Initial Publication Date: May 19, 2021

Compass Community Discovery Advisors

The following people are engaged with the Compass project as Community Discovery Advisors (CDAs).


Jennifer Anderson

Jennifer Anderson is a Professor of Geoscience at Winona State University in southeastern Minnesota. She is a planetary geologist who specializes in experimental impact cratering and came from a broad scientific background including geophysics, astrophysics, and physics. She teaches Astronomy, Earth & Space Systems, Planetary Geology, Geophysics, Earth & Life Science content for education majors, and other courses. Jennifer is passionate about teacher preparation and runs the 5-12 Earth & Space Science teaching and the 5-8 Middle-Level Science teaching programs at WSU. She is also active in astronomy and geoscience outreach in the Winona area.


Lyle Barbato

Lyle Barbato is the ComPADRE Technical Lead and has experience in developing online resources for the dissemination of education research and pedagogy tools, including development work on ComPADRE, PER-Central, PhysPort, Periscope, and the Living Physics Portal.


Devarati Bhattacharya

Devarati Bhattacharya is a Science Education Specialist in the Department of Science and Math Education at the Central Washington University. Building on her doctoral research in Science Education (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis) where she analyzed secondary teachers' understanding about complex natural phenomena such as global climate change, her research encompasses Design-Based Research to develop, implement and assess STEM-curricula for supporting students' use of a data-driven approaches for in science investigations, particularly about the Earth's climate.


Melinda Boland

Is the VP of Services at the ‎Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME).


Megan Brown

Megan Brown is an Assistant Profession of Hydrogeology in the Department of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Northern Illinois University. Her research focuses on how fluids interact with and can induce earthquakes, microplastics in groundwater, and other groundwater problems. She also conducts geoscience education research with a particular interest in accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities. 


Deron Carter

Deron Carter is full-time faculty at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon, where he teaches a variety of geoscience courses in geology, oceanography, Earth science, and environmental justice.

He also has developed and supports programs to help transfer students become involved in undergraduate researc, including the LBOS Geobridge Program, and is currently a project advisor for the ARC Learn program. Deron has also been involved in projects to transform STEM instruction at two-year colleges, including being selected as a participant in the SAGE 2YC: Faculty as Change Agents.


Felicia Davis

Felicia M. Davis, directs the Building Green Initiative housed at Clark Atlanta University within the Atlanta University Center-the largest consortium of historically black colleges and universities in the nation.


Carrie Diaz-Eaton

Carrie Diaz Eaton is an Associate Professor of Digital and Computational Studies at Bates College, a co-founder of QUBES, and project director for Math Mamas.


David Engebretson Jr

David Engebretson Jr. is the digital technologies accessibility coordinator at Western Washington University. His work in digital communications aims to increase the potential for all faculty, staff, and students in the Western global community to succeed. "Both of my parents are geologists. I've been following them and their aspirations as scientists since I was a baby. My love for Mother Nature and its wonders has been nurtured by their enthusiasm."

David is a life long sailor, surfer, and a loving parent. He works with disparate organizations within the Western global community to promote awareness of how to create accessible experiences for the disabled. "I've been legally blind for 25 years and I enjoy sharing my expertise in accessible digital technologies with anyone who is willing to listen."


Joshua Feinberg

Joshua Feinberg is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota Twin Cities with active research interests in geophysics, geology, environmental science, archaeology, and climatology. He helps run the Institute for Rock Magnetism, an NSF-funded National Multi-User Facility that providesfree-of-charge access to state-of-the-art geophysical facilities and technical expertise, and by encouraging visiting researchers in their studies of important new topics in rock magnetism and related interdisciplinary fields. Josh's main research tools are magnetic methods combined with mineral characterization and field studies. Josh also develops new undergraduate courses and majors to enable students to be competitive within a variety of geoscience career paths.


Anne Gold

Anne Gold is the Director the Education & Outreach Program at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) where she leads a team of 17 with extensive expertise in curriculum development, public outreach, community engagement, early career scientist support, and evaluation. With over a decade of experience in envisioning, developing and implementing education and outreach opportunities for scientists, educators, students and the public, Gold is well established in the education and outreach community. She lead the CLEANnet.org climate education project and a summer research project for community college students in Colorado and on curriculum development projects around environmental science topics many of which have a place-based focus. She focuses much of her work on measuring the impact of education and outreach work.


