Unpaid protestor doing my democratic duty. 400-500 folks lined a main artery into Auburn, AL to catch gameday traffic. We received far more honks and waves than birds.

Capturing the morning sun beams

An important part of our American history that must be remembered. www.facebook.com/share/p/1BBS...

Check on your friends (students, faculty, staff) at all these universities that have had "hoax" active shooter lock downs in the past 2 weeks. Their experiences were real and they are possibly not okay.

I spent a long time appreciating the engineering feats of spiders this morning before I was able to face my hectic Wednesday workday.

Another paper is out from my Buffalo River colleagues. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

A new short paper about our work developing the curriculum for AUTeach is out! doi.org/10.32674/k53...

HWY 64. NE Arkansas

Camped in a cave this weekend with my son's cubscout pack. I was a good mom and did not explain Karst processes except when asked. Also show caves are weird.

Maps! There is something about printed maps that is so much more powerful than looking at a computer screen (in my opinion).

Messing about in streams in the rain with a very energetic group of high school students! Hopefully they know a little bit more about Geoscience, urban streams, and the fun of field research.

Field season has commenced!

Thanks at @seaicebeth.bsky.social for sharing such an amazing project - vimeo.com/1032126421?s... This is why we need the USGS, NPS, and NSF.

On my last day as AUTeach Co-Director I taught the last class in the Science Teaching Classroom in Haley Center. It was also the first semester I had the privilege of co-teaching a new class SCMH 3010: Inquiry Experiences for Science Teachers to the first graduating class of AUTeach students.

The same is true for NIH, btw, so when they cancel grants like mine bc they are no longer interested in promoting careers in biomedical research, they are violating their congressional mandate to diversify the field.

AARGH! My poor postdoc who was hired and then almost not hired in January and now may be unhired again... And that is just a drop in the bucket of faculty, post docs, and students that are currently and will be impacted. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

WTF.... I just can't.

Teaching future science teachers is fun! Especially when you break out the bowling ball.

My geomorphology students discovered a new wonder on our field trip to Providence Canyon... Dung Beetles. We were stopped in our tracks more than once watching these amazingly industrious creatures.

Expecting storms tonight, hoping all our trees are healthy and strong.

I am pretty tired of this argument. Journal articles and books are sometimes not widely accessible (although some are), but academics speak much more often to the public now, through the media, op eds, trade books, and public lectures, than in the past and anti-intellectualism has grown.

Today is Rare Disease Day! I love and care for someone with a rare disease, CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder (CDD). CDD is a genetic epilepsy with no cure and current treatments only manage the symptoms. Most individuals with CDD have intractable epilepsy as well as intellectual and physical disabilities.

Not going to lie, one of the few reasons I haven't just laid on the floor moaning like Tina Belcher, is teaching. SCMH 3010 students running an experiment with pocket labs.

Having trouble deciding which candle to light.

I am an educator, a mentor, a geoscientist. I am also a caregiver and a mother. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

Please read, then call your legislators to demand they protect the most vulnerable in our society. Our daughter with complex medical needs (CDKL5) relies on the protections and supports provided by IDEA and Medicaid to preserve her quality of life. open.substack.com/pub/erinraff...

I am a former NPS park ranger, many of my friends work for NPS, USGS, USDA, and so many of my former students work for federal agencies. So many folks were fired without cause yesterday. Things are bad and getting worse.

EM&T are now just stealing money rather than following the rule of law.

I’m the proud parent and caregiver of a child with CDKL5. www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic...

If you or your students rely on federal data portals, you might download what you need asap. I worry that the chaos in DC will extend to shutting down access to data. Even a short term interruption can be devastating for a student that has only semesters to complete their research.

This is chilling.

First Geomorphology Lab of the semester AND first field trip!

A lot of my work right now focuses on improving how we, as faculty, teach and mentor future scientists. We know that students struggle if they don't feel like they "belong" in science and faculty can make a huge difference if they have the right tools. doi.org/10.14434/ijd...

Today is the first day of the first meeting of the USGS Federal Avisory Committee for Science Quality and Integrity. I am very excited to serve as the Vice Chair. www.usgs.gov/office-of-sc...

Took a quick trip over to that "other" Alabama university and got a sneak peek of the new USGS HIF.

Auburn Geosciences is Hiring. 6 days left to apply.

In addition to my "real" job as a faculty member, I also am a caregiver. Using this tool to see what I would be paid annually if I was compensated for that time was eye opening. www.salary.com/tools/otsuka...

Auburn Geosciences is Hiring. 6 days left to apply.

The Geosciences Department at Auburn University is hiring two tenure Track positions. Hydrogeology - www.auemployment.com/postings/48897 and Human Environment Interactions - www.auemployment.com/postings/48949.

Today is D-Day. For us it is Diagnosis Day, the day we found out our daughter's seizures were caused by CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder. Currently there are no treatments or cures. June is CDKL5 Awareness month. You can directly support research here - www.justgiving.com/page/imp-cdk...

Check out this recent paper by two of my colleagues. It is free to read/download this month. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

My 8yo was upset about missing the dinosaur fieldtrip today... I think the total eclipse made up for it.

If you are surprised you haven't been listening or watching.

The horrible law passed... this will make it even harder to recruit great students and faculty AND it will impact the work we do as well as hurt vulnerable and marginalized individuals. www.al.com/news/2024/03...

Anyone here have recommendations for the best instrument for laser grain size analysis. I have an almost 10 year old Malvern MS3000 that has never worked the way I hoped. It is fine for silt and clay, but sand wrecks the results and gets stuck in the tubing.

As a geoscientist that loves dance and taken all sorts of dance classes since I was a kid (tap, jazz, ballet, modern, flamenco, ballroom, hula, belly dancing), I wish I was this type of creativity. What a wonderful story about diversity. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoSY...

Field Trip! I can't believe the perfect weather (sunny and high 60s). We accidently showed up on the same weekend as a running race on the park trails, must remember to schedule around that next year.

I am at a loss of how to fight this... I guess I will keep doing what I am doing and doing it out loud because the law makers voting for this bill want me to shut up and sit down. (it still will have to pass the state senate, but I will be surprised if it doesn't) www.al.com/educationlab...

I had the privilege of writing about the potential impacts of the COVID pandemic on academic women in STEM in 2020. This new report highlights these impacts and more. We must support women in STEM, especially women from historically excluded identities. www.nationalacademies.org/news/2021/03...