Website designed by
Liz Chesser '04 and maintained
by Sue Swanson
Please direct any departmental questions
to Chair Carl Mendelson
Page Last Updated June 16, 2008
Contents Copyright 2001-5 Beloit College
Website designed by
Liz Chesser '04 and maintained
by Sue Swanson
Please direct any departmental questions
to Chair Carl Mendelson
Page Last Updated June 16, 2008
Contents Copyright 2001-5 Beloit College
Steve "Aftershock" Anstine '07,
1111 Kenmore Rd., Rockford, IL 61108. phone: 815-226-0414, email: pwrstv5000@yahoo.com
I was hired at Fehr-Graham & Associates, an engineering and
environmental consulting firm - right after graduation. I slug test
aquifers, sample soil and water, and assist with random field work
pertaining to environmental cleanups (all the dirty work). I am planning to
go to graduate school soon for coastal geomorphology.
Jenna "Hadrosaurus" Hunter '07,
210 W. 101st Street, Apt. 16J, New York, NY 10025. phone: 919- 614-0050, email: mshunterhses@yahoo.com
I am about a week away from finishing my first year as a public high school Earth Science teacher in New York City. I must say I never gave enough credit to my geology teachers while I was at Beloit. All of the field trips were phenomenal! I've taken my students on multiple trips- hiking parts of the Appalachian Trail, to a barrier island, to the American Museum of Natural History, to a florescent mineral mine in New Jersey, and around the city to look at outcrops, and it still hasn't been as much as we were enabled to do while at Beloit. I'd like to get a summer-trip program going like the one Beloit offers every spring and summer. Mammoth Caves, maybe?? I enjoy teaching, am currently getting my Master's Degree for Secondary Science Education at Lehman College, and am working for the Nature Conservancy in the summer as a mentor for three inner-city Earth Science students. We will live in a cabin in Keene Valley, in the Adirondacks, for four weeks and do trail work for the program. I plan on continuing to teach in the area for a while and hopefully someday head back to school to finish up a further degree in the Geological Sciences or Outdoor Environmental Education, but who knows... hope all are well!
Adam Pearson '07,
1848 Commonwealth Ave, Apt 51, Brighton, MA, 02135. phone: 815-814-5691, email: adamjpearson@gmail.com
I have just finished my first year as a graduate student at Boston College. It was a good year of studies, and I really enjoyed teaching labs all year long. This summer I'm staying in Boston, and I will be working on my thesis project dealing with the removal of a dam in Merrimack, New Hampshire. I will be studying how the sediments in the impoundment of the dam will change once the dam is taken out at the end of the summer.
Other than working on my masters degree I haven't been up to too much here in Boston. It is a nice city but the East Coast certainly takes some getting used to after the Midwest. Hope all is well in the Beloit Geology Department, maybe I'll actually get back there one of these days.
Patrick "Dipshift" Diggins '06,
Amherst Massachusetts, email: geodiggins@hotmail.com
Hello fellow Alums, Students, distinguished faculty,
and Carl! I'm attending Graduate School at the University of
Massachusetts-Amherst in lovely Amherst, MA. I'm currently Master's of
Hydrogeology candidate and I plan to go on to get my PhD somewhere...
Joe "Hondo" Haynes
'06, 932 Stave Oak Drive, Beech Grove IN 46107. phone: (317) 409-8058, email:
hondohaynes@hotmail.com
Hey everybody, what's up? After I finally graduated,
thanks to the encouragement of Jim Rougvie and Eric Purcell, I have
put my geology degree to good use and moved on to the field of
historic racing cars. I am currently the lead mechanic for McNamara
Motorsports based out of Indianapolis, Indiana. My job entails
restoring, preparing, fixng, and every now and then, driving
historic race cars. The job takes me to road racing coarses all
over the country. Basically, extremely wealthy individuals pay me
to make their "toys" look good and go fast. Plus I get to drink
beer on the job when the time is right and check out geologic
formations while traveling, so no complaints here. Don't worry I
still put my geology "knowledge", if that's what you want to
call
it, to use. No one knows more about the surfaces that we race on
more than me, which gives our team an advantage. The types of rocks
used for the pavement on the tracks vary from area to area and the
hardnesses of those rocks affect how long our tires last. People can't
seem to figure out why we always seem to use the right tire
compound. All they had to do was get a geology degree from Beloit
and they would figure us out. I just want to thank everybody on the
staff for the support and the encouragement to get my thesis done.
It was well worth it.
Take Care,
Joe Haynes
Kate "Hysteresis" Hedrick
'06, Cincinnati, OH 45220. phone: (217) 722-7937, email: kate.hedrick@gmail.com
I am currently working on my Masters at the University of Cincinnati
with a focus on the tectonic geomorphology of two (and possibly more)
half-grabened systems in the Himalaya of Jammu & Kashmir provinces, India.
