About the Author

» Bruce Boller grew up in Western, New York. He received a B.S. in Biology/ General Science from Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1986. He taught in Calvert County, Maryland for two years and then moved to Windsor, North Carolina in 1988. He has been teaching at Bertie High School there ever since. Bruce developed curriculum for Human Anatomy and Physiology and Biotechnology courses before becoming a Kenan Fellow in 2008. He also received his National Board for Professional Development Certification in Biology in 2001. Bruce and his wife, Jean have been married since 1986 and have two sons, Aaron and Ethan.

About the Mentor

« Dr. Thomas J. Rossbach was born and raised in Scarsdale, New York. As a child, his father took him to the American Museum of Natural History where he first became interested in geology.

He attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and received a Bachelor’s degree in geology in 1983. After taking a year off from school, he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for a Master’s degree in Geology, focusing on the molluscan fauna of the River Bend Formation (Early Oligocene) which had only recently been exposed by quarry work. After completion of the MS degree in 1987, he stayed on at UNC-CH and received a Doctorate in Geology in 1992, studying the effects of the Late Devonian Frasnian-Famennian extinction event in the central Appalachian basin.

In 1993-1994 Dr. Rossbach « taught geology and UNC-Wilmington, after which he was a geologist for two environmental consulting companies in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area. He taught Geology at Western Carolina University in 1997-1998 and at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania in 1998-1999. Since 1999 he has been teaching Geology (and more recently Physical Science) at Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina.