Photo: Lee Pellegrini

School of Rocks

Ļć½¶Šć Earth and Environmental Studies Chair Ethan Baxter is making videos to get kids interested in geosciences.

Ļć½¶Šć Earth and Environmental Studies Chair Ethan Baxter uses isotope geochemistry to measure geologic time. At the core of this workā€”and of his careerā€”are the tales rocks tell. ā€œThatā€™s a theme that really transcends all of my teaching and most of my research,ā€ he said. ā€œYou start with the rocks and the earth materials and the stories evolve from there.ā€ He maintains a childlike wonder about the natural world, so much so that heā€™s sharing it with the elementary school set. Over the summer, he filmed and released a 44-episode The short videos, featuring Baxter surrounded by stones, are fun, but the mission is serious: to get kids interested in geosciences. ā€œPeople think about rocks and they might think about earthquakes and mountains,ā€ he said. ā€œBut itā€™s also about climate change, agriculture, water, Mars exploration, resources, energy, and technologyā€”the most important, challenging problems that face society today.ā€ ā€”Courtney Hollands