2024 Award Recipient
Congratulations to Dr. Jay Banner, the 2024 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching Recipient!
Jay L. Banner, Ph.D., F. M. Bullard Professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences in the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, has been named the 2024 Cherry Award recipient.
Banner visited Baylor in October 2023 to present his Cherry Award finalist lecture, “21st Century Texas: Climate, Water, Science, and Society.” His research interests center on climate and hydrologic processes, how they are preserved in the geologic record, including in caves, and how human activities affect the sustainability of water resources. He also serves as director of the Environmental Science Institute at UT-Austin.
His teaching interests are in sustainability, environmental science, geochemistry, and environmental justice. His K-12 and community engagement initiatives include Hot Science – Cool Talks, the Scientist in Residence program, which partners STEM graduate-student researchers with K-12 teachers, and a new project (CRESSLE) that partners researchers and community members to address resilience challenges in underserved communities.
Banner is a member of UT Austin’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers, a recipient of the Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship Award and the UT System Regents Outstanding Teaching Award, and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.
On the UT-Austin faculty since 1990, Banner earned his B.A. in geology at the University of Pennsylvania, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in earth sciences from State University of New York at Stony Brook.
As the 2024 Cherry Award recipient, Banner will receive the $250,000 award and an additional $250,000 for the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UT's Jackson School of Geosciences to further Baylor University's commitment to great teaching. Banner will teach in residence at Baylor during the 2025 spring semester.
Personal website, 2024 Cherry Award Finalist Lecture