Environmental studies professor Bob Butler has won a national award in “Educational Outreach to Schools” from the Western States Seismic Policy Council for his work on the Cascadia Earthscope Earthquake and Tsunami Education Program (CEETEP). Butler serves as principal investigator for the University’s collaboration with OSU and Central Washington University through a grant from the National Science Foundation EarthScope Program. In that role he is lead workshop instructor on Earthquake and Tsunami Science. Over the past three years, CEETEP has held six workshops for K-12 Earth Science teachers, parks and museum interpreters, and emergency management educators in coastal communities from the Olympic Peninsula to the Redwood Coast of California.
The national awards are presented every four years and recognize organizations and agencies for their achievements as demonstrated through exemplary programs, projects, and products that address earthquake risk reduction within the United States.
Butler has been a professor of geophysics at the University since 2004. He teaches earth system science, natural hazards, and oceanography and is known locally as an expert in the field of earthquakes and earthquake preparedness. He is also the project director of Teachers on the Leading Edge (TOTLE), a K-12 Earth Science teacher professional development program featuring Pacific Northwest geology and geological hazards. Among his many awards, Butler was named the Oregon Academy of Science 2013 Outstanding Higher Education Teacher in Science and Mathematics, and received the 2014 Fred Fox Distinguished Service to Science Education Award from the Oregon Science Teachers, and the 2015 Neil Milner Award from the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.
For more information contact environmental studies at 8342 or inanb@up.edu.