New NAGT Officers

Following the recent elections, we have several new officers who have stepped up to help further the work of NAGT.

New Vice President

Michael R. Taber - Colorado College

Dr. Taber currently serves as a Professor of Science Education, Directory of Secondary Programs, and Chair of the Environmental Sciences program at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Prior to this appointment, he was Associate Professor of Earth Science Education (tenured) at the University of Northern Colorado from 2000 to 2006. Dr. Taber received a B.A. in Geology and a M.A.T. in Secondary Teaching from Colorado College and his Ph.D. in Water Resources from Iowa State University.

Mike continues to conduct research on promoting inquiry in pre-service education, using data in the classroom, and research on heterogeneous surface energy fluxes at high altitude wetlands.

New Counselors

Jeffrey R. Knott – California State University, Fullerton

Dr. Knott has been a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at CSUF for 6 years. He has earned a B.S. (UCLA, 1983), M.S. (Cal State Los Angeles, 1992) and Ph.D. (UC Riverside, 1998) in geology. Dr. Knott has worked as a private geological consultant (1984-1988), associate geologist for California Department of Transportation (1989-1992) and Senior Geologist for Union Oil Company (1997-2001). His research interests are Quaternary geology, geomorphology, environmental geology and science education.

Jeffrey Ryan - University of South Florida

Dr. Ryan is Professor and Assistant Chair in the Geology Department at the USF. He examines best practices for facilitating the transition between formal geology coursework and student research participation. From 1997-2002 he was PI for the Blue Ridge Ultramafics REU Site, and from 2003-2005 he was the Geosciences Program Director in the Division of Undergraduate Education at NSF. He is current Chair of the Geosciences Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research, and a member of the NSF-MARGINS Steering Committee. Current projects include examining effective use of remotely operable microbeam instruments in undergraduate classes, and the repurposing of MARGINS Program research findings for use in college geoscience courses.