Lisa White is Director of Education and Outreach at the UC Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley. In this role she promotes teaching and learning of science, particularly of evolution, the fossil record, and the nature and impacts of global change, through online resources and hands-­on science. A geologist and micropaleontologist by training, she previously held positions of Professor of Geosciences at San Francisco State University and she is active in efforts to diversify the geosciences through wide-­ranging field and research experience programs for urban youth. These include the SF-­ROCKS (Reaching out the Communities and Kids with Science in San Francisco) and METALS (Minority Education Through Teaching and Learning in the Sciences) programs that benefit from collaborations with scientists and faculty at the University of New Orleans and the University of Texas at El Paso.

California Magazine put it well:
“As an African-American woman in one of the least diverse scientific fields, White, director of education and public programs at the University of California’s Museum of Paleontology, is accustomed to playing the part of role model. ‘There are very few female black geoscientists who study paleontology, so I get it,’ she says with a chuckle. ‘I’m going to be asked reach out to youth a lot.'”

(…and we know Lisa doesn’t see this as a chore — she loves it.)

Watch Lisa in Nova’s “Making North America” where she highlights California geology in episodes one (Origins) and three (Human).

Three words that describe Lisa:
Paleontologist, educator, sports fan!

The dots Lisa connects:
She connects communities to science through places — both local and global — that are meaningful to their lives: parks and outdoor spaces, neighborhoods, educational centers, and museums.

Read more at UC Berkeley’s news site, where Lisa was highlighted for being featured in a PBS special, or at California Magazine, where her outreach work was recently highlighted.

Lisa, in her role as Director of Education and Outreach, at the UCMP, is spearheading a new “Understanding Global Change” website project — soon to be be a sibling to the already existing Understanding Evolution, and Understanding Science resource websites.