
Dana Thomas
City of Austin
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.
Website Content Contributions
Conference Presentations (4)
Teaching our TAs: enhancing educational training for geoscience graduate students part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Poster Sessions:Thursday
As teaching assistants (TAs), graduate students are often the primary resource in a classroom and serve as the communication gateway between students and instructors. Importantly, they may later become ...
Other Contributions (2)
Wednesday Panel/Forum: Disruption in Earth Education part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2024:Program
Come welcome new participants and share your Rendezvous experiences with colleagues at the Wednesday Forum. This year's Wednesday Forum theme is "Disruption in Earth Education." Disruptions can have ...
Facilitating Effective Group Projects in Geoscience Courses part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2024:Program:Afternoon Mini-Workshops
This workshop will explore effective ways to facilitate group projects to promote the development of workforce skills for students. We will provide an overview of the benefits of group projects for geoscience ...
Communities

South Central Section, Geoscience Education Research Division
39 activities reviewed
July 2024 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2023
July 2023 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2016
July 2016 2023 EER Review Camp Reviewers
GETSI Community
Integrate/GETSI 2023 Survey
ITG Stanford IP Workshop 2014
NAGT All
Teach the Earth
Carbon, Climate, and Energy Resources Interest Group
Eyes on the Hydrosphere: Tracking Water Resources Interest Group
GETSI Interest Group
Measuring the Earth with GPS Interest Group
NAGT Webinar Series Interest
Compass Interest Group
Earth Educators' Rendezvous Interest Group
Workshop Leader
EER 2024 Facilitating Effective Group Projects in Geoscience Courses
NAGT Group Projects Workshop Participants
Workshop Participant (22 workshops)
April 2022 GETSI Virtual Short Course 9 Intro Water Resources
April 2021 GETSI Virtual Short Course 5 Measuring Earth with GPS
February 2021