Edward Robeck, Ph.D., Joins AGI as Director of Education and Outreach

Alexandria, Va. - The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is pleased to announce that Edward Robeck, Ph.D., has joined the organization as its new Director of Education and Outreach. Dr. Robeck joins AGI from Salisbury University, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He brings extensive background in science instruction, teacher professional development, and curriculum design that will significantly contribute to AGI’s mission.

“AGI plays a vital role in geoscience education, and I look forward to being part of this dynamic organization,” Robeck said. He noted that AGI provides a unique and important voice that supports geoscience education at all levels and helps the public understand some of the most significant issues of our time. Robeck has worked with AGI programming as an external consultant for over fifteen years and held a Faculty-in-Residence position at AGI in 2006 and 2007. Most recently, he has helped to initiate the Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding, which is an initiative focused on promoting collaboration in geoscience education, policy, research, and related areas.

Robeck intends to strengthen relationships between the many stakeholder groups that AGI serves and AGI’s member organizations to ensure that their important educational messages and programs are being used to their fullest benefit. He also aims to highlight the value of geoscience knowledge in understanding the narrative aspect of places, making geosciences accessible to everyone, and teaching people that things have not always been the way they are now—the Earth will continue to change over time, and human influences can significantly impact these changes.

“I find the narrative aspect of the geosciences to be fascinating,” Robeck said. “Knowledge of the geosciences allows one to look at a place and understand the location’s story on many levels. This has great value as an educational tool because it makes the geosciences accessible to everyone, and teaches us that things have not always been the way that they are now—the Earth will continue to change over time, and in many ways, people can influence the directions of those changes. Geoscience education is a key to ensuring that those human influences are positive.”