The College Park Scholars Earth, Life & Time Program is supported by the Department of Geology in the College of Computer, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences.
The ELT Faculty:
Faculty Director: Dr. Thomas R.
Holtz, Jr. is a dinosaur paleontologist and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geology. His
primary research subject is the evolution and adaptations of the carnivorous dinosaurs, most
especially the
tyrant dinosaurs. He has also published on the effects of plate tectonics on the evolution
of dinosaurs and their contemporaries, and on reconstructing the locomotion and predatory
techniques of various fossil animals. For a more general audience, Dr. Holtz has written
children's books on dinosaurs and was one of the primary consultants on the BBC/Discovery
Channel TV series Walking with Dinosaurs. He was a consultant
with and appears in the new History Channel series
Jurassic Fight Club. He is
the current President (2006-2009) of the Paleontological Society of Washington.
Dr. Holtz has been with the Department of Geology since 1994, teaching classes on dinosaurs, invertebrate paleontology, and historical and environmental geology. He has received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the University Honors Program (in 1997), the Celebrating Teachers Award from the Center for Teaching Excellence (in 2003), and the College of Computer, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences Outstanding Instructor Award (in 2005). In the Fall of 1999 he and Associate Director Merck began the College Park Scholars Earth, Life and Time Program to promote the scientific understanding of the natural historical sciences among some of UMCP's most talented students. In addition to his background in the natural historical sciences, Dr. Holtz brings to ELT his love of the best in science fiction and his knowledge of the worst in the pseudosciences.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu
He is a committed undergraduate educator, whose philosophy is that curriculum should be structured so that students receive the maximum educational benefit for their effort. Merck's teaching experience spans geological and biological subjects including physical Geology, vertebrate evolution, and comparative anatomy. He has a special affection for the ELT curriculum, the one venue in which he truly is free to emphasize the meaningful connections between concepts of natural history that are usually obscured by the artificial divisions of academic bureaucracy. In 2004 he recieved the College of Computer, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences Oustanding Instructor Award.
Merck's teaching is also informed by his academic and professional experience with digital information technologies, enabling him to instruct ELT students in appropriate methods of presentation, including web sites and professional quality digital graphics. He prefers cats to dogs.
Email: jmerck@umd.edu
.
ELT Residential Assistants for 2008-2009:
