Illinois Agencies and Organizations

  • Geographic Alliance Network
  • Illinois State Climatologist
  • NASA Education Resources
  • State Geological Survey
  • U.S. Geological Survey
    • Geographic Alliance Network
    http://w ww.nationalgeographic.com/education/index.html
    The National Geographic Society's Geography Education Program has established a network of state geographic alliancesógrassroots organizations composed mainly of K-12 teachers and university geographersódedicated to improving and promoting geography education. These alliances support professional development for teachers, development of classroom materials, and efforts to make geography a part of state and local curricula.

    Illinois Geographic Alliance
    http://coe.ilstu.edu/iga

    Norman C. Bettis
    5330 Department of Curriculum and Instruction
    DeGarmo Hall
    Illinois State University
    Normal, IL 61790-5330
    Phone: (309) 438-2669 or -2756
    Fax: (309) 438-8659
    Email: ncbettis@ilstu.edu

    Illinois State Climatologist
    State Climatologists are individuals who have been identified by a state entity as the state's climatologist and who are also recognized by the Director of the National Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as the state climatologist of a particular state.

    Dr. Jim Angel
    Illinois State Water Survey
    2204 Griffith Drive
    Champaign IL 61820-7495
    Phone: (217) 333-0729
    Fax: (217) 244-0220
    Email: j-angel@uiuc.edu
    http://www.sws.uiuc.edu/atmos/statecli/index.htm

    Midwestern Regional Climate Center
    Illinois State Water Survey
    2204 Griffith Drive
    Champaign, IL 61820
    Phone: (217) 244-8226
    Fax: (217) 244-0220
    Email: mrccweb@sws.uiuc.edu
    http://mcc.sws.uiuc.edu/

    NASA Education Resources
    http://atoz.nasa.okstate.edu:591/FMPro?-db=notebook&StateAssignment=IL& amp;-format=contact.html&-lay=List&-SortField=Priority&-fi nd

    NASA's State-Based Electronic Notebook is the source for NASA and aerospace education in your state.  Includes links to K-university level education contacts, resources, and information.
    State Geological Survey
    Almost all of the 50 states (and Puerto Rico) have an agency that deals with geological hazards and resources within its bounds. Some have more than one (e.g., one for petroleum resources, one for general geology, and one for water resources), and some have delegated the responsibilities to a unit within a state university. Most, but not all of these institutions are connected to the Internet. For all of these agencies, we've included snail mail addresses as well as known e-mail and Internet links.

    Illinois State Geological Survey
    615 East Peabody Drive
    Champaign, IL 61820
    Phone:  (217) 333-4747
    http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/isgshome.html

    U.S. Geological Survey
    http://www.usgs.gov/
    The U.S. Geological Survey provides the Nation with reliable, impartial information to describe and understand the Earth.  Science topics are Biology, Geology, Mapping, and Water. The U.S. Geological Survey has offices in every state, thus providing a local presence and facilitating relations with the public and private sectors, academia, and federal, state, and local agencies. This widely distributed network of scientific personnel is a resource that provides a valuable and nationally consistent, long-term earth science information base.

    USGS State Representative

    dc_il@usgs.gov
    221 North Broadway Avenue
    Urbana, IL 61801
    Phone: (217) 344-0037, ext. 3003
    Fax: (217) 344-0082
    Office hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time

    USGS Programs in Illinois
    A Fact Sheet at the following WWW site describes several of the USGS activities in Illinois: http://water.usgs.gov/ pubs/FS/FS-013-96/


    Illinois Curriculum Support


    The Cooperative University-based Program for Earth System Science (ESSE)
    http://www.usra.edu/esse/es sonline/

    Sponsored by NASA through the Universities Space Research Association, ESSE supports the development of undergraduate curricula in Earth System Science and Global Change at forty-four participating colleges and universities.

    University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
    Contact: Dr. Walter A. Robinson
    Department of Atmospheric Sciences
    University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
    105 S. Gregory Street
    Urbana, IL 61801
    Phone: (217) 333-2292
    Fax: (217) 244-4393
    Email: robinson@atmos.uiuc.edu

    Northwestern University
    Contact: Dr. Abraham Lerman
    Department of Geological Sciences
    Northwestern University
    Evanston, IL 60208
    Phone: (708) 491-7385
    Fax:  (708)491-8060
    Email: abe@earth.nwu.edu
     

    Illinois Professional Development

    K-12 Professional Development Opportunities

    Post-Secondary K-12 Professional Development Opportunities

    American Meteorological Society (AMS) Project Atmosphere AERAs
    http://www.ametsoc.org/AMS/amsedu/index.html

    The American Meteorological Societyís Project Atmosphere includes the operation of a national network of AMS Atmospheric Education Resource Agents (AERAs), who act as regional points of contact for teachers who are seeking information on atmospheric science topics.  Each AERA presents several general atmospheric sciences information sessions each year to teacher groups. AERAs also conduct teacher-training sessions on single meteorological topics about which they have been specially trained. These sessions often take place at local and state teacher association meetings. Others are held at the school district level on staff development days or included in college courses, with AERAs compensated through local or state funds.

