UNDERGRADUATE ESSAYS Paul Allen, SA-11729
Wayne State University Michigan Section
A better question would be to
ask, “Why am I a Geologist?”. Quite a bold question to ask someone who had barely known of geology as a field, let alone considered it a career path, no more than three years ago. How indeed. How did a young man, with a love of writing fantasy and sci-fi epics, who begrudgingly returned to college to pursue a Computer Science degree, so as to not wait tables by the time he is thirty, change his mind and decide to be a geologist?
The answer might be a strange one to you. It was the magic of it. “Magic! How does that make any sense?” One may ask.
“Geology is a professional, rigorous scientific field. Not a frivolous like those Liberal Arts.” While I would not want to admonish the Liberal Arts, I am still an amateur writer after all, I do not dis- agree that geology is indeed a science. In a sense almost more a science of sciences, as it touches so many others in interesting and peculiar ways.
To explain this I require you, dear reader, to stretch your
minds to the distant past, to your Intro to Geology course, or even Historical Geology. To figures such as Charles Lyell, Alfred Wegner, James Hutton, and William Smith. I’m sure at least one of those rings a bell. What those old geologists, and many others like them remind me of, is the naturalists of old. That peculiar field of study of Naturalism, that was later divided into many other fields, then divided some more. It is this grand study of the world around me that has so interested me, long before I studied geology. Where I would look at the world in wonder as to how it functioned. How all the disparate pieces of it fit together. Whether they be small like the symbiotic relationship of the aphid and the ant, or as the monumental movement of the earth’s plates over millions of years.
I do not think I am alone when I feel wonder at the world,
and feel a sense of magic to it, and its many mysteries/questions. When I took that Intro to Geology course, one of many prerequi- site courses for my Computer Science degree, those prerequisite courses that all college students feel are a waste of time, I was not expecting to feel that magic, although it seems obvious in hindsight. Here was a field of study that still felt like that broad and fascinating science of Naturalism of old, despite it being just one of its many pieces. Of touching so many parts of the world without being sequestered into a tiny section of it. It still feels as though there are those old pioneers here, venturing out into the untamed and wild world, carrying the mystique of an Elizabethan Scientist, like the characters one finds in so many classic novels.
Now, I am not naïve. As with any field, and any work, there is
a fair share of pencil pushing, brown nosing, and office life with the office politics that come with it. One must stick their head to grindstone early and often. Even I, who left computer science as he fell in love with field work of geology, has somehow found himself writing code for my undergraduate research into seismic tomography. Fate is funny like that. But that is only temporary. I have the lucky privilege of still being early in my career. Free to choose the many paths possible for me.
Suffice to say, I am a Geologist, because the world has a magic
to it, and we, as geologists, get the privilege to study a whole darn lot of it.
24 TPG •
Jul.Aug.Sep 2024
Rebecca Buwalda, SA-12202
University of Miami Florida Section
When I tell someone that I want
to be a geologist, there is always the same superficial response that gets my nerves boiling: “Oh, so you play with rocks?”
Sure, licking rocks, feeling the size of the grains rubbed against your teeth, and witnessing the different minerals glimmering when put at the right angle under the light is cool, but geology is so much more beyond that. Being a geologist is a quest – a quest that includes hiking to some of the most remote places of the world to search for answers about our earth: its history, its future, its functionality.
As a child, many future geologists stem their careers based on an obsession with dinosaurs and fossils, or they had an infatu- ation with the Indiana Jones movies. So, when the question is raised of why someone wants to be a geologist, it roots back to these typical childlike scenarios we have ingrained in our brains about being fossil explorers. But for me, my upbringing led me down a more unusual path of self-discovery. I first fell in love with ocean and animal sciences, as I grew up next door to the Georgia Aquarium. I loved the diversity of Earth’s living creations, but I never stopped to really think about how organisms have evolved or changed because of climate or extinction events throughout geologic history. Instead, I was more concerned about the decline in biodiversity, the death of corals, and the burning of fossil fuels causing climate change. The mysteries of the earth were not on my radar because I was never truly educated on this topic in- depth while in grade school.
So, what exactly changed for me to get the idea that I wanted
to be a geologist? My dad’s strength, tenacity, and intelligence made me want to be just the same as him. He spent several years of my childhood as a field geologist for an engineering firm, assessing contaminants in the waterways of Atlanta. His influence taught me what geology is about; it’s not all rocks and plate tectonics because there are other factors that come into play, such as water, sediments, climate change, and more. Geology encompasses how Earth interacts with chemistry, biol- ogy, and physics.
Now, while my dad has moved on from his days as a geolo-
gist, his support and raw joy of me pursuing a degree in geology is fueling me. My dad is one of many reasons I want to be a geologist; he inspired me to pursue this field because he saw the potential in me to solve environmental crises by utilizing the skills of a geologist. Now, I find myself pursuing two majors— one in marine science and one in geological sciences. Within the three years of my undergraduate study so far, I have learned how the two subjects beautifully blend with one another. Without geol- ogy, we would have no idea about the massive sea creatures that used to dominate the oceans. Without geology, we would have no idea that our ocean ridges show the creation of new crust and changes in earth’s polarity. In short, geology answers questions about our past and present environments that can’t be described by any other field of science.
I want to be a geologist because it puts me on a quest to
answer questions that assist other fields of science. I want to use historic climate records to solve our current climate crisis. I want to look at the sedimentology on other planets to prove that life once or still exists elsewhere. I want to solve problems
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