School of Rocks
Ļć½¶Šć Earth and Environmental Studies Chair Ethan Baxter uses isotope geochemistry to measure geologic time. At the core of this workāand of his careerāare the tales rocks tell. āThatās a theme that really transcends all of my teaching and most of my research,ā he said. āYou 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 heās 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. āPeople think about rocks and they might think about earthquakes and mountains,ā he said. āBut itās also about climate change, agriculture, water, Mars exploration, resources, energy, and technologyāthe most important, challenging problems that face society today.ā āCourtney Hollands