Dana Thomas

I am a geoscience educator who is passionate about developing and facilitating impactful, inclusive programs that provide students from all backgrounds the learning, opportunities and support they need to pursue their goals. As a Senior Academic Program Coordinator in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, I partner with colleagues to broaden participation in Earth, planetary and environmental science, primarily at the undergraduate level, and extending into pre-college and post-baccalaureate transition phases. Current and former projects include the JSG summer undergraduate Research Traineeship Experience (RTX), the Math and Science Institute for incoming college freshmen, a computational earthquake science summer school and an NSF-funded workshop series for faculty and researchers to become more inclusive mentors. I also lead the assessment and evaluation that drives iterative improvement of these programs.

I have always cherished teaching, and I am a Lecturer with the Energy and Earth Resources Graduate Program https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/eer/ at the Jackson School. I focus on and incorporate societally-relevant issues into geology courses, including within a course for interdisciplinary students that emphasizes the geologic controls on the distribution and reliance on Earth resources. With researchers at the Bureau of Economic Geology, I also co-teach a project-based course on CO₂ sequestration in geologic formations. My teaching benefits from NAGT resources and colleagues.

My fondness for Earth science and education have always existed side by side. After spending a few semesters jumping from major to major, I pursued and received my Bachelor’s degree in Geology & Geophysics from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where I am from. I earned my PhD in Geological & Environmental Sciences from Stanford University, where I investigated the fluid-rock interactions between CO₂-rich fluids and basaltic rocks to make better predictions about storing carbon dioxide emissions in volcanic rocks underground. During graduate school I nurtured my interests in the scholarship of teaching and learning and DEI issues in geoscience. With my peers, I developed a departmental TA training program for graduate students, participated in workshops on evidence-based pedagogy, and I also served as a Program Assistant for an undergraduate research program for two summers. NAGT served as a valuable resource in my professional development and I am proud to be a Councilor-at-Large currently.

You can please reach me at dthomas@jsg.utexas.edu.