Margie Turrin

Pronouns: she/her/hers
Senior Staff Associate II, Marine and Polar Geophysics, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), Columbia Climate School
Director of Educational Field Programs, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO)
Director of the Hudson River Field Station, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO)
109C Oceanography 61 Route 9W PO Box 1000 Palisades, NY 10964

BIOGRAPHY:

Margie Turrin is Director of Educational Field Programs at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory where for over 20 years she has developed and delivered science education for formal and informal educators, and conducted research linking science and education. She is committed to field based teaching and research opportunities. Margie has worked extensively on the Hudson River and surrounding watershed, and is the Director of Lamont’s Hudson River Field Station. She has participated in multiple field programs in both Greenland and Antarctica on climate research projects, focusing on linking these regions into climate education, and is currently working with Greenlandic partners as part of a project working on the co-production of field-based education for students in Greenland.

Some of her favorite educational contributions are a book she co-authored “Earth Science Puzzles: Making Meaning from Data,” a series of publications she co-authored on the power of question asking in science education, and two map based educational apps she co-developed on changes in the Antarctic Ice Sheet (Thwaites Explorer) and the science of sea level change (Polar Explorer: Sea Level).

Margie is on the Board of the Hudson River Environmental Society, and serves on the Lamont's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Standing Committee, and the Thwaites International Glacier Collaboration Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Committee.

VIDEO

The Polar Climate Ambassadors Program (Polar CAP) is a high school program for youth focused on creating change around climate. This play list includes a few of the videos they created.

EARTH INSTITUTE LIVE VIDEOS

PROJECTS

Only select projects listed below

Name	Start Date	End Date
A Day in the Life of the Hudson River 2014	8/1/14	12/31/14
A Day in the Life of the Hudson River 2015-2020	1/1/15	11/30/20
Connecting the Polar Regions to local Climate Change	6/1/17	8/31/17
Developing Your Voice in Our Hudson River Story	2/1/19	1/31/21
Ecological Assessment of the Hudson River	9/23/14	3/15/17
Educating Young Researchers in Environment Ethics	8/15/16	7/31/19
Exploring Field Science with New Jersey Students	11/21/18	11/20/20
NSF INCLUDES Early Engagement in Research: key to long-term STEM retention	10/1/16	9/30/21
NSFPLR-NERC The Future of the Thwaites Glacier and its Contribution to Sea-Level	4/1/18	3/31/23
NYC DOE Hudson River STEM Teacher Professional Development Opportunities	10/1/17	5/30/18
Piermont Pier Blockhouse	1/1/18	12/31/18
Summer STEM Institute - Teaching Climate Change: Linking Local to Polar	7/25/18	8/31/18
Broadening Our Reach Through the Next Generation of Hudson River Educators	2/1/20	1/31/22
Hudson River Education: A Voice of Unity	12/1/21	11/30/23
GRate: Collaborative Research - Response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to ocean and atmosphere forcing in a changing Arctic system - integrating data and modeling to quantify rates of change	9/1/21	8/31/25
Hudson River Education: Building a Pathway	11/1/22	10/31/25
A Day in the Life of the Hudson and Harbor 2021-2023 (extended 2024-2025)	6/1/21	12/31/25

2 PUBLICATIONS ON COLUMBIA | ACADEMIC COMMONS

Only select publications listed below

Name	Published Date
Bridging the Poles: Education Linked with Research: A Report on the Workshop: 23-25 June 2004, Washington, D.C.	2004
Education and Outreach for the International Polar Year	2004

PUBLICATIONS

Turrin, M., L. Zaima-Sheehy and M. Annunziato. 2024. Eyes in the Sky: Using Remote Sensing to Explore Climate Change Through the Polar Regions. The Earth Scientist. Volume XL: No. 4: 28-38.

Pfirman, S., L. Hamilton, M, Turrin, C. Narveson and C.A. Lloyd. 2021. Polar knowledge of US students as indicated by an online Kahoot! quiz game, Journal of Geoscience Education, DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2021.1877526

Tanenbaum, J., Fenton, J., Knudson, C. Liable, N., Rosamilia, B., Turrin, M., Zaima, L. 2021, Earth Day at Cottage Lane: A local, affordable, outdoor-education-day model for your school, The Earth Scientist, Vol 37: No.1: 4-9.

Park, P. J., Girgenti, C. D., Del Bello, I. G., Tobitsch, C. M., Gorsen, D. M., Stanner, K. C., Van Horn, Kasey, D., Wilding, C., Gonzalez, L. F., Wu, J. R., Adams, J. J., Reeve,E. J., Bender, M. E., Bowser, C. Turrin, M. K., and Lake, T. , 2020, New York City East River Fish Species Inventory and Emergence of a Unique Fish Community Science Network, Urban Naturalist, 38:1-27.

Turrin, M., E. Allan, J. Stock, L. Zaima, 2020, It takes a ‘Superhero’ to uncover the climate secrets in fossilized Arctic Ocean dinocysts, Current, the Journal of Marine Education, 34:1, 22-28, winter 2020.

Turrin, M. S. Pfirman, L. Hamilton, 2020, Polar fun and games, Current, the Journal of Marine Education, 34:1, 9-14, winter 2020.

Zrada, M., K. Kastens, and M. Turrin, 2019. How to help your students ask more and better questions, Oceanography, 32:4, 204-206 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2019.404

Kastens, K., Bradley-Zrada, M., and M. Turrin, 2019, What kinds of questions do students ask while exploring geoscience data visualizations? Journal of Geoscience Education, DOI:10.1080/10899995.2019.1675447

Xu, Cassie, R. Newton, M. Turrin and S. Vincent. 2018. Early Engagement in Research as a Tool for Broadening Science Participation, in STEM Equity in Teaching & Learning: Meeting the Global Challenges of Standards, Engagement and Transformation in the 21stCentury. Johnson & Johnson Co-authors, Peter Land Publisher, pp. 114-137.

Egger, A., K. Kastens and M. Turrin, 2017, Sustainability, the Next Generation Science Standards, and the Education of Future Teachers, Journal of Geoscience Education,65:2, 168-184, DOI: 10.5408/16-174.1

Passow, M., M. Turrin and Y. Delarosa. 2015. Learning in the ‘Real Classroom’ – Inspiring through Earth Science field experiences. The Earth Scientist, Vol 31, No. 4, 19-23.

Turrin, M., 2015, A Day in the Field:A stepped model to developing data-savvy students, NSTA, The Science Teacher, Summer Issue 2015.

Virk, S., M. Turrin and L. Compres, 2014, Exploring the Efficacy and Engagement of a Glacial Melting Simulation, The Earth Scientist, Vol 30, No 3: 28-31.

Turrin, M, and R. Bell, 2013, Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier: A ‘Climate Canary’?, Using atmospheric and oceanic processes and the poles to teach the climate system, The Science Teacher, Vol. 80, No 7: 57-62.

Turrin, M. 2013, They Need to Know the Hudson, Pathways, New York State Outdoor Educators Association, Summer 2013, 11-13.

Kenna, T. K., M. Turrin and S. Pfirman, 2012, The “field” through a different lens, Special Paper 486 Earth and Mind II: A synthesis of research in thinking and learning in the geosciences, eds. Kastens & Manduca, The Geological Society of America, pp167-169.

Turrin, M., 2010. “Chapter 3: Outreach: Inspiring Ideas and Initiatives from Around the World” from Polar Science and Global Climate: An International Resource for Education and Outreach, Pearson Education Publishing, contributed sections pp199, 201.

Kastens, K. A. and M. Turrin. 2010. Earth Science Puzzles: Making Meaning From Data, NSTA. 190p. Winner of American Publishers Award.

Kastens, K. A. and M. Turrin. 2008. What are children being taught in school about human-caused climate change? Bud Ward, Editor,Communications on Climate Change: An Essential Resource for Journalists, Scientists, and Educators, pp.48-49.

Kastens, K. A. and M. Turrin. 2006. To what extent should human/environment interactions be included in science education? Special Issue on Earth System Science Education, Journal of Geoscience Education. Vol 54 (3): 422-436.

Staff and Affiliates Directory