Down to Earth With on EARTH Magazine

Down to Earth With: Paleoanthropologist and underground astronaut Lindsay Hunter

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 15:14:59 -0500

Lindsay Hunter finds a perch in the Rising Star Cave in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site in South Africa, where she helped excavate the bones of Homo naledi. Over three weeks in November 2013, Hunter and her colleagues excavated more than 1,500 fossil pieces from specimens of the previously unknown hominin species. Credit: ©Wits University/Elen Feuerriegel.

In 2013, Lindsay Hunter found herself at a personal and professional crossroads. She had gone through a divorce, left the paleoanthropology doctoral program at the University of Iowa, where she had received her master’s in 2004, and moved, along with her three dogs and two cats, to live with her parents on a farm outside Austin, Texas.

Down to Earth With: Clay mineralogist Warren Huff

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 10:11:59 -0500

Clay mineralogist Warren Huff taught at the University of Cincinnati (UC) for 55 years. He is still active as a professor emeritus and is a great supporter of bringing UC alumni together, especially at Geological Society of America annual meetings. Credit: courtesy of Warren Huff.

Two distinct images come to mind when I think of Warren Huff, my former doctoral adviser: one in which he is enthusiastically teaching and mentoring students both in and out of the classroom, and one in which he is sitting around a fire, playing guitar and leading a group of geologists in science-themed sing-alongs. Both images encapsulate the kind of person he is: a leading scholar in the field of clay mineralogy who lives life with gusto.

Down to Earth With: Coastal scientist Gary Griggs

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 09:27:50 -0500

Coastal scientist Gary Griggs has been teaching at the University of California, Santa Cruz, for the past 50 years. An advocate for ocean science, conservation, policy and education, he has studied coasts around the world, including the beach pictured here, Coral Beach on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Credit: courtesy of Gary Griggs.

Maybe it was the summer camping trips with his family along the Pacific coast, or perhaps surfing off Santa Barbara, Calif., during college, but Gary Griggs always gravitated to the ocean. He turned that love into a career and has spent the last 50 years teaching about the oceans and coasts at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).

Down to Earth With: Geologist Robert Brinkmann

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 12:40:44 -0400

Geologist Robert Brinkmann is vice provost for scholarship and research and dean of graduate studies at Hofstra University in New York. Credit: Robert Brinkmann.

As a child, Robert Brinkmann was always curious about rocks. He wondered how they got where they were and why they were different from each other. Brinkmann grew up in the farm country of southeastern Wisconsin, as well as in the woods in the northern part of the state. After one of his first geology classes in college, he went home and finally understood what he was looking at. “It was such an eye-opening experience to be able to read the landscape,” Brinkmann says.

Down to Earth With: Volcanologist Thorvaldur Thordarson

Fri, 31 Aug 2018 20:17:56 -0400

Thordarson studies the 1995–96 eruption of Mount Ruapehu in New Zealand, where he witnessed the beginning phases of the eruption from a helicopter above the crater. Credit: courtesy of Thor Thordarson.

Despite growing up in Iceland, with Earth’s most volcanically active landscape as his playground, Thorvaldur Thordarson had no idea he would grow up to be a volcanologist. Nor did he suspect that his career path would take him all over the world to witness eruptions and aftermaths on six continents.

Down to Earth With: Volcanologist Scott Rowland

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 12:58:11 -0400

Volcanologist Scott Rowland, who studies Hawaiian lava flows and also works as a volcanologist on the Mars Curiosity Rover team, with the testbed rover at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Credit: Megan Kennedy-Wu.

Hawaii seems like an ideal place to nurture a budding volcanologist. Kilauea, on the Big Island, is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. And the terms used to describe the main types of basaltic lava flows — aa and pahoehoe — are Hawaiian words.

Down to Earth With: Paleobiologist Rowan Lockwood

Tue, 03 Jul 2018 10:39:57 -0400

Rowan Lockwood, a professor of paleobiology in the Department of Geology at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, studies ecological changes through geologic time to inform modern conservation approaches. Credit: Stephen Salpukas.

In 1608, Captain John Smith noted that oysters “lay as thick as stones” on the floor of the Chesapeake Bay. The shell reefs — built up by hundreds of years of oyster generations — were so large, ships wrecked against them. And each oyster was so massive, to eat one, you had to cut it into pieces — like a steak.

Down to Earth With: John 'Jack' Reed Jr.

Wed, 23 May 2018 17:27:42 -0400

John "Jack" Reed Jr. Credit: Mountaineers Books

Geologist Jack Reed spent his career studying rocks the most strenuous way someone can — by climbing them. During much of his 47 years with the U.S. Geological Survey, Reed clung to rock faces in Alaska, Wyoming and Colorado, while creating geologic maps of North America’s tallest mountain ranges. Along the way, he published dozens of books for climbers and hikers on the geology of places like the Tetons in Wyoming, Seneca Rocks in West Virginia, Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and, most recently, “Rocks Above the Clouds: A Climber’s Guide to Colorado Mountain Geology.” Shortly before his latest book hit the shelves, Reed took some time out of his busy retirement schedule to speak with EARTH contributor and fellow climber Mary Caperton Morton.

Down to Earth With: Maurice J. 'Ric' Terman

Wed, 23 May 2018 17:22:13 -0400

Maurice Terman. Credit: Courtesy of Maurice Terman

A general wants to advance his army of tanks, but doesn’t know if the terrain he plans to cross will allow it. Tanks can’t go up steep slopes, for instance. And they can’t knock down large trees or traverse soft ground like peat bogs. That’s where military geologists come in — earth scientists who scope out the terrain to determine its suitability for different types of movement and construction.

Down to Earth With: John Copeland

Wed, 23 May 2018 17:16:27 -0400

John Copeland. Credit: Pierre de Lespinois

Movie effects have come a long way since the close-shot model explosions that made “Star Wars” a hit, and science documentaries are no exception, says John Copeland, a director and producer who has worked on such shows as “Babylon 5,” “Dinosaur Planet” and “When Dinosaurs Roamed America.” Copeland explains to EARTH reporter Brian Fisher Johnson how TV drama and computer effects have revolutionized the way documentarians portray science.

Down to Earth With: New congressional science fellows

Wed, 23 May 2018 17:09:52 -0400

Last month, a new Congress and president came to Washington, D.C. And with them came new staff, including five geoscience congressional science fellows. The fellows will take their scientific prowess to the Hill, and will use their training to work with senators, representatives and committees on policy issues. But the transition from field boot to suit jacket won’t be easy, they told EARTH reporter Brian Fisher Johnson.

Down to Earth With: Jack Horner

Wed, 23 May 2018 16:02:09 -0400

As one of the world’s most successful dinosaur hunters and a leader in the field of dinosaur growth and development, Jack Horner needs little introduction for paleontology enthusiasts. His first big discovery, the dinosaur Maiasaura, or “Mother Lizard,” was found with the first known dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere and the first evidence of colonial nesting. This discovery dispelled the notion that dinosaurs were bad mothers. Other notable discoveries include the first dinosaur embryos and the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. Horner also served as technical advisor for the “Jurassic Park” films and is the partial inspiration for the main character Alan Grant.

Down to Earth With: Ted Irving

Wed, 23 May 2018 15:44:57 -0400

Ted Irving. Credit: Courtesy of Ted Irving

Geoscience students today may take plate tectonics for granted, but the concept that Earth has a mobile crust has only been generally accepted for the past 40 years. This modern concept is due in part to the work of Ted Irving, a geologist and scientist emeritus with the Geological Survey of Canada. In the 1950s, Irving was one of the first scientists to perform a physical test of — and find hard evidence for — Alfred Wegener’s 1912 hypothesis of continental drift. Continental drift was a precursor to plate tectonics theory, which describes how Earth’s surface is not a single shell, but is divided into large plates that are constantly moving past each other.

Down to Earth With: Peter Brewer

Wed, 23 May 2018 15:21:29 -0400

Whether through deep-sea gas hydrate experiments, lasers or asphyxiating squid, Peter Brewer is always seeking new ways to understand the changing chemistry of the oceans. Brewer has embarked on a series of groundbreaking projects throughout his career. During his nearly 24 years at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he was the chief architect of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, launched by the United States in the late 1980s to track the cycling of carbon and other chemical elements between the atmosphere, oceans and seafloor — and to understand human impacts on these cycles.

