The TREX Team
Project Investigators:
Dr. Nicole Davi, Principal Investigator
Dr. Nicole Davi is Principle Investigator for this NSF-funded project entitled "Using Tree Rings to Develop Critical Scientific and Mathematical Skills in Undergraduate Students". She is a professor of Environmental Science at William Paterson University and an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist at the Tree-Ring Laboratory at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Davi's research focuses on developing and interpreting high-resolution paleoclimatic records in order to further our understanding of climate change over the past 2000 years. She has authored/co-authored many peer-review articles on paleoclimate and has received awards from National Science Foundation and other funding agencies for her research. She has also been involved in a range of education projects and art/science collaborations.
Pat Pringle, Co-Principal Investigator
Pat Pringle is a Professor Emeritus of Earth Science at Centralia College, Washington. From 1990–2005 he was a Research Geologist, WADNR Div. of Geology and Earth Sciences, and from 1982–1990 was with US Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory in the volcanic hazards program. His main areas of study are volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, and debris flows which he studies using radiocarbon and tree-ring analysis to establish the history of past geologic events. His publications include books on the roadside geology of Mounts St. Helens and Rainier as well as published papers and reports; the Mount Rainier book won the Geoscience Information Society's "Best Guidebook Award" for 2009, presented at the Geological Society of America's Annual Meeting that year. He has received several teaching awards including Washington Association of College Trustees Faculty Member of the Year in 2016.
Dr. Frank Wattenberg, Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Frank Wattenberg, United States Military Academy West Point, Department of Mathematical Sciences is a professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the United States Military Academy (USMA) and a Co-Principal Investigator of this NSF-funded project entitled "Using Tree Rings to Develop Critical Scientific and Mathematical Skills in Undergraduate Students" and of NCSCE's Engaging Mathematics initiative. Dr. Wattenberg currently teaches MA391 Mathematical Modeling and MA103 Mathematical Modeling and Introduction to Calculus.
Dr. Caroline Leland, Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Caroline Leland is a postdoctoral research scientist at William Paterson University and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. She studies tree rings to understand environmental variability occurring over the last several centuries to millennia in many regions of the world, including northwestern North America and north Asia. She received her PhD in 2019, and her research focused on the growth morphology of ancient conifers and their sensitivity to past climate. In addition to her paleoclimate research, Caroline is interested in teaching and mentoring students, educational outreach, and curriculum development. She was involved in the development of TREX Lab 6 (Climate Extremes and Impacts on People).
Project Partners:
Dr. Jeff Lockwood
Dr. Jeffrey Lockwood is a co-developer of the TREX module. He taught high-school Earth science, biology, astronomy, and physics in Tucson, AZ for 28 years. Lockwood has co-authored four high-school science textbooks (Investigating Astronomy, Astrobiology, Physics That Works, Environmental Science: The Habitable World), and a full-year Online Earth and Space Systems Science course for the Virtual High School Collaborative. He has also written numerous curriculum pieces for PBS/WGBH Boston, NOVA, NASA, and NSTA. Lockwood has directed numerous PD efforts over the past 20 years that focus on training teachers to engage students in authentic science research projects in astronomy.
Francesco Fiondella - International Research Inst. for Climate and Society, Columbia University
Francesco Fiondella is the Director of Communications at The International Research Institute for Climate and Society. Fiondella has worked as a science communicator for more than 15 years, using his writing and photography to convey how some of the world's most vulnerable people struggle with the realities of climate, and what scientists are doing about it.
Dr. Ida Greidanus - Passaic County Community College
Dr. Ida Greidanus is a emeritus professor of Biology at Passaic County Community College in New Jersey. Dr. Greidanus is noted for her commitment to students, willingness to take on projects, and leadership in significant academic initiatives, particularly the 2002 federal STEM grant project to expand learning opportunities for urban students in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields.
Sean Fox -SERC
Sean Fox is the Technical Director at SERC and led the SERC team in providing the structure and design elements of the TREX site. Fox has been been involved in building science education websites since 1993 and designed the technical infrastructure that underpins SERC's websites. TREX is hosted at SERC along with a wide range of STEM education materials that draw over 5 million visitors a year.