“WHY I WANT TO BE A GEOLOGIST...”
New Applicants and Members
Can now be found on the AIPG website at
http://aipg.org/membership/newappsmems.html
Samantha Moruzzi, SA-8422 Cornell University
I was born a dreamer; an adventurer meant to scour every nook and cranny of the hillsides for the perfect geological specimen. I was a daring searcher and the sole individual left to discover the exact mineral necessary to save all of human- kind. Or at least that’s who I believed I was on those family hikes throughout
my childhood.
I was born a scholar; a person meant to absorb all of the information scrawled across the pages of books on volcanoes, earthquakes and minerals. I was a fearless researcher, tak- ing in every fact about the world’s most dangerous natural disasters before time ran out. Or at least that’s who I believed I was as I hid from the school librarian in elementary school so I could stay within the books just a few minutes longer.
I was born a believer; a guardian of the idea that through the physical understanding of our planet, we can make the world a better place. I was an optimistic leader, believing that there are effective, alternative fuels, that there are ways we can reach carbon neutrality, and that through geological science and research, my generation can pull the earth back from the brink of environmental collapse. Or at least that who I believed I was at every climate change march and every oceanography lab I taught.
I was born an inquisitive mind; a questioner meant to under- stand each person’s path to a geological career. I was insatiably curious, attending every talk on volcanic and tectonic processes given at my college. I am a painstaking investigator as I curiously pore over my research, ensuring that I don’t miss a single, faint volcanic thermal anomaly, and as I inquire about the effectiveness of other methods. Or at least that’s who I think I am since I’ve set my sights on a career in geoscience.
I am a geologist; a dreamer, a scholar, a believer and an inquisitive mind. I am passionate about pursuing my dream of becoming a planetary geophysicist, of both adventuring to volcanoes to do geophysical field work and exploring the most effective remote sensing techniques. I aim to be scientifically well-read and to eventually publish my own scholarly work in hopes that it will not only benefit the realm of geoscience but also inspire others to study geological mechanisms of the planets. I strive to aid in creating a sustainable future and to discover ways in which geophysical research can support that goal. I am curious about how geophysics can be used to understand our world and the development of new techniques in order to do so. I constantly want to know more and aspire to push the boundaries of geoscience to comprehend the founda- tion beneath our feet and that of the worlds beyond ours. To me, this is a geologist.
www.aipg.org
Stephen Oni, SA-9120 University of Wyoming
It was always in the afternoon, when the insolation from the Sun reached its culmination that the man we called ‘Pa Geo’ walked into our classroom. He ate, drank, slept, and oozed Geography, yes Geography. He made every lesson an adventure. Today we would be in the wild Serengeti of Africa, and the Sahara,
exploring vegetative patterns, and barchan dunes. Tomorrow we would take a trip to the Fjords of Norway, examining gla- cier-carved U-shaped valleys, and making snow angels, from snow we had never seen, except the frost from our freezers. You see, Pa Geo taught in Preston International School located in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, where there was never snow.
Our school was situated in a rain forest, ever green, and so sunny the state was called the ‘Sunshine State’ – a fitting sobriquet. Hence, whetting our imaginations with exotic descriptions of alien lands served as an excellent escape from the drudgeries of boarding school life. He explained to us how the insolation we received from the Sun was a function of lati- tude, the Earth’s oblate ellipsoid shape, and briefly addressed how orbital patterns affected insolation. With those in mind, we valued and cherished the scorching heat we received from the sun, as we were scientists, observing Earth system processes. However, deep down, we loathed the heat more so than we cherished it.
Through Pa Geo’s tutorship, a desire to understand the Earth in greater detail was triggered in me. This interest reached its apex when I learned of geophysical process used to image the Earth while I interned in the company my dad works for as a part of a work experience program created as part of a career development program at my high school.
Thus I moved from an infatuation with geography to falling in love with geology, and that love has grown deeper still as I have gained more knowledge and experience. You can say I went from sucking milk from the bosom of geography, to eating solid meats on the table geology has made for me. On this table, there are many delicacies to feast from: petrology, sedimentation and stra- tigraphy, mineralogy, geophysics, hydrology, structural geology and tectonics etc.
Geology offers a world from which come endless possibili- ties: minerals yet to be
AIPG Executive Director Aaron Johnson visited UW to award scholarship to Stephen Oni
unearthed, questions relating to deep surface geology yet to be answered, and even mysteries relating to other planets are yet to be explained. This is why I want to be a geologist, more so, this is why I will be a Geologist – soli Deo Gloria.
Jul.Aug.Sep 2018 • TPG 19
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