Down to Earth With: Jessica Whiteside

Wed, 23 May 2018 14:59:19 -0400

Jessica Whiteside (middle) is an assistant geology professor at Brown University. Credit: Courtesy of Jessica Whiteside

From Morocco to Connecticut, Jessica Whiteside has explored almost every Mesozoic rock outcrop there is. And she’s only three years out of graduate school. With a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., and two master’s degrees and a doctorate from Columbia University in New York, N.Y., under her belt, Whitehouse is now in Providence, R.I., working as an assistant professor of geological sciences at Brown University.

Down to Earth With: Buzz Aldrin

Wed, 23 May 2018 12:37:04 -0400

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong made history when they landed and walked on the moon. The voyage left a lasting impression on Aldrin, who, at the age of 79, is one of the most vocal supporters of human space exploration.

Down to Earth With: Matt Kondolf

Wed, 23 May 2018 12:07:51 -0400

Matt Kondolf. Credit: Courtesy of Matt Kondolf

As a fluvial geomorphologist teaching in the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Department at the University of California at Berkeley, Matt Kondolf is an ambassador from the earth sciences to landscape designers and environmental planners. Kondolf’s research in river management ranges from the impacts of urbanization on runoff and sediment yield, to river restoration, to managing salmon populations and fishing. In classes like “Hydrology for Planners” and “Ecological Analysis in Urban Design,” he encourages up-and-coming environmental planners and designers to think carefully about the geologic processes that control river formation, as well as the roles that rivers play within ecosystems. He is also active in the policy discussions that are shaping California’s and the nation’s approaches to river management.

Down to Earth With: Mike Gallagher

Wed, 23 May 2018 11:31:14 -0400

Mike Gallagher. Credit: Germaine Price

Mike Gallagher is not your typical science educator. After spending three years as a researcher and field geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., Gallagher decided to become a teacher after budget cuts at USGS in the late 1980s encouraged him to reconsider his career track. Gallagher went on to earn a Washington state teaching certificate (while renting a place in the belfry of a local church). As a teacher in Washington, Gallagher engaged his students with hands-on science research projects: By 1999, two of his students had even presented their research on the water quality of a local stream to then-Governor Gary Locke, who is now secretary of commerce. A windsurfer in his spare time, Gallagher now works for Michigan’s Oakland Intermediate School District, advising districts and teachers on how to improve their science education programs.

Down to Earth With: Sharon Mosher

Wed, 23 May 2018 10:56:04 -0400

Sharon Mosher. Credit: Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin

Sharon Mosher was born with a rock in her hand, as her mom used to say. As a child in Illinois, she was fascinated by geology, conducting mineral tests on rocks in the chemistry lab her dad set up for her in their basement. She decided she wanted to be a geologist the moment she learned that’s what you call a person who studies rocks.

Down to Earth With: Andrew Feustel

Tue, 22 May 2018 17:20:22 -0400

Astronaut Andrew Feustel was a mission specialist on the fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope repair mission (STS-125) in May 2009. Credit: NASA

Feustel’s academic career has taken several interesting turns, which sometimes brought him close to spaceflight — but never quite there, at least not until recently. After community college, he went on to study geology and geophysics as an undergraduate and master’s student at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. — a school that happens to have a long history of graduating future astronauts. He then headed to Canada to pursue a doctoral degree, investigating seismic wave attenuation in underground mines at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In 1997, he went to Houston, Texas — coincidentally the location of NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center, where astronauts train — to work for ExxonMobil as an exploration geophysicist. Even then, Feustel says, he still didn’t have a conscious plan to be an astronaut.

Down to Earth With: Todd Hoefen

Tue, 22 May 2018 17:02:40 -0400

Todd Hoefen collects ash samples from the Station Fire in Southern California in 2009. Credit: Courtesy of Todd Hoefen

On any given day, you might find Todd Hoefen studying the material properties of other planets, building remote sensing applications, sampling dust from the rubble of natural and human-made disasters, or playing drums with the members of his former rock band, Oakhurst.

Down to Earth With: Katerina Dontsova

Tue, 22 May 2018 16:41:31 -0400

Soil scientist Katerina Dontsova didn’t imagine she would be working at one of the nation’s most famous laboratories when she arrived at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., from the Ukraine as an undergraduate exchange student in 1993. But after earning a doctorate in soil chemistry from Purdue and working as a contractor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Mississippi, Dontsova did just that, landing a job at Biosphere 2, outside Tucson, Ariz., in 2008.

Down to Earth With: Nick Brooks

Tue, 22 May 2018 16:17:08 -0400

Nick Brooks surveys the landscape at Rekeiz Lemgassem, Western Sahara. Credit: Nick Brooks

More than 6,000 years ago, the world’s most famous desert was no desert at all. A wet, grassy landscape, the Sahara supported populations of hunter-gatherers. But between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the Sahara started to dry out. The rapid climate change forced the Sahara’s human inhabitants to adapt — some people became more sedentary and settled near oases while others took up cattle herding and traveled between the desert’s dwindling resources. Once the desert became too inhospitable to support even a pastoralist’s lifestyle, people migrated southward.

Down to Earth With: Jeffrey Post

Tue, 22 May 2018 15:41:08 -0400

Jeffrey Post has been the curator of the Smithsonian's National Gem and Mineral Collection for more than two decades. Credit: Smithsonian Institution

The gems and minerals exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., has more than 3,000 pieces; the entire collection has more than 360,000 pieces. From slabs of granite to the ultimate gem, the Hope Diamond, the collection is one of the finest displays of geology in the world. And one person, Jeffrey Post, oversees the entire collection. As the curator of the National Gem and Mineral Collection for the past 20 years, Post has helped obtain some of the collection’s most stunning pieces as well as pursued research behind the scenes. Post sat down with Meg Marquardt, an intern at EARTH, to talk about his path to the Smithsonian, the charm of the collection and his research into environmentally important minerals.

Down to Earth With: Dr. Jonathan Patz

Tue, 22 May 2018 15:23:10 -0400

Dr. Jonathan Patz. Credit: Courtesy of University of Wisconsin

From stitching up cuts in Missoula, Mont., to authoring parts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, Dr. Jonathan Patz has made helping people stay healthy his life’s work. With a joint appointment at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s School of Medicine and its Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, Patz is in a unique position to explore global climate change as a matter of public health.

Down to Earth With: Matthew Parker

Tue, 22 May 2018 15:08:44 -0400

Matthew Parker out in the field with the VORTEX2 project near Dalton, Neb. Credit: George Bryan

Matthew Parker In 1985, the television show NOVA dedicated an entire hour to the pioneers of tornado research, the men and women who first spent their summers crisscrossing the central United States in pursuit of data on the perfect tornado. Long before the blockbuster movie “Twister” sparked an entire legion of amateur storm chasers looking for a thrill, that NOVA documentary gave rise to Matthew Parker’s lifelong drive to understand the science behind one of Mother Nature’s deadliest weapons. Now an atmospheric scientist, Parker heads the convective storm research group at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Among other projects, Parker is involved with VORTEX2 (Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2), a descendant of the TOTO (Totable Tornado Observatory) system used in the NOVA documentary. As VORTEX2 closes out its last season of gathering data, Parker spoke with Meg Marquardt, an intern at EARTH magazine, about what sparked his interested in severe weather and how far tornado observation has come since those early days.

Down to Earth With: Hope Jahren

Tue, 22 May 2018 11:43:43 -0400

Courtesy of Hope Jahren

Hope Jahren is often described as a biogeologist, but that seems too narrow a description. Currently a professor at the University of Hawaii in Manoa, Jahren has studied everything from fossils and french fries to paleoclimate and plants. After graduating from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in 1991 with a degree in geology, Jahren studied stream chemistry in Norway as a Fulbright scholar. She completed a doctorate in soil science at the University of California at Berkeley in 1996 and taught at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., before moving to Hawaii in 2008. Jahren talked with freelance writer Sam Lemonick about her diverse interests and her return this year to Norway, where she has another Fulbright grant, this time to study how climate affects the growth patterns of plants.

"Greening" stormwater in Philadelphia

Tue, 01 May 2018 12:04:17 -0400

When environmental geologist David Wilcots joined Sci-Tek Consultants in 2014, he became involved with the Philadelphia Water Department’s Green Stormwater Infrastructure project. Sci-Tek’s goal was to redesign certain areas of the city’s urban landscape so that “less stormwater goes into the sewage system” and more goes into the ground, explains Wilcots. Doing so not only helps prevent flooding, but also lightens the load on sewage treatment plants. He manages a team of designers, data analysts and environmental scientists who are “gathering the stormwater flow data from around the city at hundreds of locations.”

Down to Earth With: National Park Service senior paleontologist Vincent Santucci

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 09:56:08 -0400

Vincent Santucci is the senior paleontologist and paleontology program coordinator at the National Park Service. Credit: NPS photo.

