Jeff Clark

Jeff Clark, Assistant Professor of Geology, is the winner of the 2000-01 Young Teacher Award.

Read more about Clark's work in this profile from the 1999-2000 President's Report.

Course Offerings

Remote Sensing of the Environment
Weather Climate and Climate Change
Introductory Geology
Introduction to Environmental Science
Earth Surface Processes
Watershed Hydrology

Recent and Future Seminars

Anthropogenic Influences on River Morphology
Natural History of Puerto Rico
Geoarchaeology
Volcanoes of Hawaii

Recent Publications and Presentations

*Gilbert, F.L., Clark, J.J., and Hoch, A.R., 2001, Hydrochemical Characteristics of a Reclaimed Suburban Wetland, Menasha, Wisconsin, AWRA Wisconsin Section Program with Abstracts, pg. 4.
*Levi, P. and Clark, J.J., 2001, Nitrate and Phosphorus Levels in the Apple Creek Watershed, GSA Abstracts with Programs, v. 33, No. 4, pg. A-1.
Clark, J. J., and Wilcock, P. W., 2000, Effects of Land Use Change on Channel Morphology and Hydraulic Geometry in Northeastern Puerto Rico, GSA Bulletin, v. 112, No 12, pp. 1763-1777.
Clark, J.J., and Hoch, A.R., 2000, Using the Minutes of Meetings to monitor Service-Learning Projects, Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 48, No. 5, pg. 600.
Clark, J.J., 2000, Evidence of Catastrophic Flooding at an Archaeological Site in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, GSA Abstracts with Programs, v. 32, No. 7, pg. A-510.
*Young, K. C., and Clark, J. J., 2000, The effects of seasonality and lake level fluctuations on subsurface hydrology of Heckrodt Wetland, Menasha, WI, Abstracts of the 14th National Conference on Undergraduate Research, p. 212.

*Asterisks denote collaborative student research.

Affiliations:

National Council on Undergraduate Research
National Association of Geoscience Teachers
American Geophysical Union
Geological Society of America
American Water Resources Association

Teaching Philosophy:

My approach to teaching involves these basic elements: providing a relaxed yet stimulating environment for learning, making students responsible for the learning process, and exposing students to real-life research and problem solving. I find that field-based research projects allow me to cover all three elements at once. In the field, as in nature, anything can and will happen. Nature is complex and there are no easy answers. Students must confront the problem, make sound observations, and, through critical thinking and discussions with their peers, logical interpretations. In time, students learn to trust their observations, rather than relying on what the book says.