Jean "Thrust-Pond" Taggart
'06, Newmarket, NH. email: taggartjr@gmail.com
I am currently pursuing a Masters degree at the
University of New Hampshire. I plan to use cosmogenic nuclides for exposure
dating of glacial moraines...and plan to graduate in 2009....
Jerod "Razorback" Randall '05, 12155 Tributary Point Drive, Gold River, CA 95670. phone: (559) 331-5580, email: randalljrd@yahoo.com
I recently moved to Sacramento to work for the Department of
Toxic
Substances Control. Among all the regulatory agencies in California,
DTSC (which is part of Cal EPA) is concerned with protecting human
health, which means I help oversee facilities that handle hazardous waste.
My unit acts as an internal consultant to make sure that soil, soil vapor,
and groundwater investigations are being conducted properly. My time
with Geomatrix has really helped me to understand what is going on. My
job is to keep up on the latest trends and chemicals of concern; it's a
pretty cool job. I hope everyone is doing well.
(By the way Sue thinks Jerod's address is cool)
Ellie "Minors Don't Get a Name" O'Byrne '05, 1364 Otis Pl.
NW, Washington, Delaware 20010. phone: (302) 545-5881, email: obyrnee@alum.beloit.edu
I'm in D.C. working for an economic consulting firm
doing litigation support. I mostly work in the areas of
environmental and product liability. Sometimes I really wow them
with my basic understandings of groundwater.
Eric "Pancake Bomb" Purcell '04, Golden CO. phone: (262)
391-0947, email: purcell1133@hotmail.com
Me, of all people, actually got a job involving
my
degree. I worked in Chicago for an environmental consulting firm
for approximately 2 years before getting fed up with the large
population and lack of mountains. So I moved to Colorado where I
got a job with Cambria Environmental (soon to merge with
Conestoga-Rovers & Associates). My office is in Denver, but I live
in Golden. We have major contracts with Shell and Chevron. I get
to go to Alaska for about 2 weeks every month from March to
September and occasionally in the winter. Colorado is fantastic and
I can't wait to explore everything. Now all I need is my friends
*cough* Joe Haynes *cough* to get their butts in gear and move out
here as well. Hopefully I'll get to see some of you at GSA.
Dina "Ghizite" Ghikas
'03, Miami University Dept. of Geology, Shideler Hall Rm. 114, Oxford
OH 45056. Email: notconstandina@hotmail.com
After graduation, I spent a year working and traveling.
I worked at the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in Elmhurst, IL,
then moved to North Carolina and worked for several months as an
Environmental Ed/Ropes course instructor at a 4-H camp. Over the summer
I traveled to Greece, where I visited family, worked as a
volunteer at the Olympics in Athens, and explored northern Greece
and Albania, looking for potential sites to do my graduate research.
I am now a master's student at Miami University (not in Florida) and
I will be studying the tectonics and petrology of ophiolites in
Greece. I was a paleo person at Beloit, so this is a big leap
(forward or backward, I don't know).
Allyson "Minors Don't
Get a Name" Snell '03, Oficina de Planificacion,
Municipalidad de Chicaman, El Quiche, El Quiche, Guatemala. email: ally.snell@gmail.com
Greetings Geologists,
Since graduating Beloit in 2003, I worked as
a intern at Glacier National park, doing
interpretive programs on the formation of
glaciers, glacial lakes, and stramatolites
(wicked fun). After that I was an Americorps
VISTA volunteer working on the Navajo Reservation outside of Gallup, NM
for a year.
Most of my projects focused on water and soil
conservation projects. I was then hired the
following year as a soil conservation technician
for the USDA in the Gallup NM Field Office. My
job usually consisted of roaming the vast high desert plateau in my pickup
truck working with
ranchers and homesteaders on conservation
practices. Pretty ironic considering I never
took soils at Beloit. I worked with the USDA
for about a year until I decided I needed a
career change, so now I am an Peace Corps
Volunteer in Guatemala working on Ecotourism development projects in local
Mayan communities (and of course trying to learn spanish and a
mayan language). Mostly I work with a very traditional indigenous Mayan
community who are
opening up thier village to outsiders who wish
to get a glimpse of traditional life,
ceremonies, etc. I couldn't be happier, and
Guatemala is a great place for people interested
in Geology. Currently we have two very active
volcanoes! Hope everyone is doing well and I
look forward to reading what other alumns are up
to.
Bethany "Wadi " Weisberger '03, 473 Lexington Ave. #2, Brooklyn, NY 11221. phone: (347) 668-2376, email: bethanyweisberger@yahoo.com
As of 2007, I'm going into my 5th year teaching high school
Earth
Science! In Brooklyn, NY of all places... I remember once, in Sed., after
a
presentation, Carol told me something like this, "this might not sound
like a compliment, but you are very good at making things simple."
Maybe I was offended? Not sure--but that is basically my job everyday.