When Vincent Santucci was hired in 1985 to work as a seasonal ranger in South Dakota’s Badlands National Park, he assumed the most formative part of the experience would be sharing his unbridled enthusiasm for fossils with park visitors. But as Santucci explored the colorful badlands on his days off, he sometimes stumbled across people who were illegally collecting fossils. Following the first of these encounters, Santucci raced back to headquarters to report the illicit activity with the expectation that the chief ranger would rush out and arrest the perpetrator. Much to Santucci’s surprise, the ranger instead put a hand on his shoulder and drawled, “You ain’t from around here, are you, boy?” After several repeat episodes, Santucci learned that when rangers had previously caught illegal collectors and brought them before the local magistrate, the judge had refused to prosecute, citing a lack of fencing or signage that clearly informed the fossil hunters they’d been on federal land.

Down to Earth With: Conservation engineer Emily Pidgeon

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 14:29:28 -0400

Emily Pidgeon, senior director of the oceans and climate program at Conservation International, led the formation of the Blue Carbon Initiative, an international nonprofit organization that works to mitigate climate change by protecting coastal ecosystems. Credit: Sarah Derouin.

“I can be a very blunt object,” says Emily Pidgeon, describing how she moves through the world and how she approaches her work. Her Australian accent, drawling yet punctuated, rises above the din of the lunch crowd at a café. She pauses a moment, and declares herself a larrikin. “Do you know that word, larrikin?” She explains that Australians have a larrikin culture — they’re troublemakers, but in a good way. “We have a healthy disrespect for authority,” she says, sipping her tea.

Down to Earth With: Paleontologist and astronomer Tom Kaye

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 12:50:11 -0500

Credit: Tome Kaye.

What do paleontology, astronomy and paintball guns have in common? For one, they have all been pursuits of Tom Kaye. Kaye, a research associate at the Burke Museum in Seattle, Wash., is a self-taught paleontologist and an amateur astronomer. But he’s not content with just digging fossils and observing constellations. His ambitions are much greater. In July, for example, he set off a paleontological debate when he and his colleagues suggested in PLoS One that soft tissue that was discovered in a tyrannosaur fossil in 2005 was nothing more than bacteria trapped in tiny grooves on the bone.

Down to Earth With: Award-winning sci-fi novelist Kim Stanley Robinson

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 12:03:41 -0500

Kim Stanley Robinson. Credit: Gloria Robinson.

Don’t let Kim Stanley Robinson fool you. He may know a lot about the geography of Mars and ocean acidification, but he’s no scientist. He’s an award-winning science fiction novelist. Yet the science in his books is so convincing that many fans can’t help but be duped.

Down to Earth With marine geoscientist Harold Tobin

Tue, 27 Feb 2018 13:38:40 -0500

Harold Tobin, a marine geophysicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, aboard the research vessel Marcus G. Langseth, collecting a marine seismic reflection survey of the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the coast of Washington state. Credit: Jackie Caplan-Auerbach.

As a boy growing up on the East Coast, Harold Tobin loved being outdoors but was not all that excited by geology or the region’s ancient rocks. But the catastrophic eruption of Washington state’s Mount St. Helens in 1980, when Tobin was 15, and the notion that tectonic plates must be moving beneath the Pacific Northwest, captured his imagination. A few years later, while a student at Yale University, he volunteered as a summer intern at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. That experience, along with his undergraduate curriculum, convinced Tobin to become a geologist.

Down to Earth With: Wildfire meteorologist Craig Clements

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 14:06:19 -0500

Meteorologist Craig Clements is an associate professor and director of the Fire Weather Research Laboratory at San Jose State University. Credit: D. Schmidtz.

Not many people are able to combine their work and hobbies the way Craig Clements, a meteorologist at San Jose State University in California, has. “I was always interested in mountain weather,” he says. “I got into meteorology through my interest in mountaineering and climbing.”

Down to Earth With Kateryna Klochko

Tue, 02 Jan 2018 14:52:45 -0500

Kateryna Klochko headshot. Credit: Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Kateryna Klochko made a splash in the ocean geochemistry world as a doctoral student at the University of Maryland in College Park. She had been in the U.S. for only a few years, following a long journey from her native Ukraine. Yet she was about to challenge paradigms.

Down to Earth With: Paleontologist Ali Nabavizadeh

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 12:56:55 -0500

Anatomist and paleontologist Ali Nabavizadeh is an assistant professor at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, N.J. Credit: Thea Boodhoo.

A perfect day in the life of paleontologist Ali Nabavizadeh wouldn’t be complete without a fresh corpse. The subjects of his work at the dissection table range from a rhinoceros, to an elephant head, to the human cadavers essential to the anatomy classes he teaches at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, N.J. The only thing that could possibly top a fresh corpse, in fact, is an extremely old one.

Down to Earth With Richard Prum

Tue, 14 Nov 2017 07:05:33 -0500

Richard Prum studies modern birds to learn more about dinosaurs. Credit: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Prum, a professor of ornithology at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., was an avid birdwatcher as a kid and thought he might grow up to be a park ranger. But in college he became interested in phylogenetics — the study of evolutionary relationships. Combining that with his interest in birdwatching seemed natural, he thought. So he went into evolutionary ornithology.

Down to Earth With: Deep-sea biologist Stace Beaulieu

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 14:10:58 -0400

Stace Beaulieu is a senior research specialist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Mass., who studies the biology of deep-sea ecosystems, including hydrothermal vents. Credit: Tom Kleindinst, WHOI.

People often find their way to the geosciences after a college class sparks their interest. But not Stace Beaulieu, a senior research specialist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Mass. — she knew what she wanted to do at age 6. Beaulieu grew up in Florida and spent her childhood snorkeling and reading science magazines with pictures of deep-sea creatures that tantalized her imagination and piqued her curiosity. “I had a one-track mind pretty much from elementary school through grad school — I never changed my mind. I was so excited about learning about what was deeper. I still am today.”

Down to Earth With: Alexander Stewart

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 13:32:05 -0400

Alexander Stewart. Credit: Alexander Stewart.

Sgt. Alexander Stewart was brought up to believe serving in the military was an obligation all young men should fulfill. In 1991, at the age of 17, he answered the call of duty and joined the U.S. Army, which took him to Alaska with the 6th Infantry Division (Arctic)(Light). The state’s endless snow and ice fascinated Stewart, and after he left active duty, he pursued a bachelor’s degree in geology. In 2007, he completed a doctorate at the University of Cincinnati — in glacial geology, of course. Now he teaches the subject at St. Lawrence University in New York.

Down to Earth With: Paleobiologist Gregory Erickson

Mon, 18 Sep 2017 14:37:02 -0400

Gregory Erickson is a professor of anatomy and vertebrate paleobiology at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. Credit: Gregory Erickson.

As an undergraduate at the University of Washington, Gregory Erickson wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He started out as an engineering major, then dabbled with getting a degree in wildlife management. In 1986, having taken numerous science courses, he happened to compare notes with his best friend, a geology major, and realized he was just a few courses shy of obtaining a geology degree himself. Eager to finish college, Erickson signed up for a class in vertebrate paleontology focusing on dinosaurs — a decision that ultimately changed his life.

Down to Earth With: Evan Thomas

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:37:31 -0400

At age 16, Evan Thomas made a list of 100 life goals — his bucket list. At only 27 years old, he's done pretty well so far: Graduate college with a degree in aerospace engineering — check. Get a doctorate by age 25 — almost (missed by 11 days). Work for NASA — check. Start a business, help people, travel the world — check, check, check. Get a private pilot license — check. Climb the world's tallest mountains — in process. Credit: Courtesy of Evan Thomas.

At age 16, Evan Thomas made a list of 100 life goals — his bucket list. At only 27 years old, he’s done pretty well so far: Graduate college with a degree in aerospace engineering — check. Get a doctorate by age 25 — almost (missed by 11 days). Work for NASA — check. Start a business, help people, travel the world — check, check, check. Get a private pilot license — check. Climb the world’s tallest mountains — in process.

Down To Earth With: John Underhill

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:54:26 -0400

John Underhill. Credit: Courtesy of John Underhill.

“The Odyssey” follows Odysseus’ 10-year journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. John Underhill, a stratigrapher at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, has been on his own odyssey over the past seven years — to test whether Ithaca actually existed. For centuries, scholars assumed that the people and places described by Homer in his epic poems were fictional, but archaeological finds elsewhere, such as Troy and Mycenae, have proven that these stories were grounded in reality.

