Outreach Experiences

Earth Science Training Course - Middle School Teachers

In spring 2005, I organized a 4-week Earth Science course to educate ten Georgia middle school teachers. I taught this course in June 2005. The class consisted of morning discussions followed by laboratory exercises in the afternoon. In addition to the classroom and laboratory activities, several all-day field trips were taken to expose the teachers to local teaching resources, widen their appreciation for Earth Science, and provide opportunities to collect rock and fossil specimens to use as classroom materials.

Georgia Intern Fellowship for Teachers

During the summer of 2005, I worked closely with 2 Georgia high school teachers and 4 students as part of the Georgia Intern Fellowship for Teachers program. The students and teachers collected samples, designed experiments, and performed analyses for a project that was intended to be submitted to the Siemens Science competition (formerly Westinghouse).

Minority Student Lab Experiences

I mentored two minority students in my lab over several semesters as a part of the Georgia Tech Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Sciences (FACES) Program. One of these students, Ursula Wilborn, wrote an extended abstract (Wilborn et al., 2003) on her work. Both students produced abstracts on their work that were presented at national meetings: Achudume et al., 2003; Wilborn et al., 2003. Details can be found on the Publications page.

Research Experience for Undergraduates

Over the past few summers, I have hosted a total of five undergraduate students participating in NSF-sponsored research experience programs. These students worked on various research projects in my lab, which helped spark their interest in choosing scientific careers. One of the recent student participants, Vivian Chang, wrote and presented an American Geophysical Union abstract based on her summer work. Details can be found on the Publications page.

Minority Student Mentor

I have mentored students at both the American Geophysical Union National Meeting (2004) and American Society for Limnology and Oceanography National Meeting (2003) as part of the Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success in Earth Systems Science (MS & PhD) program. The MS & PhD Professional Development Program provides professional development experiences to facilitate the advancement of minorities committed to achieving outstanding Earth system science careers.

Encouraging Participation of Underrepresented Groups in Science

My current research team at Georgia Tech is comprised of a diverse group of individuals, including two women (one African-American). In all the outreach programs listed above, the participants were dominantly from groups underrepresented in science.