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2018–2019 Richard H. Jahns

          Distinguished Lecturer





                              Deborah Green has been named     You Don’t Look Like a Geologist: A Conversation On Diversity
                             the 2018–2019 Richard H. Jahns    (Or the Lack Thereof) in Our Profession
                             Distinguished Lecturer in Applied   According to recent statistics from the American Geological
                             Geology. The lectureship, established    Institute, at least 40% of geology graduates are women. However,
                             in 1988, is sponsored by the Association    the same report indicates that fewer than 12% of geology graduates
                             of Environmental and Engineering   identify themselves as belonging to underrepresented minority
                             Geologists (AEG) and the GSA      groups. These statistics will serve as a starting point to talk about
                             Environmental and Engineering Geology   why there is so little diversity in our field.
                             Scientific Division. It funds distinguished
          Deborah Green      engineering geologists to present lectures   How to Build a Geology Career You Love
                             at colleges and universities in order to   From consulting work in small shops to mega companies, to
          promote student awareness of applied geology. It is named in   being an in-house geologist for private industry, to staffing regula-
          honor of Richard H. Jahns (1915–1983), an engineering geologist   tory agencies from municipalities to the federal government, to
          who had a diverse and distinguished career in academia, consult-  teaching STEM subjects from middle school grades up to the uni-
          ing, and government.                                 versity level—there are myriad possibilities to build a fulfilling
                                                               career.
            Born in Queens, New York, USA, Green traveled and camped
          throughout the United States and Canada with her family during   A Tale of Two Waste Sites
          her childhood summers, doing much of her growing up in the   Once upon a time, a consulting geologist was contracted to eval-
          National Parks. She now makes her homes in a passive solar adobe   uate a site for a low-level radioactive waste facility. The geologist’s
          house at the north end of the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico   report summarized the geology and hydrology. He concluded, if
          and on a sailboat in British Columbia during the summer.   operated properly, the site would be safe and effective.
                                                               Unfortunately, that ending to the tale was fictional. In the non-fic-
            Green’s earth-science–teacher father informally taught her geol-  tional story, the operational constraints outlined by the geologist
          ogy on their summer adventures, and she fell in love with it. She   were not followed, and the facility’s last chapter was written when
          holds geology degrees from the University of Rochester and Texas   it was listed as a Superfund site. We’ll talk about how more sites
          A&M University. She worked as an environmental and engineer-  can have happy endings when the tale the geology tells is heeded.
          ing geologist for 30 years in more than 35 states, with 20 of those
          years as a self-employed consultant. Active in the AEG, Green has   Let’s Talk: A Conversation on How We Communicate
          mentored many young professionals. She also champions the   about Science
          Norman R. Tilford Field Studies scholarships, named in honor    Geologists love to talk with each other about our work, but
          of her late husband, an internationally recognized engineering   speaking with those who don’t know or understand our geologic
          geologist, who died in a small plane crash on his way to lead a    “language” isn’t necessarily comfortable, and doing it well isn’t
          student field trip in 1997. The awards provide support to students   easy. We need to embrace communicating science well as much as
          learning geology in the field.                       we embrace the work itself. Advocating effectively for our work
                                                               makes it possible to do more of the science we value, and for soci-
            Having written poetry as a girl, Green rediscovered her love    ety to realize that value. In this presentation, we’ll talk about the
          for creative writing after establishing herself in her professional   challenges of conversing with non-scientists about science, and why
          career. As the GeologistWriter, Green strives to understand and   we must face those challenges head on.
          convey the wonder of the landscape and the complexity of earth
          processes while also exploring the mysterious terrain of the human   Always Book a Window Seat: The Lens through Which We
          heart and relationships through compelling stories and essays.  View the World as Geologists
                                                                The best geologists “read” the landscape, and “geologist”
            Interested institutions can contact Green via http://geologist-  becomes the lens through which they observe the wider world. A
          writer.com/contact/ to schedule a presentation on one or more of   sense of curiosity and desire to learn, not just in the classroom or
          the following topics from now to September 2019. Read more   lab or on a job site, but every day, are traits to cultivate. In this
          about Green and her writing projects, and find the complete   presentation, there will be plenty of pictures through a geologist’s
          abstracts for the following lectures at http://geologistwriter.com/  lens, and some of the stories those views tell.
          distinguished-lecturer/.







      10                                         GSA Today  |  November 2018
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