Down to Earth With: Paleontologist Lisa D. White

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 11:19:12 -0400

Lisa White, assistant director of Education and Public Programs at the University of California Museum of Paleontology, at the 2016 meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Credit: Thea Boodhoo.

As a college student at San Francisco State University, Lisa D. White’s first choice of major was photography. She was drawn to landscapes, and dreamed of becoming “the black female Ansel Adams,” she tells me, surrounded by fossils. We’re in a lab at the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) in Berkeley, where she is assistant director of Education and Public Programs. She is also a micropaleontologist, and from 1990 until joining UCMP in 2012, she was professor of geology and later associate dean at San Francisco State University.

Down to Earth With: Cave microbiologist Hazel Barton

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 10:47:10 -0400

Cave microbiologist Hazel Barton is a professor and the director of the Integrated Bioscience Program at the University of Akron in Ohio. Credit: Dave Bunnell.

In the early 1990s, when Hazel Barton was pursuing her doctorate in medical microbiology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, she enjoyed exploring caves as a hobby. She never imagined that she would one day incorporate caving into her career.

Down to Earth With: Paleoclimatologist Gifford H. Miller

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 21:40:06 -0400

Gifford H. Miller, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder and associate director of the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, has spent years conducting paleoclimate fieldwork in the Arctic and Australia. Credit: Gifford H. Miller.

“Hope for the unexpected.” This motto has pulled paleoclimatologist Gifford H. Miller to remote corners of the world to conduct fieldwork for more than half a century. Miller, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) and associate director of the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, thrives on the pursuit of knowledge, asking tough questions about the global climate system whose answers have far-reaching implications. But it’s the thrill of unexpected discoveries — of which he’s made many — that keep him returning for more. His discoveries, including the extinction timing of giant birds in Australia, the existence of “zombie mosses” that document the life-cycle of Arctic ice caps, and the finding of lake sediments that tell the story of Iceland’s deglaciation, have led to advances in our understanding of Earth’s climate history and the role humans have played in it.

Down to Earth With: Biogeochemist Stephen MacAvoy

Fri, 19 May 2017 10:30:06 -0400

Biogeochemist Stephen MacAvoy is an assistant professor and chair of the environmental science department at American University in Washington, D.C. Credit: Stephen MacAvoy.

When Stephen MacAvoy was growing up in the suburbs of Connecticut, most of the animals he encountered were pets: dogs, cats or the occasional bird. But on his annual family trips to the coast of North Carolina, the beach provided a window into an alien world. He collected washed-up blue crabs, snails and other marine organisms, with their intriguing shapes, spines and intricate mouthparts. His mother, a nursing professor, and his father, a business consultant, even allowed MacAvoy to bring his field samples home in a cooler.

Down to Earth With: Paleontologist Gerta Keller

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 09:55:52 -0400

Gerta Keller looks at sediment samples along the Brazos River in Texas. Credit: Gerta Keller/courtesy of NSF.

The mass extinction that did in the dinosaurs is one of the best-known events in geology. It’s also one of the most contentious.

Down to Earth With: Planetary geologist James W. Head III

Wed, 15 Mar 2017 14:30:57 -0400

James W. Head III, shown here in Antarctica, is the Louis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences at Brown University in Providence, R.I. Credit: Dave Marchant.

In the late 1960s, as James W. Head III was finishing his graduate degree in geology at Brown University in Providence, R.I., he decided one day to take a look at a college placement annual, a phone book-like publication that listed prospective employers according to the types of jobs they had available. When Head looked up geology in the index, he saw several consecutive pages of related listings, as well as one separate page number. Curious about the outlier, Head flipped to it — and never looked back. Covering that entire page was a photo of the moon, a D.C.-area phone number, and a single line of text: “Our job is to think our way to the moon and back.”

Down to Earth With: Cave scientist and paleoclimatologist Kathleen Johnson

Thu, 09 Feb 2017 09:53:48 -0500

Kathleen Johnson is an associate professor in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), where she studies speleothems to investigate past climates. Credit: Kathleen Johnson.

Paleoclimatologist Kathleen Johnson has some advice for anyone interested in tropical cave science: befriend experienced cave guides and beware of venomous snakes, ubiquitous bats and Frisbee-sized spiders.

Down to Earth With: Mountain biking geologist Kurt Refsnider

Wed, 25 Jan 2017 15:16:13 -0500

Growing up in Minnesota, Kurt Refsnider spent a lot of time exploring old clay and limestone quarries along the Minnesota River, where he collected marine fossils. While on a camping trip with his family at age 8, he visited the Burgess Shale in Banff, Canada, and learned about the exquisitely preserved soft-body fossils of Precambrian marine fauna. The experience initially made him want to become a paleontologist. But as he grew up, the glacial landscapes of the upper Midwest drew his attention and he decided to study geology instead.

Down to Earth With: Paleoclimatologist Raymond S. Bradley

Tue, 27 Dec 2016 18:47:54 -0500

Bradley on one of his many trips to the Arctic. Credit: Raymond S. Bradley.

By Kate S. Zalzal

When 21-year-old Raymond S. Bradley left England in 1969 to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), he thought he’d be studying Denver’s urban climate. But on arrival, a funding mix-up delayed the work and Bradley found himself in search of a new project. While his doctoral work would ultimately involve studying the precipitation history of the Rockies, a new opportunity came his way in the summer of 1970 when his officemate needed a field assistant for a trip to the Arctic. So, Bradley headed to Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic on a three-month excursion that would prove to be just the first of dozens of Arctic expeditions to come over the course of a distinguished career.

Down to Earth With: Underwater cave explorer Jill Heinerth

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 13:19:25 -0500

Jill Heinerth enters the cave at Devil's Eye Spring in Florida. Credit: Jill Heinerth, IntoThePlanet.com.

Jill Heinerth has trekked farther into caves than any woman in history, logging more than 7,000 dives across every continent and descending as far as roughly 140 meters underwater — recreational divers only reach depths down to 40 meters. She has dived inside icebergs in Antarctica, beneath the Sahara Desert, and in the turquoise waters of the Bahamas.

Down to Earth With: Volcanologist Kayla Iacovino

Thu, 20 Oct 2016 09:53:21 -0400

Kayla Iacovino stands on the crater rim of Mount Paektu Volcano in China, with a view of North Korea in the background and Lake Chon in the summit crater. Credit: Kayla Iacovino.

When Kayla Iacovino enrolled as a freshman at Arizona State University in 2005, she thought she might become an astronaut. But, after a field trip to outcrops in northern Arizona during her first semester, she became hooked on geology.

Down to Earth With: Fossil preparator Bob Masek

Tue, 20 Sep 2016 13:09:15 -0400

Bob Masek standing by fossil preparation equipment at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Credit: Lori Grove.

When paleontologists unearth a fossil and rock still entombs part of it, they take it to someone like fossil preparator Bob Masek, who cleans and prepares the fossil for scientific study, and sometimes for display in a museum. In the 1990s, Masek helped prepare “Sue,” the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever discovered, which now stands in Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.

Down to Earth With: National Park Service Geologic Resources Division chief David Steensen

Mon, 25 Jul 2016 14:58:14 -0400

David Steensen is chief geologist of the National Park Service. Credit: courtesy of David Steensen.

" in 1986, he did not think he’d be working for the National Park Service for more than a few years. He had been hired into a four-year fixed-term position to help restore the local watershed from the destabilizing effects of logging that occurred prior to the park’s establishment, and he knew that the park service rarely hired geologists into permanent positions.

Down to Earth With: Planetary scientist Steven Squyres

Fri, 17 Jun 2016 12:35:58 -0400

Steven Squyres is the James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and the principal investigator of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission, which landed the rovers Spirit and Opportunity on Mars in 2004. Credit: NASA.

Squyres already considered himself a scientist, and, with his father’s help, would conduct rudimentary experiments with a chemistry kit. By the time he was 10, he had become fascinated by meteorology and erected a weather station in his backyard. He vividly remembers building an anemometer out of funnels, and realizing that his device would need to be calibrated in order to accurately measure wind speed. So, he asked his father to drive the family car up and down their street. While perplexed neighbors looked on, Squyres excitedly hung the instrument out the window, shouting to his dad to drive 5 miles per hour as he counted how many times the kitchen funnels spun around. Next, Squyres asked his dad to drive 10 miles per hour, and then even faster, repeating his counts at each speed until the calibration was complete.

Down to Earth With: Solar physicist Thomas Berger

Mon, 09 May 2016 13:55:52 -0400

A NASA schematic showing the technologies and infrastructure that can be affected by space weather. Credit: NASA.

