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Ļć½¶Ö±²„professor awarded for work in geoscience education by national teacher organization

Ļć½¶Ö±²„professor awarded for work in geoscience education by national teacher organization

Contact: Madison Welzbacher

Studio portrait of Renee Clary
Renee Clary (Photo by Megan Bean)

STARKVILLE, Miss.ā€”A Mississippi State professor is being honored nationally for her outstanding contributions to geoscience education.

Renee Clary, an Ļć½¶Ö±²„professor in the Department of Geosciences, is the recipient of the National Association of Geoscience Teachersā€™ 2021 Transformation Award. NAGT promotes innovation and improvement in the geoscience education research community. The organizationā€™s Transformation Award is given to those who have made impactful contributions to the field.

Claryā€™s work focuses on bringing geological and biological education to both formal and informal settings, as well as online. She has attained over $3 million in grant funding for her efforts and has written 80 journal articles, 30 book chapters and 300 peer-reviewed research presentations, all of which have been shared on at least five continents.

Clary said she is honored to have been chosen as a recipient of this award.

ā€œThe Department of Geosciences pioneered online education, developed an online masterā€™s program for practicing teachers, and supported geoscience education research to determine what pedagogical techniques and course design work best to optimize their online programs,ā€ Clary said. ā€œI was fortunate that the College of Arts and Sciences includes both physical and social sciences, so my position as a tenure-track faculty not only received support for the geoscience education research that I conducted, but also the time allocation needed for my research. I was able to research and publish on a variety of GER topics and levelsā€”from K-12, college, teacher professional development and informal science learning.ā€

One of her contributions includes serving as co-principal investigator/STEM director for the leaderSTATE STEM program, a series of week-long summer camps that bring over 300 JROTC high school students to Ļć½¶Ö±²„to learn about geosciences, leadership and fitness.

She also is director of MSUā€™s Dunn-Seiler Museum as well as director of the 15 Degree Laboratory, the EarthScholars Research Group and co-founder of the GeoViz Laboratory.

Clary said winning this award for MSUā€™s geosciences department affirms that the university has a solid program.

ā€œI anticipate we will attract graduate students who want to focus upon, or include, geoscience education in their research,ā€ Clary said. ā€œWe continually strive to optimize our online course delivery, and the possibilities within online education continue to grow. I am excited for the future, and interested to see what technological innovations it will bring.ā€

For more about the MSUā€™s Department of Geosciences or the universityā€™s College of Arts and Sciences, visit and .

Ļć½¶Ö±²„is Mississippiā€™s leading university, available online at .