Jackson School opens recruiting for summer program aimed at finding young geoscientists

January 26, 2006

The Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin has begun its annual call for top math and science eighth-graders from Southwest Texas to apply to GeoFORCE Texas, a summer scholarship program designed to inspire students to pursue the geosciences.

The Jackson School unveiled plans for the 2006 program in a meeting with teachers and administrators at partner institution Southwest Texas Junior College (SWTJC) Jan. 14 in Uvalde. Public school districts present at the meeting, representing 12 of the 20 school districts in SWTJC’s 11-county service area, included Brackettville, Carrizo Springs, Cotulla, Crystal City, Dilley, Eagle Pass, Knippa, Nueces Canyon, Pearsall, Rocksprings, Del Rio and Uvalde.

Workshop participants learned about plans to expand GeoFORCE Texas. In 2005, the program’s inaugural year, 40 students visited The University of Texas at Austin campus and toured geologic sites in New Mexico, Texas and Washington, D.C., where they learned introductory geology and met geoscience professionals. Another 30 students spent two days at sites in Southwest Texas.

For 2006, the program will add 70 new students and take second-year participants to the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and Glen Canyon in Arizona, among other locations.

GeoFORCE Texas was launched to address two pressing needs: inspiring the next generation of geoscientists and fostering increased diversity in the U.S. workforce. The program recruits from the predominantly Hispanic Southwest Texas region. It is open to all students in the region regardless of background, as reflected in the diversity of the inaugural class of 2005.

Eighth-grade students who excel in math and sciences, sustain a ‘B’ grade point average or better and maintain outstanding social conduct are eligible to apply. Applications are available through middle and junior high school counselors and science teachers or can be downloaded from the GeoFORCE Texas Website at

• http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/geoforce/apply/index.html

Applicants for the academy must have their completed applications postmarked no later than Feb. 22. They should be submitted to Nita Reed, c/o Andrea Flores, Southwest Texas Junior College, 2401 Garner Field Road, Uvalde, TX, 78801-6297.

In addition to updating educators on the program, the Jan. 14 workshop included a professional development component, training educators on ways to teach Geographic Information Science through the use of free data sources and software, such as aerial photographs, satellite images and Google Earth.

Funding for 2006 GeoFORCE Texas is being provided by ConocoPhillips, Schlumberger, Dominion, Shell, Halliburton, SBC Foundation, Marathon and ExxonMobil.

For more information about the program, contact Julie Spink, program coordinator at the Jackson School of Geosciences, 512-471-4360, jspink@jsg.utexas.edu, or visit the GeoFORCE Texas Website.

For more information about the Jackson School contact J.B. Bird at jbird@jsg.utexas.edu, 512-232-9623.