Chevron's Will Schweller (far right) works with BAESI workshop participants.
Major gifts totaling $166,000 from Chevron and $50,000 from Intel will enable SJSU to continue operating the Bay Area Earth Science Institute, the region’s only source of Earth science-specific professional development for teachers.
Since 1990, more than 2,000 fourth through 12th grade teachers have been served by BAESI, directed by SJSU geology professors Richard Sedlock and Ellen Metzger. The program provides faculty members with community connections, and teachers with timely, hands-on workshops. For instance, SJSU faculty members teamed up with Chevron experts to discuss climate change, energy resources, and the geology of the recent gulf oil spill.
Workshops are held throughout the year during weekends and vacations in traditional and outdoor classrooms. This fall, Sedlock will take teachers to the coast, where they will examine rock formations, surface features and faults that have helped geologists understand California’s geologic development over the past 70 million years.