 

Missy Holzer

Missy Holzer taught high school Earth, Space, and Environmental Science, and Physical Geography for more than 30 years, and is now a science standards specialist with Great Minds PBC - PhD Science. She champions the integration of science practices with science sensemaking about phenomena to develop her students into lifelong problem solvers. She enjoys field research immensely and has assisted in data collection in places such as Svalbard, Nicaragua, Kenya, Ecuador, Jamaica, Costa Rica, off the coasts of Oregon, South Carolina, Cape Cod, and Chile. Back in the classroom she used these field experiences to develop units of study to inspire students to get out and explore their natural world. She is actively involved in numerous state and national organizations and is currently the secretary of National Earth Science Teachers Association (president 2012-2014) and serves as the NESTA representative on the NGSS-ESS Working Group.


Lisa Kempler

Lisa works at MathWorks, makers of MATLAB software for engineering and science, where she worked as Director of Product Management for MATLAB Products for many years. More recently, she's been the MATLAB Community Strategist working with researcher and educator communities to ensure that the computing tools and related resources they need are available.

In these roles, she's worked with teams to synthesize product and web site requirements, curate content, run conferences and workshops, and design and develop business and access models for delivering content and analytical and design software to educators, students, researchers and industry practitioners. Sheholds two Computer Science degrees, and likes solving problems and biking.


Brandon Muramatsu

Brandon Muramatsu works at the intersection of learning, innovation and scale. His work focuses on online and digital learning to improve teaching and learning with a focus on open education. He has been involved in the development of learning technologies and education technologies, open education / OpenCourseWare and educational digital libraries over the last 25+ years. His work has a focus on STEM education, both nationally and internationally, and at all education levels.


Adriana E. Perez

Associate Professor at El Paso Community College. Environmental Justice and Freshwater module co-author. SAGE 2YC Agent of change. Interests include diversity and representation in science, student-centered active learning pedagogy, student success and improving online learning and access to underrepresented communities


Phil Resor

Phil Resor is a Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and Education Studies at Wesleyan University. As a structural geologist, he studies rock deformation with an emphasis on the geometry and mechanics of faults and folds applied to earthquakes, tectonics and planetary science. Phil's education work is focused on developing and promoting the use of engaged pedagogy in the geosciences. He is an InTeGrate and GETSI module co-author and On-Ramps to more effective teaching in tectonics project coleader. Phil is currently chairing the NAGT Teach the Earth Website Committee.


Nicolas Roberts

Nicolas Roberts is a quantitative field-based structural geologist with a broad set of research interests that center around how the continental crust accommodates deformation.


Katherine Ryker

I am an Assistant Professor of Geoscience Education at the University of South Carolina, and have served the NAGT Geoscience Education Research division as Secretary (2014-2017), Vice President, President and Past President (2017-2020).
My primary research interests revolve around 1) interventions in introductory geoscience classes (especially labs) to improve cognitive and affective learning goals, and 2) teaching professional development (faculty, graduate teaching assistants and pre- and in-service teachers). This includes exploring connections between reformed teaching practices, student learning, teaching beliefs, and the implementation of inquiry-based geoscience labs. Other specific topics I am interested in include the use of augmented and virtual reality in geoscience programs and how teachers develop their beliefs and identities over time.


Stefany Sit

Stefany Sit is a clinical associate professor in Geoscience Education and Geophysics at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC). She focuses on creating active learning classrooms and geoscience education initiatives that support all students. She has participated in UIC's teaching scholar program and has served on UIC's Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning Committee and the Incorporated Research Institutes for Seismology's Education and Public Outreach Standing Committee.


Karen Viskupic

Karen Viskupic is an assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences at Boise State University. Her research in geoscience education focuses on questions related to use of evidence-based teaching practices and institutional transformation, and students' career awareness and skill development especially at the program and community scale. Karen was president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) from 2019 - 2020 and has served in many leadership roles within the organization including chair of the Professional Development Committee, leader in the Traveling Workshops Program, Co-chair of the Earth Educators' Rendezvous, and councilor-at-large. Karen has also been involved in community-scale geoscience education research initiatives including the 2016 administration of the National Geoscience Faculty Survey, the On the Cutting Edge Classroom Observation Project, and the InTeGrate assessment team.