houck2040/artisci huggingface dataset:
gary reynolds 88 92 former texas a&m university college of geosciences senior director of development passed away aug 20 earlier this year the texas a&m foundation honored reynolds with a fish camp scholarship endowment as he battled cancer since then numerous colleagues former students of texas a&m and friends have honored his life by giving to the jessica 88 and gary reynolds 88 fish camp scholarship which now totals more than $39 000 the scholarship will support aggies who are unable to afford the cost of attending fish camp and recognizes the tremendous contributions reynolds made to the texas a&m university community reynolds began serving as senior director of development for the texas a&m foundation and the college of geosciences in august of 2018 after serving in texas a&m athletics football operations leadership for a decade he is survived by his wife jessica and his two daughters read remembrances of reynolds from texas a&m geosciences in the eagle from the texas a&m foundation and from texas a&m football learn more about giving to the jessica 88 and gary reynolds 88 fish camp scholarship by leslie lee 09
a drought-stricken wheat field bakes in the sun july 27 2011 near hermleigh texas a drought over much of texas could last until spring 2021 photo courtesy scott olson/getty images
october is usually one of the wettest months in texas but many parts of the state received little or no rain during the period the situation is especially bad in west texas: in the past six months in midland only 145 inches of rain have been recorded breaking a 69-year-old record by an inch according to figures from the state climatologists office at texas a&m universityin short drought has returned to texas more than three quarters of the state is now in drought for the first time in over six yearsdr john nielsen-gammon regents professor at texas a&m who also serves as state climatologist said that la niña conditions began developing in the pacific ocean a few months ago and are the reason to expect continued dry conditions a la niña occurs when there is cooler than normal water temperatures in the pacific ocean and it can influence weather patterns over much of the united statesnielsen-gammon said ocean temperatures in a key region of the tropical pacific are running more than a degree cooler than normal which would qualify as a moderate la niña if it persistsaccording to the climate prediction center la niña conditions are likely to persist through this coming spring he said the resulting weather patterns tend to leave most of the southern united states including texas dry from november through march according to the us drought monitor over 10% of the state is in exceptional drought for the first time since 2014 and the seasonal forecast released this morning by the climate prediction center suggests drought is likely to get worse before it gets betteralso la niña winters also tend to be warmer than normal in texas and climate change adds to the likelihood of a mild winter it probably wont be mild the whole time though because the cold air in canada will sweep down to texas a few times and bring a temporary chillnielsen-gammon said as a general rule the stronger the la niña the greater the likelihood of below normal rainfall the last moderate la niña was 2011-2012 contrary to expectations that turned out to be a rather wet winter but the year before was a strong la niña and it set the stage for the worst one-year drought on recordnielsen-gammon said current drought conditions are not unique to texassevere drought extends as far north as montana and as far west as the pacific coast with the four corners region being particularly hard-hit he said the combination of high summertime temperatures and a lack of typical summertime rainfall have left little moisture in the soilfor most of texas the dry conditions started in september nielsen-gammon saidover the past two months most of the state has received less than half of its normal rainfall he said october produced one widespread precipitation event and november looks similar with the best chances for rain early in thanksgiving week the next storm event around the beginning of thanksgiving week may be limited mainly to the panhandlefarmers are holding off on planting winter wheat and ranchers are doing the same for cold-season forage without decent rain soon its going to be a difficult winter in many areas by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications
dr alexa wood (photo by leslie lee)wood visiting the banks of the black volta river along the ghana-burkina faso border (photo courtesy of wood)
wood at the weekly market in lawra ghana (photo courtesy of wood)a farm during dry season in lawra ghana (photo courtesy of wood)
research scope woods dissertation research focused on gender food security and decision making and understanding how it relates to climate change in west africa she focused on subsistence farmers in ghana and mali and studied how gender and age influences decision-making she discovered that women especially younger women are at a disadvantage when it comes to decision making due to the male dominant communities the social structure inhibits women from adapting to climate change on their own their own terms after beginning her post-doc research in the department of geography wood expects to shift her research focus to something broader than what she was involved in before after working with a non-profit in south carolina im developing a domestic research agenda which specifically focuses on processes that lead to dispossession of land among black land owners she said i want to explore the systemic drivers that are causing black families to lose their land at higher