Getting Prepared for Life and Career – A Brief Memoir
Kernan Davis
How does one prepare for a career as a geologist? When I was at the University of Buffalo in the 1950s, the faculty often told the students, “We do not teach you how to make a living, but how to live.”
Two classes made a major impression on me: Professor Pegrum’s Geology 101, in which he announced that mankind is too puny to affect the global climate, and Professor Sine’s English class, in which we scrutinized the King James Version of the Bible.
Prof. Pegrum knew that the CO2 levels in our atmosphere had remained
nearly constant for millennia. What he did not anticipate was the vast expan- sion of the human population and its ravenous exploitation of coal and petro- leum. He envisioned the extensive use of atomic power as well as water and wind power as substitutes for dwindling fos- sil fuel resources. The lesson - We must remain wary of projecting present condi- tions upon the future. Prof. Pegrum often chided us against making unwarranted assumptions.
Prof. Sine led us through a brief review of historical Jewish, Christian and British political structures, and then encouraged us to dig and delve for our- selves to come up with interpretations and understandings of selected readings from the KJV. Those skills served me well in my half-century career and still prompt me to continue questioning, dig- ging, and delving. Moreover was the les- son - We learned to remain calm and be polite while disagreeing (not very easy).
Both science and liberal arts courses provided a firm foundation for my future in a constantly changing world. I gradu- ated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geology and Geography, having missed a minor in English by only two credit hours. Even though students may know a great deal about their studied fields, if they cannot effectively convey their knowledge to others, then their education has no teeth. The world passes them by.
My first job out of college was as a Terrain Analyst in the United States Army – yes, I was a GI Geologist. I gathered raw geotechnical information
from old maps, air photos and literature from a wide variety of sources, then pre- pared reports that our military leaders could read, understand, and use in their preparations for battle – or avoidance of battle in untenable places.
Because my studies at college includ- ed a broad variety of subjects, I devel- oped a mixture of skills for applying my knowledge of science to the needs of society. That included conducting sub- surface site exploration for the Niagara Hydro-Power Project as well as evaluat- ing ground-water impacts caused by that project in the early 1960s.
Later, I found myself at the leading edge of the environmental wave that started to sweep America during the latter part of the twentieth century. I became involved in land and water resources management, and in reme- diating solid and hazardous waste dis- posal sites. Both fields required a sound geotechnical basis. In my final years of employment, my duties expanded to include employee training and records management – different from geology, but vital to the success of our efforts.
You cannot rely exclusively on your college education. Technology and soci- ety constantly change, so you must keep up to date: continuing education is required. Look for it. Engage in it.
Retiring from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in the early years of this century, I adjusted my focus to caring for our children while my wife continued to work as a geologist. Now I apply my sci- entific knowledge to the family kitchen.
As for English studies, well, I write stories – short ones, like this.
The writer is husband of E. M. Dobson- Davis, CPG. They live in a 19th century farmhouse in the Mohawk Valley of New York. Their daughter studies at Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, while their son studies accounting at SUNY Buffalo. As a young boy, the writer observed fossils in the rocks, gas bubbling from the Marcellus shale and the apparent drifting of continents.
AIPG DIRECTORY OF GEOSCIENCE PRODUCTS & SERVICES
GET YOUR MESSAGE IN FRONT OF 7,000 Professional Geologists
AIPG is excited to announce the recent launch of the latest edition of our new online buyer’s guide, the Directory of Geoscience Products & Services. This industry-specific search engine efficiently connects your company with geoscience pro- fessionals. Request a Media Kit –
jsmith@multiview.com. Please be aware that you may be contacted by our publishing partner, MultiView, during the coming weeks in order to verify the information currently dis- played in your organization’s list- ing. If you have any questions about this program, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You may also contact MultiView directly at 1(800)816- 6710 or by email at aipg@multiv-
iew.com. AIPG Members that are contacted by MultiView that would like to be removed from the solici- tation list, please send an email to
aipg@aipg.org.
AIPG Conference The Expanding World of Unconventional Shale Hydrocarbon Resources
April 27-29, 2015 Worthington, Ohio
Co-hosted by the AIPG OH Section
Please watch the AIPG website for further details.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64