Making things like: dissolved gases, gravity, crystallization, air
pressure...SIMPLE. Are you reading this website to figure out what to do with your geology degree? Join an alternative teaching program, such as Teaching
Fellows. You won't regret it! My tiny one bedroom apartment has a futon,
so if anyone comes to NYC, you have a place to stay. Also, I love to have "experts" come to my classroom! But, you have to dress in costume.
Katie "K-T Boundary" Adelsberger
'02
Note: Katie received an NSF Graduate Fellowship in Spring 2003,
and is pursuing graduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis
- congratulations!
Eric "Boulder Quarry" Butler
'01, 12030 N. Old Number 7, Columbia, MO 65202. Phone: (573) 474-0989
email: eric@cherthollowfarm.com
Eric Butler has recently moved to
central Missouri, where he and his
fiance Joanna Reuter (Carleton 00) have started a sustainable
homestead and farm. They grow produce and herbs for local
markets, as well as keeping animals for themselves. Check them out at http://www.cherthollowfarm.com.
After finishing graduate school at the University of Vermont (where they
met),
Eric &
Joanna worked at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia before making the
final move to Missouri. Joanna is currently working for the U.S. Geological
Survey, while Eric is working full-time on the property and house. They
plan a small wedding next October at their farm. Beloiters passing
through the area are welcome to visit; we love to cook for visitors (a bed &
breakfast may also be in the future).
Eric is famous! Check out this little movie of him giving a volcano demonstration!
Angie "Horn Coral" Hutchison
'01, 8740 S. Country Drive, Apt 103, Oak Creek, WI 53154. Phone:
(414) 304-8401, email: ahutchison1978@yahoo.com
Angie continues to teach Earth Science in the Southeastern Wisconsin area.
Currently she teaches at Park High
School in Racine where she teaches a 6-class overload and has taken
over as advisor for the Science Team. She lives with her two cats,
Isis and Athena, as well as her fiance, Brad ('01). Wedding plans
are slowing beginning, with a wedding in August 2008. Drop a line
if you're going to be in the area!
Beth Peyer '01, 2957 N. Wisner,
Chicago, IL 60618. email:
blpeyer@gmail.com
Hey all! I am currently sitting my forensic evidence
class learning about how geology is useful in putting together a
criminal prosecution. This made me think of Beloit and led me to
check out the good ol geology website. Oh, btw, I am learning
about forensic evidence because I am in my 3rd (and final!) year of
law school in at DePaul University in Chicago. I love the fact that
I can use my knowledge of geology to further my career in the law.
I also got my MA in art history from the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2004. I have been keeping busy with school
and working at a local law firm. Hope everyone is well, and would
love to hear from people!
Nick "Shatter Cone" Schmerr
'01, 5101 South Mill Avenue #226, Tempe, AZ 85282. Email: shatter_cone@space.com
Hey everybody! I'm having a great time adjusting to the nice warm climate
down here in Arizona. This state is full of great geology that I've just
been itching to go out and climb around on. If anybody is in the Phoenix
area and would like to join me on an excursion, I'd be more than willing
to accomodate you! I'm currently trying to figure out my PhD advisor and
thesis project, but I can say my thesis research will probably be doing
something related to Mars and geophysics. I'll have more to say in a few
months once I've figured this all out. If anybody is going to turn up
at
LPSC, maybe we can get together. I hope people are well... Take care! Note:
Nick received an NSF Graduate Fellowship in Spring 2003 - congratulations!
Aurelia "Wacke" Walton
'01, 603 N. 60th St, Seattle, WA 98103. Website: www.steppingstonemontesori.net
I have been living in Seattle for almost 6 years now.
Unfortunately, I am no longer doing geology and I greatly miss it. I have,
however, fallen in love with being a Montessori Teacher. After working at a
fantastic Montessori School here in Seattle for 5 years, I have decided to
open up my own school. This is my first year and though it is a lot more work to run the whole school, I love it. I have never run a business
before, but so far it's going well. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Every
chance I get, I teach them about geology and the environment. If anyone is
ever in Seattle, feel free to look me up!
Meghan "Hornito"
Hicks '00, P.O. Box 63, Big Bend National Park, TX 79834. Phone: (915) 477-2447,
email: mamamiamba@yahoo.com
Hello all! After tossing around many possibilities of life directions, I
have temporarily settled down at Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas
where I work full-time as a park ranger. My job is to educate visitors about
the park through slide shows, guided talks and walks, roving interpretation
on trails, and talking with them in visitor centers. When I am not at work,
I am also taking a full load of coursework for a Masters in Science Education
through the University of Texas at Dallas. Through this graduate program,
I am developing my interests and abilities in the geoscience fields of paleontology,
sedimentology, and stratigraphy while simultaneously learning about the
fundamentals of teaching science. My main focus in this endeavor is dinosaur
paleontology; I am actively working on the excavation of sauropod bones
from within Big Bend National Park. When I am not assisting in the physical
excavation of these bones, I am working on the stratigraphy and sed! imentology
of the excavation sites. I'd love to hear from my fellow leaky-booters,
so don't hesitate to email or write anytime!