Growing up in California during the Space Race, Thomas Berger was fascinated with aeronautics and aviation, so when he arrived at the University of California at Berkeley, physics seemed like the natural choice. After graduating with a degree in engineering physics, Berger took a job with Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank. But he soon decided it was not for him and returned to graduate school at Stanford, where he discovered a new passion: solar physics.

Down to Earth With: Ethnogeologist Steven Semken

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 11:26:48 -0400

Steven Semken, an associate professor of geology and education and associate director for community outreach in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, discussing the geology of the Colorado Plateau above the San Juan River goosenecks in Utah. Credit: Alissa Schlecht, University of Utah.

Semken was fascinated by rocks and minerals. His father, a banker, and his mother, a municipal tax collector, loved to travel and frequently indulged their son’s yen for sparkling specimens. They also bought Semken numerous books about geography and geology, including “The Big Golden Book of Geology,” which made such an impression that his childhood copy still sits on his office shelf. Semken vividly remembers staring at the book’s picture of Ship Rock, a towering volcanic neck on the Navajo Nation in northwestern New Mexico. Little did he know that he would later spend 15 years living and teaching geology with that Ship Rock as a backdrop.

Down to Earth With: Tectonicist Eldridge Moores

Wed, 13 Apr 2016 18:00:05 -0400

Eldridge Moores at the Cordelia Fault, a branch of the San Andreas Fault in the northern Coast Ranges, on a field trip for the general public in March 2010. Credit: Judy Moores.

“When Eldridge Moores was 10 years old, his family lived in Crown King, Ariz., a tiny, remote mining settlement high in the rugged Yavapai Mountains northwest of Phoenix. Money was tight and his family rarely traveled, so Moores vividly remembers a holiday road trip to visit his father’s relatives near San Francisco. The Bay Area left a deep impression on Moores, and, at the end of the journey, upon reaching the first of four switchbacks on the narrow dirt track that led up to Crown King, Moores vehemently pronounced that he would do everything he could to get out of there.

Down to Earth With: Glaciologist Ted Scambos

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 18:53:47 -0500

Ted Scambos. Credit: NSIDC, University of Colorado.

As a young boy, Ted Scambos was fascinated by space and technology, and spent many hours watching aircraft take off and land at the Air Force bases where his father, a pilot, was stationed. For his birthday or Christmas, he says he would often ask for a new telescope or a book about the planets. By sixth grade, Scambos had decided to become an astronomer. But by high school, his attention shifted from outer space to chemistry, and he set up an elaborate chemistry set in his parents’ basement. As Scambos’ interests evolved, he gradually realized that although astronomy and chemistry were both very hands-on disciplines at first, the deeper he delved, the more esoteric they became. Instead, he found himself drawn to geology, especially after discovering how much he enjoyed fieldwork.

Down to Earth With: Yosemite's first park geologist Greg Stock

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 10:02:41 -0500

Stock and U.S. Geological Survey civil engineer Brian Collins download data to study how daily temperature variations affect granitic exfoliation prior to rockfalls. Credit: USGS/Valerie Zimmer.

A love of rock climbing led Yosemite National Park geologist Greg Stock, seen here on a cliff face at Glacier Point in Yosemite, into the field of geomorphology. Credit: Steven Bumgardner.

As a child growing up in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, Greg Stock and his family took frequent trips to Yosemite National Park. One of his first memories is of hearing and seeing a giant rockfall tumble down the face of El Capitán. Today, Stock studies such rockfalls and how they impact safety in the area as the first park geologist employed at Yosemite.

Down to Earth With: GEO Secretariat Director Barbara Ryan

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 11:06:47 -0500

Barbara Ryan is in her second term as the secretariat director of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). Credit: U.S. Mission Geneva.

When Barbara Ryan enrolled as a freshman at the State University of New York in Cortland, she enjoyed athletics so much that she planned to pursue a career in physical education and coaching. Then her roommate convinced her to take a class in paleontology. She was hooked, and within months Ryan changed her major to geology, launching herself down an entirely different path.

Down to Earth With: Paleobiologist Nigel Hughes

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 10:53:48 -0500

Nigel Hughes in Bengal. Credit: Nigel Hughes.

I first met Nigel Hughes, a paleobiologist at the University of California at Riverside (UCR), in 2010. He took me on a brisk walk through the UCR Botanical Gardens, where the trees kept us cool in the hot Southern California sun while he told me all about trilobites.

Down to Earth With: Geophysicist Julian Lozos

Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:57:07 -0400

Julian Lozos at a bluegrass music festival in Parkfield, Calif., a town that sits atop the San Andreas Fault. Credit: Julian Lozos.

Julian Lozos, a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with both the U.S. Geological Survey and Stanford University, designs computer models that simulate earthquakes. As a graduate student at the University of California at Riverside (UC Riverside), Lozos discovered part of what makes the San Jacinto Fault — a major fault in Southern California underlying the homes of millions — tick. For this work, Lozos received the Outstanding Student Presentation award at the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America three years in a row, an unprecedented accomplishment.

Down to Earth With: Glaciologist Erin Pettit

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 10:17:25 -0400

Glaciologist Erin Pettit is an associate professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. Credit: Ted Scambos.

Pettit mentors participants in the Girls on Ice program as they learn mountaineering and science skills. Credit: Girls on Ice/Erin Pettit.

If it has to do with frozen water, Erin Pettit has probably studied it. As an associate professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Pettit investigates all things ice. Her research spans vast spatial scales, from the behavior of entire glaciers down to the structure of individual ice crystals. And it has taken her from Alaska to Greenland to Antarctica, and to many of the mountain ranges in between.

Down to Earth With: Engineer Jeffrey Bielicki

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:02:32 -0400

Jeffrey Bielicki is an assistant professor of energy policy at Ohio State University. Credit: Ohio State University.

With degrees in mechanical engineering, business administration and public administration from a variety of prestigious universities, one might get the impression that Jeffrey Bielicki is an inveterate academic with his head buried in books. And, indeed, Bielicki has spent most of his career in research, looking into solutions for problems in engineering, energy and policy. But far from narrowing his focus, Bielicki’s schooling in multiple disciplines has given him the desire and ability to see issues from a range of perspectives, thus informing and broadening his approaches to solving them.

Down to Earth With: Industrial Archaeologist Fred Quivik

Tue, 07 Jul 2015 11:36:58 -0400

Fred Quivik is an industrial archaeologist at Michigan Tech. Credit: Michigan Tech.

Fred Quivik is no ordinary historian. Though he likes dusty books and archives to be sure, Quivik looks at history through objects, specifically the equipment, buildings and landscapes of industrial sites. He’s an industrial archaeologist, digging into the past of former mine sites, factories and other environmentally degraded places to see how they are connected to people and companies today. Quivik has done this sleuthing as a historic preservation consultant and as an expert witness in lawsuits dealing with Superfund sites. He has looked at sites across the U.S., focusing especially on the West, and now teaches at Michigan Tech University in Houghton, Mich.

Down to Earth With: Geophysicist Peter Molnar

Mon, 08 Jun 2015 10:46:25 -0400

Peter Molnar is a professor in the Geological Sciences Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. Credit: David Oonk/CIRES.

As a graduate student in geophysics at Columbia University in the late 1960s, Peter Molnar — who had studied physics as an undergraduate — decided to sit in on a geology course for a term. When the professor began discussing cratons one day, Molnar raised his hand and asked what a craton was. Molnar still remembers the strange look he received, as if the professor were wondering, “Who let this guy in?”

Down to Earth With: Marine Geophysicist Maya Tolstoy

Fri, 08 May 2015 11:38:09 -0400

Marine geophysicist Maya Tolstoy is an associate professor at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Credit: LDEO.

Growing up in Scotland, Maya Tolstoy was drawn to the theater, and even briefly considered majoring in the subject in college. Instead, she chose to follow another lifelong passion and became a marine geophysicist.

Down the Earth With: Clive Oppenheimer

Tue, 07 Apr 2015 11:34:54 -0400

Volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer. Credit: courtesy of Clive Oppenheimer.

North Korea is perhaps the most isolated country in the world, with a people, culture and landscape largely veiled from outside observation, which rarely hosts few Westerners. However, in recent years a smattering of western scientists have visited the country, including volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer from the University of Cambridge in England. In 2011, Oppenheimer was invited by North Korean scientists who were concerned about a sleeping giant of a volcano on the northern border with China that had shown signs of restlessness. A few weeks later, he found himself on the imposing but beautiful mountain, known as Paektu-san to the Koreans (or Changbaishan in China), with a small team trying to unravel the volcano’s past and potential future activity. He has returned to North Korea twice since, and is looking to extend the rare collaboration further.

