News

The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) has elected seismologist Dogan Seber, director of the Geoinformatics Lab at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and project manager of the NSF Geosciences Network (GEON) collaboration, the incoming Chair of the DLESE Steering Committee. Seber was chosen unanimously at the DLESE Steering Committee meeting held in Boulder, Colorado on March 2 and 3, 2004.

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, DLESE is a major national community effort involving educators, students, and scientists working together to improve the quality and efficiency of teaching about the Earth system, at all levels from "K through gray." DLESE Steering Committee members hold their positions for three years, and Seber, who has been on the steering Committee since 2003, will begin his term as Chair in August.

"Dogan is not only a skilled geoscientist, but also a pioneer in geoinformatics and a leader in earth science education," said Chaitan Baru, co-director of SDSC's Data and Knowledge Systems program. "His service to DLESE will also have wider benefits, as SDSC and GEON develop new education initiatives in the emerging national cyberinfrastructure."

Seber, who has been active in DLESE projects for more than four years, came to SDSC from Cornell University, where he established and directed the Earth Science Information Systems Program in the Institute for the Study of the Continents, a project to develop a comprehensive geological and geophysical digital database system primarily for the Middle East, North Africa, and the United States. One of the largest programs of its kind in the nation, the interactive Web-based system (http://atlas.geo.cornell.edu/) serves hundreds of users daily, ranging from geoscientists to elementary school students.

Seber received his undergraduate degree in geophysics from the Istanbul Technical University in his native Turkey, and his Ph.D. in seismology and geophysics from Cornell.

"DLESE is an outstanding national model of community-based science education," said Seber. "I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to contribute and learn from this enthusiastic community as we harness the advanced technologies of cyberinfrastructure to build the education environment of tomorrow." Seber feels it is important to build on DLESE's emphasis on high quality collections by strengthening the review process. During his tenure as Steering Committee Chair, Seber is also interested in bringing the research and education communities closer together and expanding the DLESE user base. Through online collaborative technologies, Seber hopes that students and teachers will be able to have greater contact with earth scientists, gaining a fuller experience of what careers in science are like.

DLESE supports Earth system education by providing access to high-quality collections of educational resources; Earth data sets and imagery, including tools and interfaces that enable effective use in educational settings; support services to help educators and learners create and share educational resources; and communication networks to facilitate collaborations across Earth system education.

DLESE resources include electronic materials for both teachers and learners, including lesson plans, maps, images, data sets, visualizations, assessment activities, curriculum, online courses, and more. A core part of the DLESE philosophy is to include users as contributors, and the earth science community contributes educational resources and collections, develops services that enhance the usefulness of DLESE, participates in library governance and planning, and contributes ideas and feedback on ways to improve the library.

Media Contact:

Greg Lund, SDSC, 858-534-8314, greg@sdsc.edu