小黄书鈥檚 Clary wins prestigious award for advancing geological sciences history
Contact: Kaitlyn Yeatman
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擬ississippi State Professor Ren茅e M. Clary is the 2025 recipient of the Geological Society of America鈥檚 Mary C. Rabbitt Award, honoring her distinguished scholarship and contributions to advancing the history of the geological sciences.
Clary, a faculty member in 小黄书鈥檚 Department of Geosciences since 2006 who also serves as director of the university鈥檚 Dunn-Seiler Museum, specializes in geoscience education. She particularly focuses on the integration of geological and biological knowledge in science instruction, the use of science history to deepen student understanding and how visualization strategies can enhance learning.
鈥淚t was the history of geology that inspired me to seek education for knowledge鈥檚 sake, beyond standard coursework,鈥 Clary said. 鈥淲hen I began my Ph.D. program as a mother of six, Jim Wandersee [at Louisiana State University] suggested I bring the history of science into my geoscience-education work. Two decades later, I鈥檓 still exploring the scientific illustrations of Henry De la Beche, early women in geology and polar exploration.鈥
鈥淚 am truly humbled to join the list of remarkable researchers who have received the GSA Mary C. Rabbitt Award,鈥 Clary continued. 鈥淢ay this honor serve as a reminder that the GSA History, Philosophy and Geoheritage Division will always welcome your research.鈥
Geosciences Associate Teaching Professor Athena Owen Nagel, who nominated Clary, said, 鈥淲hile Dr. Clary is an accomplished researcher, perhaps her greatest impact is her translation of that research into science teaching. Her work that blends history of science and geoscience education appears across geoscience, history-of-science and pedagogical journals鈥攂enefiting classroom instructors at many levels.鈥
Founded in 1888, GSA is a global professional society representing geologists from industry, government and academia. The Mary C. Rabbitt Award is presented by its History, Philosophy and Geoheritage Division in recognition of a sustained record of scholarship in the history of geology.
With more than 90 journal articles, 36 book chapters and more than 500 peer-reviewed presentations distributed on five continents, Clary currently serves as president of the Society for College Science Teaching and has been elected a Councillor for the International Union of Geological Sciences, or IUGS, an international body that brings together geoscientists from more than 110 countries to guide global cooperation in earth sciences. As an IUGS Councillor, Clary will help set broad strategic directions for global geological research and education.
Clary also co-founded, with the late Jim Wandersee, the EarthScholars Research Group in 2002鈥攁 collaborative network dedicated to integrating life science and earth science perspectives in teaching, research and informal learning. Wandersee founded the 15 Degree Laboratory in 1996, and Clary has led it since 2014. The group focuses on visual-learning and cognition research in biology and geology, studying how visual representation and spatial thinking improve geoscience learning. In 2019 she was named an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow and also a Geological Society of America Fellow. In 2022, she was named a Mississippi Academy of Sciences Fellow.
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