• New Guest Post! Research Assistant, Volcanic Hazards, Elaine Smid @lavabombs: A Day in the Life Series

    July 21, 2014 Author: Sandie Will
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    Elaine Smid - Presenting at scientific conferences

    NAME:  Elaine Smid CURRENT TITLE:  Research Scientist AREA OF EXPERTISE:  Volcanic Hazards YEARS EXPERIENCE:  6 EDUCATION: B.A. Environmental Science, University of Virginia (2000); M.S. Geology & Geophysics, University of Hawai’i at Manoa (2004); PhD in progress, University of Auckland WEBSITE: https://unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz/profile/e-smid What’s your job like? I would describe my job as challenging, but always fun and very rewarding. I am a research and project management assistant for a long-term, multi-disciplinary international research project aiming to quantify the volcanic risk to people and the services they rely on to live in Auckland, New Zealand. The project is called DEtermining VOlcanic Risk in Auckland (or ‘DEVORA’ for short) (see: http://devora.org.nz). The problem is that Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city and lies directly atop a dormant volcanic field that could produce an eruption at any time, threatening the lives and livelihoods of 1.5 million people. The DEVORA project is all about understanding

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  • New Guest Post! Intern, Structural Geologist, Timothy Sherry @tsherryUSA: A Day in the Life Series

    July 20, 2014 Author: Sandie Will
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    NAME:  Timothy J Sherry CURRENT TITLE:  Earth Science Intern, Geology & Geophysical Operations, Chevron AREA OF EXPERTISE:  Structural and Earthquake Geology YEARS EXPERIENCE:  2 EDUCATION: Wrapping up MSc at McGill University WEBSITE: http://upsection.blogspot.com What’s your job like? When most people hear the word “internship” they think of a college kid running around fetching cups of coffee for meetings, making photocopies, and organizing files. This is not the case. As an intern (this is true both for last summer and this summer), I was given a project that contributed to my teams. In other words, the projects matter, and the results are used by the team. I’ve now worked two internships for two different sides of the company as a structural geologist. Last year I was on an exploration team, and my project had a large research component digging into the previous literature. On top of that I learned and gained experience interpreting

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  • PhD Candidate, Volcanology, Tom Pering: A Day in the Life Series @Volcanoblog

    June 4, 2014 Author: Sandie Will
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    NAME:  Tom Pering CURRENT TITLE:  PhD Candidate AREA OF EXPERTISE:  Volcanology (Remote Sensing and Modelling) YEARS EXPERIENCE:  4 EDUCATION: BSc Physical Geography at the University of Reading and MSc Volcanology and Geological Hazards at Lancaster University WEBSITE:  http://www.volcano-blog.com/ What’s your job like? Studying volcanology is fantastic, but of course hard work at this early stage in my career. I am currently coming towards the end of my second year, with one year remaining. I am lucky enough to be funded by a NERC studentship in combination with the University of Sheffield which allows me to concentrate fully on work and study. I have a lot of freedom to explore and investigate my own ideas which all helps to keep the day-to-day schedule as varied as possible. I am also getting teaching experience as a teaching assistant during field courses and lab work. What’s a typical day like?  A typical day

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  • PhD Candidate, Sedimentation and Tectonics, Tannis McCartney @TMMCC: A Day in the Life Series

    June 3, 2014 Author: Sandie Will
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    NAME:  Tannis McCartney CURRENT TITLE:  PhD Candidate AREA OF EXPERTISE: SEDIMENTATION AND TECTONICS, EAST AFRICA SEISMIC RESEARCH YEARS OF EXPERIENCE:  6 – OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY EDUCATION:  BSc Geophysics, University of Alberta; MSc Geology, University of Calgary, Canada WEBSITE: http://www.tannislikesrocks.blogspot.com What’s your job like? Geoscience students are fortunate to be able to get funding for grad school. My current funding is a combination of fellowship and teaching assistantship. I am finishing my formal coursework so I spend all of my time on my own research, unless it’s a semester when I’m working as a TA. Then I also have to allow time for prepping/teaching/grading/office hours. As a TA, I am paid for 20 hours of teaching-related work per week, but it is really hard to be a good TA in only 20 hours. My dissertation research involves working with seismic data from East African rift lakes (primarily Lake Malawi) to

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  • Geoscientist, Matt Hall: A Day in the Life Series @kwinkunks

    May 24, 2014 Author: Sandie Will
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    NAME:  Matt Hall CURRENT TITLE:  Geoscientist AREA OF EXPERTISE:  Exploration Geoscience YEARS EXPERIENCE:  17 EDUCATION:  Finished PhD in sedimentology in 1997, University of Manchester, UK. Registered Professional Geoscientist in Nova Scotia, Canada. WEBSITE:  http://www.agilegeoscience.com/ What’s my job like? I co-own a small geoscience consulting company, so I have a lot of freedom. We have 3 employees (including me), and are working with a sub-contractor too at the moment. We all work from home or from coworking spaces (I am also a part-owner of The HUB South Shore coworking space). We do 4 things: geological and geophysical interpretation (especially of reflection seismic data), knowledge sharing consulting (helping geologists communicate), technical software development, and scientific publishing. What’s a typical day like? I am either at my coworking space, working on a computer with data interpretation, writing, or coding… or I’m on the road at a client’s office (usually in Houston), or at

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