February 9, 2017
Down to Earth With: Cave scientist and paleoclimatologist Kathleen Johnson
Paleoclimatologist Kathleen Johnson has some advice for anyone interested in tropical cave science: befriend experienced cave guides and beware …
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Down to Earth With
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114 articles · Page 3 of 5
January 25, 2017
Down to Earth With: Mountain biking geologist Kurt Refsnider
Growing up in Minnesota, Kurt Refsnider spent a lot of time exploring old clay and limestone quarries along the Minnesota River, where he …
December 27, 2016
Down to Earth With: Paleoclimatologist 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 …
November 30, 2016
Down to Earth With: Underwater cave explorer Jill Heinerth
Jill Heinerth has trekked farther into caves than any woman in history, logging more than 7,000 dives across every continent and descending as …
October 20, 2016
Down to Earth With: Volcanologist 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 …
September 20, 2016
Down to Earth With: Fossil preparator Bob Masek
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 …
July 25, 2016
Down to Earth With: National Park Service Geologic Resources Division chief 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 …
June 17, 2016
Down to Earth With: Planetary scientist Steven Squyres
Squyres already considered himself a scientist, and, with his father’s help, would conduct rudimentary experiments with a chemistry kit. By the …
May 9, 2016
Down to Earth With: Solar physicist Thomas Berger
Growing up in California during the Space Race, Thomas Berger was fascinated with aeronautics and aviation, so when he arrived at the University …
April 22, 2016
Down to Earth With: Ethnogeologist Steven Semken
Semken was fascinated by rocks and minerals. His father, a banker, and his mother, a municipal tax collector, loved to travel and frequently …
April 13, 2016
Down to Earth With: Tectonicist Eldridge 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 …
March 10, 2016
Down to Earth With: Glaciologist Ted Scambos
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 …
February 2, 2016
Down to Earth With: Yosemite's first park geologist Greg Stock
As a child growing up in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, Greg Stock and his family took frequent trips to Yosemite …
December 17, 2015
Down to Earth With: GEO Secretariat Director Barbara Ryan
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 …
November 12, 2015
Down to Earth With: Paleobiologist 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 …
October 20, 2015
Down to Earth With: Geophysicist Julian Lozos
Julian Lozos, a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with both the U.S. Geological Survey and Stanford University, designs computer models that …
September 17, 2015
Down to Earth With: Glaciologist 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 …
August 20, 2015
Down to Earth With: Engineer Jeffrey Bielicki
With degrees in mechanical engineering, business administration and public administration from a variety of prestigious universities, one might …
July 7, 2015
Down to Earth With: Industrial Archaeologist Fred Quivik
Fred Quivik is no ordinary historian. Though he likes dusty books and archives to be sure, Quivik looks at history through objects, specifically …
June 8, 2015
Down to Earth With: Geophysicist Peter Molnar
As a graduate student in geophysics at Columbia University in the late 1960s, Peter Molnar — who had studied physics as an undergraduate — …
May 8, 2015
Down to Earth With: Marine Geophysicist Maya Tolstoy
Growing up in Scotland, Maya Tolstoy was drawn to the theater, and even briefly considered majoring in the subject in college. Instead, she chose …
April 7, 2015
Down the Earth With: Clive Oppenheimer
North Korea is perhaps the most isolated country in the world, with a people, culture and landscape largely veiled from outside observation, …
March 4, 2015
Down to Earth With: The USGS Landslide Response Team
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 …
January 30, 2015
Down to Earth With: Mineralogist George W. Robinson
Many geologists understand the joyous feeling of coming across a beautiful rock in the field; George W. Robinson, who began collecting minerals …