Down to Earth With: The USGS Landslide Response Team

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:06:12 -0500

Jonathan Godt on a helicopter survey of a landslide in Central California. Credit: USGS.

Over the last year and a half, the Western U.S. has suffered a rash of devastating landslides. The streak began in September 2013, when heavy rains triggered widespread debris flows across the Colorado Front Range. Then came the tragic landslide that buried Oso, Wash., killing 43 people. Two months later, the West Salt Creek slide, a behemoth rock avalanche in western Colorado, killed three people as it barreled down a 5-kilometer-long path.

Down to Earth With: Mineralogist George W. Robinson

Fri, 30 Jan 2015 13:14:44 -0500

George Robinson has dedicated his life to finding, curating and sharing exceptional mineral specimens. Credit: John Jaszczak.

Many geologists understand the joyous feeling of coming across a beautiful rock in the field; George W. Robinson, who began collecting minerals at age 9, has had a lifetime full of such moments. After delving deeper into his early avocation as a teenager, he received his doctorate in mineralogy from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, in 1979. He has worked as a high school earth science teacher, field collector, mineral dealer, museum curator and professor — all occupations that shared a common focus: a love of minerals.

Down to Earth With: Deep-Sea submersible Alvin

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 10:54:03 -0500

The Alvin. Credits: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Every oceanographer knows Alvin. Since 1964, the legendary deep submergence vehicle has carried more than 12,000 scientists and other observers to the bottom of the ocean on more than 4,600 dives. Its exploits are legion: locating and recovering a lost U.S. hydrogen bomb in 780 meters of water off the coast of Spain in 1966, exploring the first-known hydrothermal vents (black smokers off the Galapagos Islands) in 1977 and surveying the wreck of the Titanic in 1986.

Down to Earth With: Deanna D'Alessandro

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 10:41:46 -0500

Deanna D'Alessandro. Credit: Sam D'Agostino, SDP Photo.

Deanna D’Alessandro, a chemist at the University of Sydney in Australia, is working on a new material that may make it cheaper and easier to clean greenhouse gases from power plant emissions. D’Alessandro has developed crystals composed of metals and organic molecules that can trap molecules of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and release them on cue — or even transform them into more useful compounds. Her work won her one of three L’Oreal Australia For Women in Science Fellowships given last year.

Down to Earth With: The Swindling Geologist

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 10:00:13 -0500

The Swindling Geologist traveled through the Midwest and Northeast in the early 1880s, impersonating famous geologist Clarence Dutton among others. The real Dutton is seen here. Credit: NOAA Photo Library.

When Clarence Dutton spoke, people listened. As one of the most famous geologists of the late 1800s, he regularly attracted large crowds to his talks. He also had a way with women. The president of an Indiana literary society once wrote to Dutton to confirm a lecture and assured the speaker that “the ladies would be delighted to see him again.”

Down to Earth With: Pat Pringle

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 09:24:18 -0500

Pat Pringle at Henderson Inlet, Puget Sound, where he and colleagues have sampled submerged trees. Credit: Michael Polenz, Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

After finishing a master’s degree in geology at the University of Akron in 1982, Pat Pringle left the relative flatlands of Ohio’s Allegheny Plateau and went west to pursue his passion. More specifically, he went northwest, to the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Cascades Volcano Observatory, lured by the steaming vents and layered debris flows of the recently awakened giant, Mount St. Helens. He was smitten.

Down to Earth With: Lee Allison

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 09:15:38 -0500

Lee Allison is director of the Arizona Geological Survey. Credit: Courtesy of Lee Allison.

_Editor’s Note: Lee Allison was head of the Arizona Geological Survey until his unexpected death on Aug. 16, 2016. EARTH interviewed him in 2012 and spoke with him about the latest issues in Arizona geology, especially the complicated politics of potash and uranium mining. Allison was a great friend to the geosciences and to EARTH. More info can be found here: _http://www.azgs.az.gov/news_releases2016.shtml#aug17.

Down to Earth With: Geologist Kyle House

Mon, 26 Jan 2015 13:13:36 -0500

Kyle House. Credit: Courtesy of Kyle House.

Kyle House, a research geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Geology and Geophysics Science Center in Flagstaff, Ariz., gravitated to scenery at a young age when he moved from Oklahoma to western Washington and beheld the Cascade Range for the first time. He learned that rocks and landscapes can tell fascinating stories, and he developed a passion for explaining the events that shape them. While earning degrees in the geosciences, he became attuned to the value of collaboration. Any scientist working in isolation can tell only an incomplete version of a phenomenon or event, he says.

Down to Earth With: Glaciologist Richard Alley

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 13:05:38 -0500

If you don’t know who Richard Alley is, stop reading for a minute and search for him on YouTube. Go on, this can wait. Back? What you likely saw was Alley singing his rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” in which he explains subduction zones, or another similar song. In addition to being something of an Internet sensation for his energetic lectures and songs about geologic processes, Alley is a glaciologist who studies the effects of climate change. Alley’s work has taken him to glaciers around the world, from Greenland to the Antarctic ice sheet. He is also trying to understand how best to communicate scientific ideas to the public. So far those efforts have included singing to his undergraduate classes and filming a television series for PBS called “Earth: The Operators’ Manual.” (There’s a public-friendly book and website of the same title as well.)

Down to Earth With: Volcanologist Stephen Sparks

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 12:55:15 -0500

From the Caribbean to Iceland to the Andes, volcanologist Stephen Sparks has spent a lifetime studying volcanoes. As a professor of geology at the University of Bristol in England for more than 20 years, Sparks has devoted much of his time to figuring out where the next eruption will occur and how to respond to it. His latest effort is a project that will connect experts and technology in a global network to improve volcanic risk assessment.

Down to Earth With: The Geographers of the Solar System

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 10:58:13 -0500

Certain government officials have super cool titles: for example, Planetary Protection Officer (NASA’s Catharine Conley) and Oceanographer of the Navy (David Titley). I think Geographer of the Solar System would be right up there. Alas, no one actually has that title, but in a little-known office of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) nestled in the hills above Flagstaff, Ariz., I met a dozen or so people who could reasonably qualify for it.

Down to Earth With: Snow Hydrologist Jeff Dozier

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 10:32:44 -0500

Jeff Dozier founded the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Credit: Courtesy of Jeff Dozier.

It’s mid-January. Snow hydrologist Jeff Dozier relaxes at his sister’s cabin near Lake Tahoe, his bare feet resting on a coffee table. His teenage son, who spent thJeff Dozier (middle) and friends in the Hindu Kush in the 1970s.e day competing in a ski race, lounges on the couch beside his father, listening to music. Snacking on cheese and crackers, the two look utterly content.

Down to Earth With: Geomorphologist Gregory Tucker

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 10:24:21 -0500

Gregory Tucker in the Grand Canyon. Credit: Courtesy of Gregory Tucker.

As an undergraduate anthropology student, Gregory Tucker thought math was a boring subject with abstract rules that didn’t relate to his life. Today, that “boring” subject provides the foundation for Tucker’s innovative research involving numerical modeling and unique field studies that recently earned him the European Geosciences Union’s 2012 Ralph Alger Bagnold Medal, one of the highest prizes in geomorphology.

Down to Earth With: Volcanologist John Eichelberger

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 09:58:36 -0500

Volcanologist John Eichelberger, coordinator of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Volcano Hazards Program, will become dean of the graduate school at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks this fall. Credit: Courtesy of John Eichelberger.

The 2010 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull showed that volcanic hazards are blind to international borders. After the eruption ended and air traffic returned to normal, discussion among the public of “ash” and “jet turbine blades” cooled. Not so for volcanologist John Eichelberger, who, as the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Volcano Hazards Program Coordinator, deals with volcanic hazards daily, while working to improve monitoring of the United States’ many dangerous volcanoes and to internationalize research and risk reduction.

Down to Earth With: Glaciologist Lonnie Thompson

Sun, 04 Jan 2015 19:38:59 -0500

As a child growing up in Gassaway, W.Va., Lonnie Thompson was poor. When his father died while Thompson was a senior in high school, he realized he’d need to earn a reliable paycheck as quickly as possible. As an undergraduate at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., he knew he wanted to study science; he started off as a physics major before settling on geology. Later, when he arrived at Ohio State University (OSU) as a graduate student in 1971, Thompson’s intent was to study coal geology, a practical choice that he believed would quickly secure him a job.

