classes, instructional videos, and a variety of teaching and learning activities. The Science Education Resource Center (SERC) website hosts a vast array of OERs for geoscience teaching and more. This session discusses the value of OERs in terms of pedagogy, customization, and ease of integration, and provides time to explore how OERs may be used in your own class(es). A resource page for this session is available.

12:10-1:30 Lunch - Cafe Mac, Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center

1:30-2:30 Teaching Strategies: Concurrent Sessions - Olin-Rice Science Center

During the concurrent sessions, participants will choose a session from the list below:

We will discuss the benefits of using interactive activities in a lecture class, as well as several other ways to engage students, such as personal response systems, 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 student group and that can easily be incorporated into lecture classes of any size. And we will spend some time brainstorming about ways to incorporate these strategies in your own classroom.

We will expand upon the active learning ideas introduced in the previous session on Course and Lesson Design. We will explore the rationale behind using active learning, compare different techniques, and allow participants to design and share their own.

We will share strategies for designing and evaluating student writing assignments to support learning at all levels. Strategies include small-scale, low-stakes writing activities that can be readily incorporated into courses, longer assignments that support learning objectives within the sciences, and the use of online discussion tools.

We will discuss best practices and share experiences from the last two years and beyond. We will reflect on ways to engage our students in hybrid/online/flipped classrooms and develop strategies to effectively create positive learning environments.

2:30-3:00 Break - Walk to Kagin Commons

3:00-4:20 Plenary: Lesson Design (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) PRIVATE FILE 2.6MB Jun5 23) - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom - Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert and Scott Giorgis

4:20-5:00 Poster Instructions, Individual Consultations, and Daily Roadcheck

Dinner: on your own / self-organized groups

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Tuesday, June 27

8:45-9:00 Overview of the day - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom

9:00-10:00 Plenary: Working Effectively with Research Students - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom - Julie Baldwin and Wendi Flynn

10:00-10:20 Break

10:20-11:20 Plenary: Supporting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) PRIVATE FILE 69kB Jun27 23) - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom - Jane Willenbring and Gretchen Miller

11:30-1:00 Lunch - Cafe Mac, Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center - with optional interest group discussions

Possible group discussions - time management, communicating science, managing service

1:00-2:00 Strategies for Research and Scholarship: Concurrent Sessions - Olin-Rice Science Center

During the concurrent sessions, participants will choose a session from the list below:

In this session, we explore various models for designing undergraduate projects, working with undergraduates, and preserving group data/knowledge in the face of relatively high student turnover; we also discuss strategies for "chunking" projects in portions suitable for undergraduates at various levels of experience.

In this session we will explore everything from brainstorming and mentoring to writing with MS and PhD students. We will discuss addressing both the needs of your research program and the needs, experience, and abilities of your students. Practical aspects such as defining projects that can be done in a reasonable timeframe and funding students will also be discussed.

Conducting research on the process of learning geoscience can be illuminating and rewarding, leading to improvements in geoscience teaching. We will present a brief overview of current research on learning that illustrates a range of approaches and discuss participants' questions and ideas for conducting research on learning.

This session will empower individuals to support a healthy and collegial workplace environment with tools for effective communication and civil resolution of conflict. More resources available at the AdvanceGeo Partnership

2:00-2:15 Break

2:15-3:15 Strategies for Research and Scholarship: Concurrent Sessions

During the concurrent sessions, participants will choose a session from the list below:

In this session, we explore various models for designing undergraduate projects, working with undergraduates, and preserving group data/knowledge in the face of relatively high student turnover; we also discuss strategies for "chunking" projects in portions suitable for undergraduates at various levels of experience.

You have finished your dissertation or post-doctoral projects and you want to use the resources at your current institution and establish links outside your current institution to grow in new directions. This session will explore ways that you can build upon your existing strengths to move your career forward.

How do you recruit the best students AND retain them? The methods used by universities to recruit students have changed dramatically in the last few years. The students you are recruiting are being barraged by information from the universities that they are talking to. Learn how you can effectively recruit these students and work to retain them at your institution.

This session will empower individuals to support a healthy and collegial workplace environment with tools for effective communication and civil resolution of conflict.  More resources available at AdvanceGeo Partnership

3:15-3:30 Break

3:30-4:45 Connections, Extensions, Opportunities: Concurrent Sessions

During concurrent sessions, participants will choose a session from the list below:

This session will follow up on the DEI plenary to provide a forum to discuss how to implement DEI best-practices in a variety of settings and scales. Discussions will focus on DEI in the classroom/curriculum, research groups, field trips/camps, department climate, and within institutions. Additional resources can be found through the Teach the Earth portal Broadening Participation in the Geosciences pages.

Many students who major in geoscience do not plan to follow our footsteps into an academic career, so this session will focus on some of the ways we can support students as they prepare for the professional world. We will explore licensure, networking with professional geoscientists, and ensuring that students are learning the skills necessary to join the geoscience workforce.

This session will focus on approaches to provide students valuable research experience within the context of a formal class, for both introductory and upper-division levels. We will discuss advantages for incorporating research, successful strategies for doing so, and examples of research projects in a variety of classes at all levels.

4:45-5:00 Break - walk to Kagin Commons

5:00-5:15 Daily Roadcheck - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom

5:15-7:00 Individual consultations; work on posters

Dinner: on your own / self-organized groups

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Wednesday, June 28

8:45-9:00 Overview of the day - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom

9:00-10:25 Plenary: Creating a Strategic Plan (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 1.6MB Jun13 23) - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom - Ben Laabs and Jennifer Anderson

10:25-10:50 Break - coffee at Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom

10:50-11:30 Plenary: Welcome and Introduction to NSF - Tim Patten, Deputy Assistant Director, Geoscience Directorate and Lina Patino, Supervisory Program Director, RISE

11:30-12:30 Lunch - Cafe Mac, Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center

12:30-1:30 Writing Proposals and Getting Funded: Concurrent Sessions - Olin-Rice Science Center

  • Writing Your First NSF-Style Proposal at a Research University - Olin-Rice 150 - Julie Baldwin and Ben Laabs

This session will focus on basics and nuts and bolts for your first 'large' proposal (NSF, but also relevant to other agencies).

Writing research proposals at institutions that primarily serve undergraduates (PUIs) poses a unique set of challenges and opportunities. In this session, we will explore strategies for crafting successful proposals at such institutions.

Having proposals, journal papers, and other works we've poured our hearts into rejected is unfortunately part of this job. We will discuss and share strategies on how to move forward after a rejection: what can be learned, how to cope, and when maybe to strategically move on.

1:30-1:50 Break - proposal review participants move to Kagin Commons AG Hill Ballroom, teaching review participants remain at Olin-Rice

1:50-4:20 Moving Your Research and Teaching Forward: Concurrent Sessions

Participants will attend one session from the list below, based upon their pre-workshop submission of either a PROPOSAL SUMMARY or TEACHING ACTIVITY:

  • Improving Research Proposals Through Review of Your Proposal Summaries - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom - Martin Wong and others

For this session you need to have submitted a 1-2 page proposal summary by May 20.

  • Improving Teaching Activities and Assignments Through Review of Your Assignment - Olin-Rice 187 - Gretchen Miller and others

For this session you need to have submitted a class activity or assignment by May 20. If you did not submit something in advance, you may

  • Peruse the proposal collection
  • Search for teaching resources online
  • Work on your posters for tomorrow

4:20-4:40 Break - walk to Kagin Commons

4:40-5:00 Poster Session logistics and NSF Virtual Visit Overview - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom - Ben Laabs

5:00 onward Individual consultations, work on posters

Dinner: on your own / self-organized groups

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Thursday, June 29

8:45-11:40 Poster session - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom
Poster session schedule and assignments
Poster assignments.xlsx (Excel 2007 (.xlsx) 10kB Jun29 23)

If you are willing to share one or both of your posters, either with the world at large or just with this year's workshop participants, please take a photo of your poster(s) and upload it/them

11:40-12:00 Poster session reflection

12:00-1:30 Lunch - Cafe Mac, Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center

1:30-2:30 Building a Network of Support (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) PRIVATE FILE 412kB Jun5 23) - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom - Martin Wong and Jennifer Anderson

2:30-2:45 Break

2:45-4:45 Plenary: Strategic Action Planning - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom - All workshop leaders

4:45-5:15 Plenary: Lessons Learned - Kagin Commons, AG Hill Ballroom - All workshop leaders
End of Workshop Survey

5:30-6:30 Closing Dinner

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Friday, June 30

Checkout of dorms by 9:00 AM, luggage can be stored in a secure room.

Week of July 10

Optional virtual visit to the National Science Foundation