rates than other families and discover if there is a climate change component to that as well my supervisor dr john casellas connors and i are working to develop collaborations with faculty with a similar research focus she said by creating interdisciplinary opportunities we hope to explore my research question and find ways to support scholarship that is already well established here at texas a&m moving forward my hope is to become a faculty member i really hope to be a positive and productive member of a faculty she said i really enjoy being able to develop partnerships and collaborate it is more difficult to connect with people nowadays because of covid-19 and it's challenging to do so through zoom wood aims to take all that she has learned in her life and do what she can to improve the lives of those that have been marginalized not only inside academia but outside of it as well i like to think about ways i can support students development especially students who are underrepresented in environmental social sciences what are ways that i can help boost engagement among groups of students who might not look at environmental fields as their top pick id like to find ways to address some of the systemic inequalities both inside and outside of the academy by mariam moeen ‘19
luis martinez 18 a phd student in texas a&m universitys department of geography was named a 2020 pat tillman scholar earlier this year martinez joined the us marine corps in 2013 trained and served in geospatial intelligence (geoint) i want to take the knowledge i acquired from my service to educate and mentor the future of geoint and improve geospatial capabilities for the us military and intelligence community martinez said our newest tillman scholars join a community committed to leadership through action in these turbulent times values-based leadership is needed more than ever said dan futrell ceo of the pat tillman foundation these 60 men and women exhibited that leadership throughout their military service and show incredible potential pat tillman scholars receive scholarship funding professional development and networking support from the foundation being selected as a tillman scholar is both an honor and a privilege martinez said i aim to carry on pats legacy of being dedicated to something bigger than myself moving forward my goals are to improve geospatial capabilities for the us military and intelligence community while educating and mentoring the future of geoint service and scholarship growing up in a military family martinez said he always knew he wanted to serve in may 2013 he enlisted in the us marine corps upon completing recruit training and marine combat training he reported to marine corps detachment ft belvoir to begin the basic geospatial intelligence specialist (bgis) course he graduated in may 2014 with the highest overall gpa as well as earning the title of bgis honor graduate upon graduation martinez reported to 1st intelligence battalion at camp pendleton california where he would spend the remainder of his service
martinez and his father (photo courtesy of luis martinez)luis martinez receiving a promotion to corporal (e-4) (photo courtesy of luis martinez)
martinez was selected as a tactical intelligence instructor for weapons and tactics instructor course (wti) at marine aviation weapons and tactics squadron one (mawts-1) he later was selected to support alpha company 1st reconnaissance battalion where he discovered his passion for geospatial intelligence (geoint) and noticed critical gaps in military geospatial capabilities he also earned a masters degree in information technology and homeland security management from the university of maryland university college in 2017 while still in the marine corps martinez visited texas a&m for a football game to see an old friend after visiting the campus he fell in love with aggieland and decided to apply to the online master of geoscience program once he was admitted into the program martinez completed most of his degree requirements while still active duty after completing his service in the marine corps luis finished earning his master's of geoscience degree in geographic information science and technology (gist) from texas a&m in 2018 subterranean mapping research today martinez is combining his marine corps-trained skillset with knowledge from his texas a&m graduate studies to conduct research in mapping dangerous subterranean environments the goal of my phd research is to map gps-denied environments to improve situational awareness in military operations he said specifically caves tunnels and other types of underground networks for decades the us military has worked to improve its capability to navigate underground tunnels and caves martinez said that inferiorly equipped forces can go underground and use both their knowledge of the subterranean environment and the us militarys lack of knowledge to their advantage in 2019 martinez received the national defense science and engineering graduate (ndseg) fellowship through the us department of defense which provides funding support for his research in subterranean mapping about the pat tillman foundation this year 60 us service members veterans and military spouses were chosen as tillman scholars in recognition of their service and leadership potential the newly selected class will receive scholarship funding to pursue higher education and continue their service in the fields of healthcare business law public service stem education and the humanities founded in 2008 the tillman scholars program supports us active duty service members veterans and military spouses by investing in education and professional development the pat tillman foundation provides academic scholarships a national network and professional development opportunities to all recipients to date ptf has invested more than $20 million in scholar support and named nearly 700 tillman scholars at more than 100 academic institutions nationwide by leslie lee 09
