WORKSHOP: MANAGEMENT OF GEOLOGICAL RISKS IN LIMA AND CALLAO

The Geological Society of Peru and YES Network Peruvian Chapter with the  with support from the Peruvian Geological Survey (INGEMMET), the Peruvian Geophysical Institute (IGP) and other pervian entities organized the workshop entitled "MANAGEMENT OF GEOLOGICAL RISKS IN LIMA AND CALLAO" on 20 and 21 November 2014 in Lima.

The event aims to provide a space for exchange ideas about managing the risks of geologic origin in Lima, the capital of Peru, and also to present the projects which are being implemented to improve such management. It is a fundamental issue to be addressed comprehensively from the perspective of prevention is important geoscientific input from all levels of society.

For more information view the link:

http://www.sgp.org.pe/calendar/workshop-gestion-de-riesgos-geologicos-en-lima-metropolitana-y-el-callao/

Back to School

Cross-posted on GeoSelim here

In response of Anne Jefferson questions for Accretionary Wedge #38:

If you are a current or future student… what do you want to know about life and careers in the geosciences? Are there things you aren’t getting to learn or do in classes that you think are important? What sort of experiences do you want to get out of school and how do you think school can or should help you prepare for a career?

My respond here focus on the method of studying geology. It’s helpful to study how particular branch of geoscience are developed, like how continental drift theory are become the most accepted theory, but it’s not necessary to study how seismic investigation are developed thorough the time. Students need to know how to interpret a seismic section; not to know who developed that branch of science so the large introductions of any subject in collage is like wasting the time. How is this branch of science work? why it useful? and how can i use it? that what i think is  important in studying any subject. Geoscience professors should focus on hand on experience not the amount of information that students will use it after the graduation. Actually geologists are a storyteller about Earth history. Don’t tell your student the story, teach them how to tell a good story.

From the Ed Side: Exploration Station

It's 4 am in San Francisco - isn't jet lag wonderful?

Yesterday, I spent about 6 hours at the AGU Exploration Station, part of the public outreach/family oriented events held at the meeting. It's relatively new - I think this was its second year - and a chance for families in San Francisco (and guests of scientists at the meeting) to explore some of the science being highlighted at the meeting. For this year's CloudSat booth, we had an ultrasonic transducer setup to "fly" over kids heads to demonstrate active remote sensing similar to that of the cloud radar on our satellite. I also had some "cloud in a bottle" demos - allowing families to think about and explore what makes a cloud. For me, it's a day of fielding really basic questions about clouds. I love it, because inevitably, those simple questions can really test your understanding, like when a woman asked me why different wind directions cause the fog in San Francisco bay to take on very different appearances - a question spurred on by my demos.

The best part for me is when a kid wants to experiment. My last visitor of the day was a young man who couldn't have been more than 6 years old, who kept trying to measure the height of different objects using the ultrasonic transducer. At one point, I bumped the stand I had been using and it started causing the sensor to sway up and down, making the ground look like it too was moving up and down. He noticed the change in the data, and immediately realized that something had changed, looked around, and then identified the problem in the apparatus. That true scientific moment was the highlight of my day.

I hope that some of you would consider participating in this kind of event in the future. I find I get as much out of it (if not more) than the public participants do.

Blogging from the Education Side

Hello out there YES fans! I am taking a break from AGU Packing and Exam Grading to introduce myself. I'm Todd Ellis, an assistant professor of meteorology at SUNY Oneonta, a 6,000+ student primarily undergraduate institution (PUI). I'll be at AGU all week, and my focus at this conference is a little different than average. My scholarly work focuses on K-16 education and public outreach, and when I attend AGU, I mix learning and teaching alike. I'll be at the exploration station on Sunday, a NASA exhibit booth in Tuesday, and an area middle school on Friday. In between, I'll be heading to climate change presentations and education presentations - and blogging from them all.

I hope to see you there. I also tweet from @citizenscience, and would love to meet you if you wanna chat about outreach or life as a faculty member with 4 courses a semester. But it's time to get back to packing... Safe travels to all of you coming to San Fran, and I'll catch ya later with my next entry from the Education Side.