Down to Earth With: Bruce Benson

Fri, 19 Dec 2014 09:20:41 -0500

In a remarkable career spanning nearly 50 years, Bruce Benson has held just two jobs. In 1965, a year after earning his bachelor’s degree in geology, he founded the Benson Mineral Group, an oil and gas exploration and production company that he has owned and chaired ever since. From this foundation, Benson’s business interests have spread into salvaging, banking, mortgage servicing, cable television, geothermal power, real estate and even pizza.

Down to Earth With: Lawson Brigham

Thu, 18 Dec 2014 12:40:01 -0500

Lawson Brigham, a Distinguished Professor of Geography and Arctic Policy at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and retired U.S. Coast Guard captain, has worn many hats in his career. He has been the deputy director and Alaska Office director of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission in Anchorage; chair of the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment of the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum of the eight Arctic nations; vice chair of the Arctic Council’s working group on Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment; and a contributing author to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.

Down to Earth With: Jacob Haqq-Misra

Thu, 18 Dec 2014 12:25:02 -0500

Jacob Haqq-Misra is all but addicted to music, which is why the astrobiologist balances his time between research and performing as a percussionist and vocalist with the psychedelic jam band, Mysterytrain.

Haqq-Misra studied astrophysics and computer science while an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota in his hometown of Minneapolis. Inspired by the discovery of extrasolar planets, and by a 2003 encounter with a famed SETI researcher during his undergraduate days, Haqq-Misra went straight from Minnesota to Penn State University, where he earned a doctorate in meteorology and astrobiology. In 2009, he co-founded the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, where he studies planetary habitability and contributes to SETI research from his home office in Central Pennsylvania.

Down to Earth With: Brian Tucker

Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:40:34 -0500

Brian Tucker, founder and president of GeoHazards International (GHI). Credit: courtesy of the MacArthur Foundation.

Some of the world’s most densely populated cities are at highest risk for earthquake-related disasters. Geophysicist Brian Tucker has spent the last two-plus decades trying to help the developing world avoid such disasters, and in 1991, he founded the nonprofit GeoHazards International (GHI) to bring the developed world’s risk-mitigation techniques to high-risk communities in the developing world.

Down to Earth With: Terry Plank

Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:29:03 -0500

Terry Plank, a geochemist and volcanologist at Columbia University, is a recipient of a 2012 MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." Credit: Courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

“You’re a genius! Now here’s half a million dollars to use however you please.”

Down to Earth With: Adrian Hunt

Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:14:32 -0500

Paleontologist Adrian Hunt studies fossil feces called coprolites. Credit: Courtesy of Adrian Hunt.

Adrian Hunt grew up in England, but after earning his undergraduate degree in geology at the University of Manchester, he began looking for somewhere foreign to attend graduate school. At the time, Hunt says, he thought, “If it doesn’t work out, at least I’d see somewhere exotic.” He ended up in New Mexico, where his brother was working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array in Socorro. It worked out and Hunt stayed to complete a master’s degree at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, followed by a doctorate at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

Down to Earth With: James Balog

Wed, 17 Dec 2014 11:37:05 -0500

"Chasing Ice," a 2012 documentary about photographer James Balog (above) and his quest to document Arctic ice retreat, won many awards, including one for cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival. Credit: courtesy of James Balog.

Photographer James Balog is known for his groundbreaking environmental photography that examines intersections of humans and nature. His work has appeared in publications ranging from National Geographic and Smithsonian to Audubon and The New Yorker. He has also authored eight books, including the recently released “Ice: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers,” and he has been honored with dozens of awards, including the Heinz Award and PhotoMedia’s Person of the Year.

Down to Earth With: James White

Wed, 17 Dec 2014 11:26:31 -0500

James White is director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Credit: Courtesy of James White.

James White contends that he has one claim to fame: He grew up just 50 kilometers from Dolly Parton in eastern Tennessee. His father worked as a chemist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, an enclave of science west of Knoxville. Now a chemist himself, White actually has more claims to fame than he is willing to admit. He has co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications; he is the director of the University of Colorado’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR); and he has been named an Institute for Scientific Information highly cited scientist — an honor bestowed on less than 0.5 percent of all publishing researchers. White recently spoke with EARTH contributor Terri Cook about how he nearly became an oceanographer, the importance of interdisciplinary education and research, and how Superstorm Sandy could affect the public perception of climate change.

Down to Earth With: Anna Henderson

Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:22:28 -0500

Politicians and pundits communicate with talking points. In Washington, D.C., a catchy sound bite often trumps a filibustering speech, and a grandiose idea must usually fit into only a few sentences. In science, however, communication occurs as dense journal articles or professional textbooks that flesh out complexities in minute detail. Bridging the gap between these two diverse communication styles in order to convey scientific issues to policymakers is the job of the American Geosciences Institute’s William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellows.

Down to Earth With: Tanya Atwater

Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:45:06 -0500

Tanya Atwater is an emeritus professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Credit: Courtesy of Tanya Atwater.

When Tanya Atwater began graduate school in marine geology in 1967, it was considered unlucky for women to be aboard ships. Undaunted, Atwater signed up to work on the first research cruise to take a close look at a seafloor spreading center. Voyage after voyage, she and her mentors fought for her right to work on oceanographic vessels, and it is fortunate they did. Atwater has since had a remarkable career studying plate tectonics and was instrumental in piecing together the evolution of the San Andreas Fault plate boundary.

Down to Earth With: Kirk Johnson

Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:32:02 -0500

In 1967, at a family picnic in Casper, Wyo., 6-year-old Kirk Johnson stumbled across a fossil that looked to him like an ancient rattlesnake tail (it turned out to be a brachiopod). Not long after, while hiking in his home state of Washington, he accidentally knocked over a piece of shale, fortuitously discovering a fossil leaf. The ensuing epiphany that he had a knack for finding fossil treasures led to what he now calls his “paleo obsession.”

Down to Earth With: David Montgomery

Mon, 15 Dec 2014 13:31:56 -0500

From the length and breadth of his body of work, you might assume that David Montgomery, a geomorphologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, is approaching the end of a highly successful career. After all, among other accomplishments, he pioneered our understanding of how river channels shape landscapes, explored how glaciers and climate determine the height of the world’s highest mountain ranges, and helped elucidate how erosion has shaped human civilizations through time. He has authored or co-authored more than 140 academic papers as well as three (going on four) books, and even snagged a MacArthur “genius grant” in 2008. However, Montgomery is only a youthful 51 and shows no signs of slowing down — he even manages to find time to write songs, play guitar and sing in two Seattle-based bands, Big Dirt, a folk rock group, and High Noon, a bluesy jazz rock ensemble. Recently, EARTH’s Julia Rosen caught up with Montgomery before he headed off to Africa for another season of fieldwork.

Down to Earth With: Past American Geosciences Institute Congressional Geoscience Fellows

Mon, 15 Dec 2014 13:03:47 -0500

The American Geosciences Institute’s (AGI) William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellowship provides an opportunity each year for a geoscientist to work in Washington, D.C., as a staff member in the office of a member of Congress or congressional committee. Since the fellowship program began in 1998, many fellows have used the skills and knowledge they acquired to launch careers at federal and state agencies, nongovernmental organizations and universities. Former fellows Gabrielle Dreyfus (2008-2009), Aisha Morris (2011-2012) and David Wunsch (1998-1999) recently spoke with EARTH contributor Brittany Huhmann about their experiences and how their time as fellows shaped their understanding of the role of science in public policy. Today, Dreyfus is a policy analyst at the Department of Energy, Morris is an education and community engagement specialist at UNAVCO and Wunsch is director of the Delaware Geological Survey and state geologist.

Down to Earth With: Naomi Levin

Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:29:16 -0500

Naomi Levin is a stable isotope geochemist. Credit: Will Kirk/Homewood Photography, Johns Hopkins University.

Stable isotope geochemist Naomi Levin, a native New Yorker, says she could easily imagine alternate career paths that would have been more in line with her urban roots. But the hands-on nature of both fieldwork and lab work lured her to geology and anthropology. And after working with a string of prominent geochemists — including Jay Quade, Thure Cerling and John Eiler — as a graduate student and post-doctoral researcher, Levin has quickly moved to the top of her field.

Down to Earth With: Eric Riggs

Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:19:18 -0500

Eric Riggs says he often tells students the story of how he got into geoscience as a cautionary tale. That may seem ironic given his current position as assistant dean for diversity and graduate student recruitment and development in Texas A&M University’s College of Geosciences. But before returning to school to earn a doctorate in mineral physics and, eventually, settling into geoscience education research, Riggs made forays into English literature, marketing and the printing business. “Don’t do it this way!” he says with a laugh. “It worked out well for me, but it was a long, twisted path.”

