r. John Nicholas, aka "Doc Rock" and professor of geology and chemistry at UB for thirty years, has been elected the 2000 Connecticut Earth Science Teacher of the Year by the Connecticut Earth Science Teacher's Association (CESTA).

  "This is truly one of the great moments of my professional career," said Prof. Nicholas, who was selected out of a group of over 300 of his peers.

  In order to be considered for the award, the candidate must be an outstanding earth science educator and must support earth science education through participation in professional development activities above and beyond the normal duties of a classroom teacher.

  Dr. Nicholas meets and goes beyond these requirements, according to Lisa Alter, president of the CESTA. In explaining the award, Alter wrote: "In conversations with many other science teachers throughout Connecticut regarding professional development workshops and field trips, his name is constantly brought up as a leader in these activities as impacting tremendously on their curriculum".

  "Dr. Nicholas has given much of his time on the weekends to promoting geology and earth science through 10-12 hour field trips with teachers and their students of all ages to the Catskill Mountain region (fossil hunting) as well as many other localities.

  "I have personally participated in many professional activities with Dr. Nicholas and his impact on my teaching of earth science has been immense. For many years, Dr. Nicholas has taken my students to the Catskills. These students later come back to visit me and they still have the fossil specimens collected with 'Doc Rock'. Dr. Nicholas is truly 'The 2000 Connecticut Earth Science Teacher of the Year.' "