Newly elected member of the Board of Trustees at LIGS University | Prof. Rick Jones
We are happy to announce the newest member of the Board of Trustees at LIGS University, Prof. Rick Jones. Please, give him a warm welcome in our #LIGScommunity. And if you want to learn more about his accomplishments and get acquainted. Happy to have you on board, Mr. Jones!
Prof. Rick Jones Biography:
After earning his BS in Geology, Rick found himself in Sudan in the mid-’80s as part of an NGO working to develop safe and stable drinking water in several refugee camps. By default, he became the health and sanitation instructor, understanding for the first time how a little education can have life-changing impacts on someone, himself included. This experience changed his career path, and he went back to school and picked up a BS in Secondary Science Education, as well as a Masters in Natural Science, while he managed a science-teaching lab and provided science outreach to rural and reservation elementary schools around the state of Wyoming.
Since 1990 he has taught all sciences at the middle school and high schools, leaving the public-school classroom in 2010 to take his current position at the University of Hawaii West Oahu where he teaches both science content courses including Geology, Meteorology, and Oceanography. In 2017 Rick participated in the American Meteorology Society Climate Diversity Project to teach Climate Science to underserved Undergraduate populations. Since then he has worked to refine Meteorology courses at UHWO to address place-based and culturally congruent practices. In addition to his content courses, he is the campus science education methods faculty focusing on making science learning for future teachers rigorous, relevant, real, and accessible to the diverse student population found in Hawaii Public Schools.
In his 32 years of teaching, he has been very fortunate to do some wonderful things like sitting on Boards of Director for state and national science education organizations, journeying to the South Pole, where he researched trends in global warming, actively participating in El Nino Research in the South Pacific as an NOAA Teacher at Sea, received his National Board Certification in Adolescence and Young Adulthood Science, was the “Science Guy” in Billings, Montana for the local CBS affiliate for five years. In 2002 he was an Albert Einstein Fellow with the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. where he was one of the lead developers of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car Challenge portion of the National Science Bowl. Over the past five years, he has received three grants from the Office of Naval Research that have focused on workforce development for underserved populations in STEM and most recently Veterans pursuing STEM Careers.
Beyond the classroom, he has been involved locally and nationally in multiple science content teaching organizations including roles as president of the Montana Science Teachers Association, the President of the Hawaii Science Teaching Association, National Science Teaching Association District XV Director, National Science Teaching Association District XVI Director, National Science Teaching Association Director Post-Secondary Science Teaching Division, and President of the National Earth Science Teachers Association.
Beyond his research and service, Rick has been lucky enough to be honored with several prestigious awards for teaching excellence. Including the 1996 National Presidential Award for Excellence in Secondary Science for Montana, in 1997 a Tandy Technology Scholar, and in 2002 as a Shell Teaching Award semi-finalist and the University of Hawaii Regents Award for Teaching Excellence in 2014.