Down to Earth With: Ecologist Chris Field

Mon, 08 Dec 2014 11:59:07 -0500

Chris Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, has won the Max Planck Research Award and the Roger Revelle Medal. Credit: Linda A. Cicero/Stanford News.

Last summer, the American Geophysical Union honored Chris Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology, with its annual Roger Revelle Award, which recognizes “outstanding contributions in atmospheric sciences, atmosphere-ocean coupling, atmosphere-land coupling, biogeochemical cycles, climate or related aspects of the Earth system.”

Down to Earth With: CEO and Geo-Data miner Nicole Barlow

Mon, 03 Nov 2014 13:00:06 -0500

Nicole Barlow runs Purple Rock, Inc., a company she created to mine for nuggets of geologic knowledge stashed in old documents that fill up store rooms, boxes and filing cabinets. Credit: Nicole Barlow.

Miners are the classic geo-entrepreneurs. Nicole Barlow is a new kind of geo-entrepreneur: She also mines — but instead of rocks, she digs into dark data. That’s all the information stored away in file cabinets, boxes and geological survey store rooms. And instead of finding gold or silver, she uncovers nuggets of information and digitizes old documents.

Down to Earth With: Molecular biologist Sarah L. Anzick

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:18:33 -0400

Sarah L. Anzick was 2 years old when a Clovis burial site was found on her family's ranch in 1968. In 2014, she was part of the team that analyzed the infant's genome, which shows that modern Native Americans evolved in the Americas. Credit: Sarah L. Anzick.

In May 1968, when Sarah L. Anzick was 2 years old, the 12,600-year-old remains of a male toddler were discovered at the base of a bluff on her family’s ranch near Wilsall, Mont. The Anzick infant — one of just a handful of ancient skeletons to have been found in North America and the only known Clovis burial site — had been carefully buried with more than 100 stone and bone tools.

Down to Earth With: Kerry Sieh

Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:09:58 -0400

After more than 30 years as a professor and researcher at Caltech, earthquake geologist Kerry Sieh (pronounced “sea”) surprised his colleagues when he pulled up stakes in 2008 for a rare opportunity in Southeast Asia to be the founding director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

Down to Earth With: Tom Malloy

Thu, 28 Aug 2014 12:23:38 -0400

In a century of mining, the Berkeley Pit and underground mines produced more than 290 million metric tons of copper ore and more than 635 million metric tons of waste rock. Credit: Drew Cramer.

Tom Malloy holds open a gate to the Diamond Mine headframe (behind) surrounded by mine waste. Credit: Brianna Mills.

Butte, Mont., is home to one of the nation’s largest Superfund sites — a 300-meter-deep lake of acidic, heavy metal-contaminated water known as the Berkeley Pit. As the reclamation manager of Butte-Silver Bow County, it’s Tom Malloy’s job to help clean it up.

Down to Earth With: Chris Strong

Mon, 04 Aug 2014 10:56:24 -0400

Chris Strong (right), the warning coordination meteorologist, and Steven Zubrick, science and operations officer, from the National Weather Service's Baltimore-Washington, D.C., forecast office after a winter weather briefing with White House staff. Credit: Chris Strong.

Being a weatherman is sometimes a thankless job, particularly when forecasts don’t pan out as expected. But the two-fold task of meteorologists — predicting the course and severity of impending weather events, and clearly communicating those predictions to a broad audience — is a vital one. This is especially true when you’re part of the group that so many people, including other forecasters, turn to as the primary source for weather information and insight: the National Weather Service (NWS).

Down to Earth With: Martin Lockley

Mon, 16 Jun 2014 09:35:00 -0400

Lockley scaling an outcrop to examine some tracks. Credit: Martin Lockley.

Shortly after a young Martin Lockley — a British paleontologist specializing in marine fossils — arrived in Denver in 1980 to begin a new job as a geology professor at the University of Colorado (CU), a student asked if he would like to check out some interesting dinosaur tracks. The tracks were located near the town of Gunnison, Colo., about four hours southwest, on the ceiling of an underground coal mine. Lockley and the student drove down to the site, and, agreeing that the impressions in the rock were tracks but not knowing much about them, Lockley carefully documented the site. At the time, little scientific literature existed on ancient tracks, so after publishing the information, Lockley — much to his own surprise — immediately became known as a dinosaur track expert.

Down to Earth With: Steven Stanley

Thu, 15 May 2014 12:32:58 -0400

Paleontologist Steven Stanley. Credit: Steven Stanley

It’s no wonder Steven Stanley says he can’t imagine having pursued any career other than research and teaching in geology and paleontology. After studying under eminent scientists like Alfred Fischer, Colin Pittendrigh and Harry Hess while a student at Princeton and then Yale in the 1960s, Stanley went on to add many of his own paradigm-shifting contributions to our understanding of fossils, evolution and Earth’s environmental history. He has also authored several popular textbooks and has won numerous awards, including the prestigious Mary Clark Thompson Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 2006 and, most recently in 2013, the Geological Society of America’s (GSA) highest honor, the Penrose Medal.

Down to Earth With: Scott Sampson

Mon, 12 May 2014 14:06:47 -0400

During a recent public lecture at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, dinosaur paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Scott Sampson was making a point as he walked up the aisle when a preschooler charged the stage, grabbed hold of his leg and wouldn’t let go until her mother retrieved her.

Down to Earth With: Sally Jewell

Wed, 29 Jan 2014 15:43:54 -0500

Most people who find their way into public office start locally, perhaps by running for a seat on the school board or city council. Sally Jewell’s first foray into public service came at the behest of President Obama, who last year nominated her as the 51st Secretary of the Department of the Interior (DOI) — the first Secretary in more than a decade with a background in geoscience.

Down to Earth With: Neil Armstrong: First astrogeologist on the moon

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 17:17:48 -0400

Neil Armstrong — born Aug. 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio — was the first man to walk on the moon. NASA

One year ago this month, Neil Armstrong died in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the age of 82. Armstrong will be forever remembered for that historic first step he took on the moon on July 20, 1969, but he also held another distinction: He was the first person to explore the geology of another planetary body.

Down to Earth With: The Lava Cap Winery

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 08:25:05 -0400

Lava Cap Winery lies in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas near the site of California's first Gold Rush strike. courtesy of Lava Cap Winery

Volcanic mudflow deposits of the Miocene-aged Mehrten Formation crop out in the vineyard. courtesy of Lava Cap Winery

Geologist David Jones started Lava Cap Winery with his wife Jeanne in the 1980s. courtesy of Lava Cap Winery

Thanks to its location and rich volcanic soils, Lava Cap Winery is able to make 12 different wines, but is best known for its zinfandel. courtesy of Lava Cap Winery

During a long career at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of California at Berkeley, paleontologist David Jones, who died in 2007, made fundamental contributions to understanding the geologic history of western North America, particularly the evolution of California’s puzzling Coast Ranges. One of Jones’ more significant contributions was a paper on the distribution of Buchia, a Mesozoic mollusk, which provided critical age information and helped clarify very complex structural relations in the Coast Ranges. “But Davy was much more than a paleontologist,” says colleague Eli Silver, a geophysicist at the University of California at Santa Cruz who studies continental margin evolution. “He was an outstanding stratigrapher and structural geologist, and a field geologist second to none. He really knew geology inside and out.”

Down to Earth With: Antarctic meteorite hunters

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 09:41:25 -0500

Dotted with snow dunes and nunatak mountain ranges, Antarctica’s glacial landscapes give the continent an otherworldly feel — but the scenery isn’t what’s truly alien. Antarctica is littered with meteorites, hundreds of thousands of which have been untouched since the moment of impact. For more than 35 years, the volunteer scientists of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program have been scouring the icy plains in search of meteorites from meteoroids, the moon and even Mars.

Down to Earth With: Nobel Prize winner Adam Riess

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Adam Riess is sharing the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics for his team's discovery that the universe is expanding rapidly. Gail Burton, MacArthur Foundation

Astronomer Adam Riess and his team made a huge splash in 1998 when they announced they had discovered something called dark energy, the major component of our universe. They had been studying supernovae — exploding stars — to learn more about how fast our universe is expanding. By measuring the brightness and color of the light from a supernova, astronomers can tell how far the light has traveled and how its speed has changed over its journey. Riess’ calculations led to the discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating due to the repulsive force of dark energy. His discovery was called 1998’s “Breakthrough of the Year” by Science magazine.