    In Illinois

    Susan Henke
    1374 Burnham Ave
    Calumet City, IL 60409
    Phone: (708) 862-5124
    Fax: (708) 862-5124
    Email: skhenke@flash.net

    Vivian Hoette
    Adler Planetarium
    Astronomy Education Dept.
    1300 S. Lakeshore Dr.
    Chicago, IL 60605
    Phone:  (312) 322-0549
    Fax:  (312) 322-2257
    Email: vhoette@midway.uchicago.edu

    American Meteorological Society (AMS) Maury Project Peer Trainers
    http://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/maury/
    Maury Project Peer Trainers are Master precollege teachers trained in one of the AMS Summer training workshops held at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, who have demonstrated an exceptional competency and commitment to the process of guiding fellow teachers in the field of precollege physical oceanographic education. These teachers conduct seminar/workshops on an on-going basis for their peers, within their respective teaching districts, using primarily single-topic teaching materials developed by AMS specifically for this purpose.

    In Illinois

    Jennifer Orenic
    1014 Western Avenue
    Joliet, IL 60435
    Phone:  (815) 722-4623
    Email: jorenic@plainfield.will.k12.il.us

    The GLOBE Program
    http://www.globe.gov/
    Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a worldwide network of students, teachers, and scientists working together to study and understand the global environment.  GLOBE students make environmental observations at or near their schools and report their data through the Internet.

    GLOBE at Indian Prairie Community Unit School District #204
    Franchise Coordinator and Training Point-of-Contact:
    Dr. Sheryll A. Renken
    District Science Coordinator
    District Education Center
    Indian Prairie Community Unit School District #204
    P.O. Box 3990
    Naperville, IL 60567
    Phone: (630) 375-3000
    Email: Sher_Renken@ipsd.org

    NASA Education Resources
    http://atoz.nasa.okstate.edu:591/FMPro?-db=notebook&StateAssignment=IL& amp;-format=contact.html&-lay=List&-SortField=Priority&-fi nd
    NASA's State-Based Electronic Notebook is the source for NASA and aerospace education in your state.  Includes links to K-university level education contacts, resources, and information.  NASA Educator Resource Centers (ERCs) and Space Grant Colleges offer teacher workshops and other education programs in their state.
    Post-Secondary

    NOVA
    http://www.eng.ua.edu/~nova

    NOVA was created to develop and disseminate a national framework for enhancing science, mathematics, and technology literacy for teachers in the 21st century.  This effort is accomplished through the demonstration of an undergraduate science/math/technology course framework, examples of successful course models, and a mentoring support system for faculty wishing to implement new courses or modify existing courses at their universities.  The framework uses interactive learning and integrates science, mathematics and technology as a means of developing a new paradigm for educating teachers.  NOVA invites the participation of science, mathematics, engineering, technology, and education faculty who are concerned with how universities prepare new teachers.  Using NASA missions (including the Earth sciences), facilities, and resources, NOVA provides faculty with enhanced knowledge and skills to implement change in university courses.  The NOVA team presents its framework for change primarily through three-day workshops to interdisciplinary university teams. These universities are then eligible to submit proposals for Implementation Planning Grants (up to $30,000 for a one-year period) to initiate change in science, mathematics, or engineering courses for preparing K-12 teachers.  The schedule of workshops is available at http://www.eng.ua.edu/~nova

    TRINITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE
    6601 West College Drive
    Palos Heights, IL  60463

    Sharon K. Robbert
    Associate Professor
    Department of Mathematics &
        Computer Science
    Phone: (708) 239-4771
    Fax: (708) 239-3986
    Email: sharon.robbert@trnty.edu

    Elizabeth Rudenga, Associate Professor
    Department of Education
    Phone:  (708) 239-4739
    Email:  liz.rudgenga@trnty.edu

    Gerrit VanDyke, Professor
    Department of Biology
    Phone: (708) 239-4734
    Email:  gerrit.vandyke@trnty.edu

    Illinois Student Programs

    Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) Geophysics Course
    http://www.imsa.edu/edu/geo physics/

    IMSA is a 3 year residential high school for talented and gifted Junior and Senior High School students from Illinois, operated by the Illinois State Board of Higher Education.  There is no tuition charge.

    The Geophysics course introduces students to the various disciplines within Earth science.  Students look into current problems (ozone, deforestation, climate modeling and global warming, plate tectonics and midwest earthquakes, and others).  They use the Internet and computer analysis tools to gather and evaluate data from government and university sites. They then learn to use visualization tools (graphing, Geographic Information Systems, models) to view their data and derive a better understanding of the concepts and/or problems.

    Contact:
    Mark A. Horrell
    Geophysics & Physics Instructor
    Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
    1500 West Sullivan Road
    Aurora, IL 60506-1000
    Phone: (630) 907-5073
    Email:  horrell@imsa.edu