study: how we look at our climate records needs to changean international team including a texas a&m researcher concluded that to predict future climate trends more attention is needed regarding historical records from millions of years agonov 9 2020past climate models may help predict future events such as prolonged rainfall or loss of ice sheetsan international team of scientists that includes a texas a&m university researcher has conducted a study showing that models used to predict climate change may be not be accurate because they do not include sufficient data from past climates in their findings dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanography and fellow researchers have had their work published in the current issue of science magazine the team found that past climate information – called paleoclimate – is not included in current studies and should be used to ensure accurate future climate predictions we urge the climate model developer community to pay attention to the past and actively involve it in predicting the future said lead researcher dr jessica tierney of the university of arizona if your model can simulate past climates accurately it will likely do a much better job of getting future scenarios right zhang said that historical weather data only goes back a few hundred years but we need millions of years in time to search for potential ‘analogs of our current day climate change for decades climate scientists have relied on weather records to compile their climate forecasts using water temperatures wind speeds cloud formations and other methods including weather satellites but zhang and the team found that while these methods work well with some historical climates they do not present a clear picture from earths long-ago geological past including past climate models may help us predict future events such as prolonged rainfall or loss of ice sheets zhang said paleoclimate is what has already happened and we do not expect future climates to follow patterns exactly he said but paleoclimate studies can show us the important principles of how the earths climate system operates which would be very insightful to predict future climate change the study also found that greenhouse gasses – especially carbon dioxide – are especially important in measuring past climate studies the researchers discovered that while earths atmosphere has experienced carbon dioxide levels much higher than todays level of about 400 parts per million there is no time in recorded history that matches the current speed at which humans are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions the earth has a rich history and in particularly climate history zhang said there are 45 billion years for our disposal our study shows that the climate models that incorporate the knowledge obtained from paleoclimate will be better positioned to predict future climate change the study was funded by nasa and the heising-simons foundation by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications
past climate models may help predict future events such as prolonged rainfall or loss of ice sheets
an international team of scientists that includes a texas a&m university researcher has conducted a study showing that models used to predict climate change may be not be accurate because they do not include sufficient data from past climates in their findings dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanography and fellow researchers have had their work published in the current issue of science magazine the team found that past climate information – called paleoclimate – is not included in current studies and should be used to ensure accurate future climate predictions we urge the climate model developer community to pay attention to the past and actively involve it in predicting the future said lead researcher dr jessica tierney of the university of arizona if your model can simulate past climates accurately it will likely do a much better job of getting future scenarios right zhang said that historical weather data only goes back a few hundred years but we need millions of years in time to search for potential ‘analogs of our current day climate change for decades climate scientists have relied on weather records to compile their climate forecasts using water temperatures wind speeds cloud formations and other methods including weather satellites but zhang and the team found that while these methods work well with some historical climates they do not present a clear picture from earths long-ago geological past including past climate models may help us predict future events such as prolonged rainfall or loss of ice sheets zhang said paleoclimate is what has already happened and we do not expect future climates to follow patterns exactly he said but paleoclimate studies can show us the important principles of how the earths climate system operates which would be very insightful to predict future climate change the study also found that greenhouse gasses – especially carbon dioxide – are especially important in measuring past climate studies the researchers discovered that while earths atmosphere has experienced carbon dioxide levels much higher than todays level of about 400 parts per million there is no time in recorded history that matches the current speed at which humans are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions the earth has a rich history and in particularly climate history zhang said there are 45 billion years for our disposal our study shows that the climate models that incorporate the knowledge obtained from paleoclimate will be better positioned to predict future climate change the study was funded by nasa and the heising-simons foundation by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications
dr kenderes poses next to an outcrop of spherulites in the nez perce creek lava flow a key stop while teaching field camp students about the geology of yellowstone national park wyoming (photo courtesy of kenderes)
this summer dr elizabeth kenderes joined texas a&m universitys department of geology and geophysics as an instructional assistant professor we are incredibly lucky to have dr kenderes join our department said department head dr julie newman dr kenderes brings us her interest and experience in engaged online learning project-based learning and flipped classrooms
photo taken from dr kenderess graduate research field site the white-inyo range in central-eastern california looking north-west over owen's valley at the eastern sierra nevada mountain range (photo courtesy of kenderes)dr kenderes pictured while serving as a graduate teaching assistant on a field trip to northern spain photograph taken at cap de creus in girona spain after a field lecture covering pseudo-boudins pegmatites and sheath folds in the central pyrenees mountains (photo courtesy of kenderes)
journey to teaching and research kenderes originally hails from the chicago illinois suburban area she is a first generation college student and earned a bachelor's of science in earth science from northeastern illinois university (niu) niu is a hispanic serving institution with a project-based curriculum that kenderes credits with influencing her teaching philosophy during her senior undergraduate year a faculty mentor encouraged her to consider going to graduate school with that encouragement kenderes earned a masters and then a phd from the university of missouri columbia while working with dr peter nabelek her doctorate research focused on mesozoic granitoid plutons in the white-inyo range in eastern california and its implications for changes in lithospheric structure
while in graduate school dr kenderes served as a teaching assistant for a course that included an 18-day field course covering the geology of northern spain this picture was taken in the parque natural somiedo in asturias spain which is in the central cantabrian mountains (photo courtesy of kenderes)
inclusive teaching at texas a&m newman said that moving forward kenderes will not only engage students in active learning but she will serve as a resource for our department as we promote student centered and inclusive teaching practices kenderes is very well-versed in canvas and is helping department faculty and graduate student teaching assistants make the transition to canvas through workshops and meetings moving forward she has other ideas to help classes leverage the canvas teaching tools im really excited to be here kenderes said im really impressed with everything im seeing so far beyond the classroom kenderes is continuing to work on publishing data surrounding her graduate research on the white-inyo range while also conducting research on formative assessment and how it is used in the classroom
dr kenderes pictured teaching an igneous petrology class at knob lick missouri knob lick is part of the rim of a precambrian age caldera in south-eastern missouri (photo courtesy of kenderes)dr kenderes working on the microprobe at washington university in st louis missouri (photo courtesy of kenderes)
moving forward in teaching and outreach kenderess goal in teaching is to engage students in the standard geology courses as well as create new courses that non-majors can take and see how geology is important to everyone she said currently kenderes is teaching two online sections of the geol 101 principles of geology course one synchronous and one asynchronous my goal for students from this class is when they see posts on social media or in the news that this class gives them the tools to think critically and further investigate anything they see before accepting and believing it kenderes said [after taking my classes] they not only have an understanding of how they interact with the world they live in but [also they have] experience with using the scientific method in everyday life in the future she plans on also teaching disasters in society and is currently developing a course with the working title great mysteries of the earth that will look at folklore throughout different societies and how they relate to known geologic principles in addition kenderes was one of a select number of faculty chosen for the center for teaching excellence led program developed by the national association of system heads in partnership with the association of college and university educators (nash-acue) nash-acue is a rigorous faculty development program that helps facilitate engagement in high-impact evidence-based practices and develop tools to help students integrate key learning experiences within the classroom and beyond goals of the course include improving student achievement and closing-equity gaps i have a lot of teaching philosophies about project-based learning and inclusion but there is never enough time to properly implement them kenderes said this program will be useful in helping me implement these ideas without reducing content in a way that's destructive to learning im also looking forward to sharing my training [with the] the departments faculty and graduate teaching assistants to help the department as a whole dr kenderes is also the faculty advisor for the newly formed department chapter of the national association of black geoscientists by ali snell