Dana Thomas

I am a geochemist and educator with experience in higher education and municipal government. In my role as an Environmental Scientist at the City of Austin Watershed Protection Department https://www.austintexas.gov/department/watershed-protection, I work with my team to monitor groundwater and surface water quality, investigate urban discharge, and protect the local environment. We collaborate with the education teams on outreach projects to engage youth and the public around watersheds, ecosystems, and the endangered salamander species in the Austin area.

Previously, I was an educational program manager at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin developing and facilitating impactful, inclusive programs that provide students from all backgrounds the learning, opportunities and support they need to pursue their goals. Example projects included the JSG summer undergraduate Research Traineeship Experience (RTX), the Math and Science Institute for incoming college freshmen, an NSF-funded computational earthquake science summer school and an NSF-funded workshop series for faculty and researchers to become more inclusive mentors. I was also a Lecturer with the Energy and Earth Resources Graduate Program https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/eer/ at the Jackson School and taught a course for interdisciplinary students that emphasizes the geologic controls on the distribution and reliance on Earth resources. With researchers at the Bureau of Economic Geology, I also taught a project-based course on CO₂ sequestration in geologic formations.

I became involved with NAGT as a graduate student, and am proud of and grateful for the network and professional development the organization has provided. I served as an NAGT Councilor at Large from 2021 to 2024, helping guide the organization and approve the budget and other decisions.

I am always open to chatting about my career or other topics and can be reached at danathomas.work@gmail.com.