Why Bother? 

Scientists and writers belong to  human communities at the family, neighborhood, town, state, federal, and global levels.  My heavy commitment to public engagement is about payback to those communities who support academic work at all levels.  Because UConn is a Land Grant/Sea Grant/Space Grant university for the state, its faculty have a special responsibility to return tax and tuition dollars in that direction.  I meet this obligation mostly through pro bono service on technical committees, writing newspaper articles, giving frequent public lectures, and serving as a consultant for specific tasks if warranted by special circumstances.

Scholarly Engagement Projects

Stone Wall Initiative – This website is an online resource for New England’s signature landform.  On it I post an occasional blog.

Stone Pavilion Project – This website is the main resource for UConn’s most symbolically important historic building. It’s also an outdoor museum exhibit.

Museum Exhibits – I’ve worked on more than a dozen exhibits at multiple venues..

Ask an Earth Scientist –  This site for public help on random questions and identifications.  Typically we identify fossils, minerals, and landscape images.

Journalism –   Freelance, Op-Eds, and Media.  This is double listed under Writing.  I was an op-ed columnist for fifteen years of my career, publishing ~500 essays and opinions or the Hartford Courant. Part of this gig involved dealing with plenty of hate mail.