Profile avatar
clasticdetritus.bsky.social
Virginia Tech Geosciences professor (vtsedsystems.org) ⏐ sedimentology, (paleo)climate, tectonics, sedimentary basins, subsurface geology, geoeducation ⏐ listening and learning
820 posts 2,078 followers 253 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
Posts 19 Comments 31

I realize anyone seeing this post likely already knows all this, but maybe this (and similar) pieces focused on the economic prosperity aspect of public investment in science are useful to send to family/friends www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

reading final-project reports and some definitely have AI-generated text –– the writing is not at all consistent w/ what I've come to know about the student over 15 weeks but I can't definitively prove it and I'm not going down that path — hopefully they still learned something putting it together

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

Even if this doesn't all happen exactly this way, parts of these directives are ruled illegal, the agency is rebuilt some years from now, etc. the damage that has been done (and is being done every day) will be felt for decades.

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

I know a response to this from the science establishment will be "We need to do a better job at explaining the importance and value of .." etc. Yes, sure, we can always improve. But it seems we are now in a situation where citizens 'learning the hard way' is inevitable. www.npr.org/2025/05/06/n...

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

an iris in our backyard from this morning, it may open up at some point today — we got a nice, consistent rain overnight last night, the plants are happy today #bloomscrolling

submitted 20 days ago • 2 comments

gave my final lecture of my Climate History (intro paleoclimate for non-majors) course today — we have an activity on Friday and student presentations next week I really enjoy doing the final wrap-up, where I emphasize the big themes of the semester and do my best to package it all together

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

speaking of proposals, I've been able to get my head back into a long-languishing proposal these past days –– although the outlook of it actually getting funded is looking bleaker than ever, I'm trying to focus on the genuine enjoyment of learning new things as I read papers and draft text/figures

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

ah yes, I have written several subpapers and a subproposal these past several months –– they are really fantastic, believe me

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

"Effective today, sources tell Science, NSF’s division of grants and awards is returning all grant proposals previously approved for funding and awaiting final signoff to the program officers who oversaw the initial review. In the meantime ... NSF will not make any new awards." 😞

submitted 38 days ago • 2 comments

here's what I ended up communicating to the students in this class regarding generative AI (in the context of a report they are writing for the final project) ... last year I said much of this during class, but decided to write it down this year ... this is all very dynamic, it'll surely evolve

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

in class tomorrow, I'm going to talk about AI and my recommendations (+ one actual policy) in the context of a report they are to write for the final project one of the warnings is about how generative AI makes stuff up — for example, I don't think this paper exists! (at least I couldn't find it)

submitted 41 days ago • 1 comment

Trump's approval rating won't go below ~45%, regardless of what happens. For his supporters, anything bad that happens cannot be his fault and anything good is because of his genius. It's locked in. If so (and I hope I'm wrong), this means that it's going to get so much worse than it already is.

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

Going to talk about the Younger Dryas today in class and bring up 2004 'cli-fi' film The Day After Tomorrow What do you notice about the map he's talking about? (note: there's no sound in this gif, just video) (also, all the students in my class were born after this movie came out 😧)

submitted 47 days ago • 3 comments

What a great event this was (as always), the research the students in our department are doing in our department is impressive and invigorating — I love this event because you get a sampling of the huge range of geoscience over the two days 🙌 ⚒️🧪

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments

every Friday, I do an in-class activity in my Climate History (intro paleoclimate) course — today I have them do a simple analysis of TSI (total solar irradiance) time series data, which is inspired by this @carbonbrief.org post from 2017 www.carbonbrief.org/why-the-sun-...

submitted 50 days ago • 1 comment

Excited for the annual Virginia Tech Geoscience Student Research Symposium (GSRS) — a 2-day event w/ talks, poster sessions, the always-entertaining 'UpGoer Five' session, and more! It kicks off this morning and I'm looking forward to learning about all the amazing science our students are doing.

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

the 'brain drain' is happening — assuming the U.S. weathers this storm and the current regime is ousted electorally in the near future, I will be listening to candidate's plans for reinvigorating science in the U.S. — the damage being done is significant, the plan to fix will need to be ambitious

submitted 58 days ago • 1 comment

video I took aboard the JOIDES Resolution in August 2023 as we cruised by the southern tip of Greenland on our way to northern Baffin Bay (IODP Exp 400)

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

went for a walk in the neighborhood this morning and there's a visual feast of early spring flowers 🌼 #bloomscrolling

submitted 62 days ago • 0 comments