Here’s a picture of me on an outcrop of rock:

Before I explain what I’m pointing to, I thought I’d provide some context. It was Saturday morning in late September and I was on a field trip for a seminar course I’m taking this semester called “Collisional Orogenesis”. The class covers the processes involved in the evolution of mountains that form when continents collide.

We ventured out to the Tennessee and North Carolina part of Appalachian mountains to gain a field-based perspective. This area was chosen since it is the closest mountain belt that formed in this way and there are some pretty fantastic rocks. We were having a good time driving around, looking at rocks, and camping in truly beautiful places. At this outcrop, some students were unlucky enough to come in contact with stinging nettle while bushwhacking up the hillside. Don’t let that be you!

Maybe you can tell the lower rock I’m standing on differs from the darker rock above my waist. The lower rock is a sandstone and the upper rock is a shale. The sediments that make up these rocks were deposited about 600 million years ago when an ocean basin was forming during continental rifting.

After that, the continents collided resulting in the formation of Pangaea. This generated tectonic stresses that were so great these rocks became deformed. The sandstone (lower rock type) is relatively strong so most of that deformation was taken up by the weak shale layer (upper rock type). We can get a sense of direction of motion because there was a quartz pod in the shale (white blob I’m pointing to) that was rotated as the bounding layers moved past each other. Lucky us!

Not so lucky is being attacked by yellowjackets on the way back to the vans… It’s all part of the job though, I guess.

The University of Kentucky Graduate School participates in a national program called Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) that aims to introduce graduate students to the realities of faculty careers. As someone who one day seeks to serve as a member of the professoriate, I elected to participate in this program.

By association, I was recently tasked with seeking out a mentor at a higher education institution of interest in order to better understand the day-to-day responsibilities of faculty members. I reached out to Joe Allen, a structural geologist who chairs the Department of Physical Sciences at Concord University, requesting he serve as my mentor and he graciously agreed.

I chose Concord University because it is a small public university with an undergraduate focus. I don’t have much experience in this realm (myself a product of large research universities and community college). I was, therefore, excited to hear the perspectives of Dr. Allen and his colleagues.

Late last week, I embarked on my journey to Athens, WV where I was first met with what every eager career-builder seeks: my own reserved parking space.

Regarding first impressions: I suspect Dr. Allen had me visit on that early November day because he knew the collegial brick buildings with ivory trim flanked by deciduous hardwoods hanging on to myriad-colored leaves standing against the smoky blue backdrop of the Appalachians is the stuff university marketing materials are made of. Perhaps not, but the campus is quite attractive regardless.

I entered the science building which is home to Departments comprising the College of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Health. The building exhibits a museum-like quality with displays of taxidermied endemic animals, preserved fungi, fossil collections and the like. I found Dr. Allen’s office on the top floor. His space is shared with student workstations, one of many signs pointing to an emergent theme of close student-faculty interaction.

Dr. Allen met me after one of many meetings he’d squeezed in between his teaching commitments throughout the morning. I asked him when he’d had time to eat his lunch. He responded with “It’s sitting in the fridge”.

We headed downstairs to meet students in his structural geology lab. Most of the students were traditional sophomores. All students possessed an impressive degree of maturity and a distinctive worldly view consistent with broader-level thinking. After a brief Q&A session meant to clarify some questions from previous weeks’ lab assignments, Dr. Allen proposed a field trip to the nearby boundary of the Appalachian foreland fold-and-thrust belt. One student was wearing yet-to-be broken in field boots so the class opted for the trip.

We first headed to the ominously-designated “Bridge to Nowhere”. An unfinished section of highway in Bluefield, the area has served as Dr. Allen’s “natural laboratory” for years. Recent funding influx provided as part of West Virginia’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan threatens access to this fortuitously-located outcrop. Therefore, Dr. Allen is recruiting undergraduate research assistants to help document the geologic features exposed there using the school’s newly acquired UAV.

 

 

We stopped here and at other field stops, including an impressive fold that’s part of a regional structure. At each field stop, students took measurements of structural features and made multi-scale observations that will be added to a comprehensive report on the local structural geology. Overall, these field excursions provide a dual benefit: students get hands-on experience doing field mapping, making observations and integrating knowledge from multiple classroom-based courses and Dr. Allen has the opportunity to collect field-based data and contribute to his ongoing scholarly research.

 

 

During the ride back to campus, I had the chance to chat a bit with some seriously impressive students. I met Dustin, who had a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of music, film, and literature and Jazz, who asked piercing questions like what my impression was regarding themes in socio-economic affairs in the Appalachian region. The student benefit from focusing on quality teaching in undergraduate courses became abundantly clear. Students produced by Concord University are no doubt set up for successful careers in the geosciences and beyond.

Stay tuned for more on my visit.

 

 

 

A few weeks ago, I headed out to Seattle, WA to attend the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA). The GSA Annual Meeting is held each fall and is one of the largest national conferences for geologists. I attended another one of these meetings back in 2015; however, at that time I wasn’t as fully submerged in geological study (I was transitioning into geology from engineering). Therefore, this year’s event was much more meaningful. For one thing, this was my first time presenting my research to a national audience.

I did this in the form of a scientific poster. It is standard procedure at these meeting for geologists to gather in the conference center’s exhibit hall after the day’s formal technical oral presentations. Here, meeting attendees enjoy adult beverages and chat with other researchers about work that interests them. During my session, I met many geoscientists, from undergraduates with very little exposure to my particular field of study to some of the sub-discipline’s leading experts. Many engaged me in spirited discussion and some even posed questions for consideration that I hadn’t thought of myself. I learned quite a bit and was excited to share my project with the community at large.

In addition to presenting my own work, I was able to see what other researchers in my field are up to of late. Conferences are particularly useful for getting a more immediate idea of where scientists are heading with their projects since presentations don’t undergo quite as rigorous (and lengthy) review processes. I particularly enjoyed sessions dedicated to “Challenges in Tectonics”, which resulted from community input to a document meant to direct research funding. It was exciting to see how our discipline is evolving.

Meetings like this are also a great venue for building networks, visiting with colleagues from other institutions and even finding future collaborators. One of the more interesting networking events I attended was the On To the Future (OTF) Alumni Reception. OTF is program meant to increase diversity in the geosciences by providing funding for students to attend their first GSA Annual Meeting. During the reception, a very inspiring speech was given by the 2017 Bromley Award for Minorities winner, Aradhna Tripati. Dr. Tripati emphasized the importance of perseverance and encouraged audience members to speak more openly about challenges faced due to cultural and social inequalities that still exist within our institutions.

I was also fortunate to visit with several friends and colleagues with which I’ve developed relationships over the past few years. I was especially excited to have lunch with professors and a fellow student from the Border to Beltway program. This program was designed to introduce students traditionally underrepresented in the geosciences to the discipline and it was during this program I feel I really emerged as a geologist.

Overall, I had a really great time and I look forward to attending future events. If there is a meeting like this one for a topic that you find interesting I encourage you to attend!