About the Fair Director
Erin Stoesz
Wyoming State Science Fair Director/Assistant Lecturer
Phone: 307-760-2465 or 307-766-6150 (Physics & Astronomy Business Office)
Office: Geology Rm 104
Email: wyostatefair@gmail.com
Education
Geology, MS, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2008
Geology, BS, University of Wyoming, Laramie, 2006
Celtic Studies with Music Emphasis, BA, University of Wyoming, Laramie, 2006
Bio
I am a Wyoming native who left to study metamorphism and deformation in an exhumed
shear zone and earn a MS in Geology from Indiana University- Bloomington. After completing
an internship in the BP Alternative Energy Division modeling leakage along faults
in CO2 reservoirs in Summer 2010, I returned to Laramie to develop online course materials
about Carbon Capture and Storage for a DOE-funded project. A past Wyoming State Science
Fair alumni, I became Director of the Wyoming State Science Fair in 2015. In my free
time you will find me gardening, cooking, playing violin in the UW Symphony Orchestra,
and volunteering as part of the Daughters of the American Revolution organization.
Outreach Activities
I administer the Wyoming State Science Fair (WSSF) and its pre-qualifying regional
fairs. A multi-award winner in the Earth Sciences at the International Science & Engineering
Fair (ISEF) as a high school student, I leverage that success to guide pre-college
students to do original self-directed science, mathematics and engineering research
and present it publicly through competitions. I focus on assisting students with research
question and plan development, safe and ethical research practice, and professional
presentations.
I am always looking to network with STEM professionals who are interested in assisting
with the Wyoming State Science Fair (judging, sponsoring, serving on the science fair
SRC/IRB) or facilitating/mentoring advanced STEM research by pre-college age students
(classroom visits, answering questions, technical assistance).
Websites
Teaching Statement
The natural world is my teaching laboratory. My approach to learning and teaching
is grounded in making observations of and directly experiencing the natural world.
Field exercises and physical samples are critical to every lesson. My students and
I take every opportunity possible to learn geologic data collection & interpretation
skills on the rocks: touching them, walking across them, mapping them, viewing them
through hand lubes, breaking them, discussing about them, and anything else necessary
to investigate and synthesize the geologic story.
In the classroom, my students and I take virtual field trips, dissect articles or
other reading material, and build models to better understand natural processes. We
work as teams to collect data and turn it into geologic products (maps, cross-sections,
stratigraphic columns, and more). At the whiteboard, I introduce fundamental geologic
concepts using annotated projected images & self-drawn diagrams; these notes evolve
in real-time as the class synthesizes information from the activities and I introduce
new content. My goal is always to have students leave my classes with a more holistic
picture of the course content, a sense of joy about doing science, and an arsenal
of applicable skills.
Teaching
Geology 2080 - General Field Geology
Geology 1070 - Earth: Physical Environment
Stimulate Science Fair Success (Online Enrichment through WyoLearn)
Research Interests
I am interested in understanding how fault/shear zones evolve through time and space.
