Advisory Board

David Asai is the Director of the undergraduate science education program at HHMI. David oversees an annual portfolio of over $50 million in initiatives that are reinvigorating life science education at research universities and liberal arts colleges, as well as engaging the nation's leading scientists in teaching. A cell biologist, Asai knows first hand the impact HHMI grants can have at both a major research university and a liberal arts college: he served as an HHMI program director at both Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and at Harvey Mudd in Claremont, Calif.

Sarah Bednarz is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Geography at Texas A&M University. Sarah's primary research interests focus on cognition, geography education, and ways geospatial technologies support the development of spatial thinking. Her secondary research interests include environmental and geosciences education and curriculum development and teacher preparation in these areas. Sarah Bednarz's home page

Teresa Bowers is President of Gradient, an environmental consulting firm with approximately 100 staff, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her technical practice revolves around modeling human exposure to contaminants in the environment. She is the author of more than 50 journal articles on geochemistry, risk assessment, and other topics. Teresa Bowers home page

Michael J. Carroll is a Senior Staff Geologist at Hunt Oil Company in Dallas, Texas. He is the current President of the National Association of Black Geoscientists, a member of the American Geosciences Institute, a member of the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Earth Resources, and a long-term member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. An exploration geoscientist, Carroll has 36 plus years of oil and natural gas industry experience in technical and management positions.

Geoff Feiss is the GSA Foundation President as well as Provost and Professor Emeritus at the College of William and Mary. His research interests include hydrothermal geochemistry and economic mineral resources, and he is active in work related to post-secondary education. Geoff Feiss's home page

Grace Goldberg facilitates stakeholder-driven geodesign projects for the McClintock Lab at UC Santa Barbara. She recently received her B.S. and M.S. from the Stanford University School of Earth Sciences, in the Earth Systems Program, with experience developing interdisciplinary courses. She serves as the advisory board leader for student engagement.

Jack Hehn is CEO of JH Consult and former Director of Education, American Institute of Physics. He has had extensive experience in teaching, teacher training and professional development, and education research and is active in proposing and directing large scale educational programs, including science policy review and commentary, curriculum development, and technology and multimedia program development. Much of his current effort is directed toward encouraging and supporting collaborations between learned societies and among affinity groups within the Physics, Astronomy, Earth Systems, and Allied Science Community.

Pat Hutchings was a senior scholar and vice president at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching from 1998-2009. She is now a consulting scholar with Carnegie, senior scholar with the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, and scholar-in-residence at Gonzaga University, in Spokane, Washington. Pat's work has focused on a variety of strategies for creating a campus culture of teaching and learning: student outcomes assessment, the peer collaboration and review of teaching, integrative learning, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Pat Hutchings's home page

Bob Krantz is Principal Structural Geologist at ConocoPhillips, Geological Technology. After earning his PhD at the University of Arizona, Bob started his career in the Geological Research Division of ARCO. Since then, he has held positions in R&D, exploration, and production geology at ARCO, Phillips, and ConocoPhillips. Bob's current research focuses on the development of 3D cognitive skills as applied in geologic interpretation, especially in complex structural geologic settings. Since the early 1990's Bob has been active in campus recruiting and outreach, and currently holds an Adjunct Professor appointment at the University of Arizona.

Stephanie Pfirman is Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Science at Barnard College. Her research interests focus on the role of sea ice in the redistribution of sediments and pollutants in the Arctic. She is involved in research on environmental changes in the Arctic as well as undergraduate education and public outreach. Stephanie Pfirman's home page

Judith A. Ramaley is President Emerita at Winona State University. She is also President Emerita and Distinguished Professor of Public Service at Portland State University. She served as Assistant Director of Education and Human Resources at the National Science Foundation from 2001-2005. She has played an active role in higher-education reform and has worked cooperatively to design regional alliances to promote educational cooperation. She also has contributed to national discussions about the changing nature of work and the workforce and plays a national role in the exploration of civic responsibility and the role of higher education in promoting good citizenship. She has published extensively on educational reform, science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and the leadership of organizational change.

Joaquin Ruiz is the Dean of the College of Science and Professor of Geochemistry at the University of Arizona. His research interests are in chemistry and Earth Sciences and include topics such as the development of new isotope systems for studying ore deposits and the tectonic processes involved in the growth and evolution of Mexico. His research team addresses problems ranging from the origins of life to present-day climate change. Joaquin Ruiz's home page

Jim Swartz is the Interim Associate Vice President and Professor of Chemistry at Grinnell College. Swartz has done extensive work in developing science division-wide efforts to improve introductory courses and to substantially increase the number of participants involved in student-faculty research. He has played an active role in planning of science facilities and curriculum development. He is the project coordinator for the NSF funded Project Kaleidoscope Pedagogies of Engagement project. Jim Swartz's home page

Lisa White is the Director of Education and Outreach at the UC Museum of Paleontology. A former Professor of Geosciences at San Francisco State University, she has taught undergraduate classes in paleontology, historical geology, and the history of life, and guided research projects with graduate students in Miocene diatoms of the Monterey Formation of CA and fossil cold seep assemblages in the Franciscan Complex. Lisa White's home page

Quinton Williams is the Chair and Professor of Physics at Howard University. His research interests include synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials, transparent, conducting, flexible electronic materials, fiber Lasers, photonic sensors, renewable energy (Li-Ion batteries and Ultracapacitors) and stratospheric ozone, as it relates to geoscience. Quinton Williams's home page

Mary Lou Zoback is a Consulting Professor at Stanford University and has served as former Vice President, Earthquake Risk Applications, Risk Management Solutions, and former Senior Research Scientist with the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program. Her research interests are focused on the relationship between active faulting and state of stress, quantifying earthquake likelihood, characterizing natural hazard risk, and valuing nature's defenses against natural hazards. Mary Lou Zoback's home page

Term Completed

Art Goldstein currently serves as the Dean of the Bartlett College of Science and Mathematics of Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. Prior to that he held positions as Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of New England and Director of the Division of Earth Sciences at NSF, where he also served as Section Head and Program Director for Tectonics. Art spent 24 years on the faculty of the Geology Department of Colgate University and left at the rank of Full Professor. He received his B.S. from Kent State University and his MS and PhD from the University of Massachusetts. Art is a structural geologist who has studied finite and incremental strain and the tectonics of the Ancestral Rockies, Northern Appalachians, Adirondacks and Southern Alps of New Zealand.