Event ID: 1264019
Event Started: 3/10/2009 11:00:00 PM
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Please stand by for realtime captioning.
>> Why choose a career in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, what personal and social skills do you need to attend college and achieve career success? What middle school and high school classes should you be taking to prepare yourself for college? How do you overcome stereo types and other obstacles in your way? These are some of the many questions we'll answer tonight and throughout the Starting Wright series of programs. If you have questions or comments you would like to share with us, Starting Wright is an interactive webcast. Feel free to be part of the discussion. The demand for science and technology-based career sincerely expected to continue to grow rapidly. If you want to be a part of that future, then now is the time to get started right. Here is the host, Wright State University director of disability services, Mr. Jeff Vernooy. 
>> Good evening, everybody. This is Jeff Vernooy from the office of disability services at Wright State University with another addition of Starting Wright. I have to tell you if it was difficult to come in today. I was moving around the University and saw the sunshine and warm weather and spring finally here and it was an effort tore me to think that I am going to be here until at least the sun begins to go down, but I really enjoy the opportunity to be with all of you and to do these things. 

>>> We're into our third edition of this new series of Starting Wright, this series where we're taking a look at specific areas in the field of STEMM and remind everybody STEMM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math, and so today we're going to go on and we're going to move into a new field, and that's geology, and so coming up tonight we have a number of interesting things to discuss. We're going to talk about what geology actually is, talk about the different careers for people who study geology. We have in the audience or in the studio with us tonight a geologist who is going to talk a little bit about some of his interesting studies that he has done and what made him decide to go into those particular areas, and then now what our regular parts of our program, Katherine's tech tips, hints from Ms. Hanna, and great minds in STEMM. And then of course we'll announce the homework winners and offer that new contest. 

>>> You know, I think that this is really coming along in our program is becoming a much, much tighter kind of thing, and we're really hoping that you folks are going to be benefiting from some of the things that we're doing. I want to encourage you to send in questions to us, though, if you have some about particular areas or if there is particular fields that you would really like to get more information on, we can look as those as possible show possibilities. We can also maybe help guide you towards other places that can give you more information and resources into this. You recall that last set of sessions that we had we talked about one of the things that you need to be able to do when you go to college and that's to be able to locate resources. We here at the starting Wright program really believe that we can help you to do those kinds of things, and so we encourage to you e-mail us and let us know about other kinds of things we can help you get started on your own particular path to make your own choices in terms of what your career will be. 

>>> So we're going to go ahead and begin with our show tonight, and starting up with one of our regular features a little bit of information about geology. 
>> Geology. The study of the earth, the materials of which it is made, and the processes acting upon those materials which also includes the effects that living organisms have on the planet. Exactly what do geologists do? 
>> Geologists work to understand the history of our planet with a better understanding of earth's history, geologists can better foresee how events and processes of the past might influence future events. 
>> What kind of jobs are available for geologists? 
>> Geologists work in a variety of settings, from government agencies and natural resource companies to nonprofit organizations and Universities. Many geologists go onto work in specialized career fields, including paleontologist. 
>> More than just dinosaurs,  paleontologists study the history of life on earth as reflected in the fossil record. Fossils are 9 remains of organisms that lived in the past and are preserved in the earth's crust. >From fossil he is paleontologist can learn about plants, animals, fungi, bacteria and single cell microscopic organism that is existed in the past. 
>> Earthquakes are frightening events. Seismologists analyze and study earthquakes to determine how and why they happen. All in an effort to better understand and predict when and where they will happen again. 
>> Environmental geologist. 
>> Environmental geologists study the interaction between the geological events that occur on earth and human activities. They work to solve problems associated with pollution, waste management, urbanization, and natural hazards such as flooding and soil erosion. 
>> Petroleum geologist. 
>> This area of geology employs the largest number of geologists outside of government agencies. Petroleum geologists are involved in the exploration of the earth for oil and natural gas resources. Many are employed by some of the world's major oil and gas Corporations. 
>> Volcanologist. 
>> Despite its title this area of geology has absolutely nothing to do with those well-known characters from star trek. Vol connologists study volcanos and vol can I can eruptions, one of the oldest areas of earth? Records of vol can I can eruptions are thought to date back as far as 7,000 B C. While there is currently no accurate way of predicting eruptions, this continues to be a major focus of volcanologists worldwide. So do you think you have what it takes to become a geologist? Want to learn more? Then keep listening because there is much more to come on this edition of Starting Wright. 
>> Well, as you can see up on your screen, we have the office pun for the day that geology rocks, so we're going to rock on here and talk a little bit more about some additional things, and we have our guests here later with us, Chris Atchison will talk about the some of the experiences he's had and some of the things he is going into. A couple of years ago I got the opportunity to attend one of the professional conferences for geologists, and I have to tell you the exhibit area was more fun than I had ever seen because there was everything from diamonds and rubies to dinosaur bonies, and so it is a very, very interesting field that has a wide number of areas, but it is one that does fit within our STEMM field, and so it is something that some people may be very interested in. 

>>> Okay. We're going to move on now with Katherine's tech tips. This is a feature we started a couple of months ago. You will notice today that we have a little bit larger picture of Katherine, so we can see better what are her office looks like sometimes. Here we go. 
>> Here is my super dlux auto bought 9,000 robot. 
>> Technology can be a great thing and make our lives easier disbr we connect this to the power supply. 
>> Warning, warning, warning, computer overload. 
>> No. [  crash  ] 
>> Yikes. 
>> Just remember make sure to get the technology that best suits your needs. Here to help you do just that is our resident technology guru, Katherine Meyers with great ideas about technology gear that may be just right for you. It is time for Katherine's tech tips. 
>> Welcome to today's tech tip. Today we're talking about geology N geology we use all of our senses. We're going to look at the samples. We feel them. You can smell them. You can even taste them. With geology there is a number of different technologies that we can use. One is a raised map. These raised maps are different landscapes that gives you a different sense other than just looking, you would actually be able to feel these and get a sense for any kind of peaks, valleys, mountains, those types of things. Last week we talked about microscopes involving biology. This week there are actually geology related microscopes. Just like the biology ones you can also attach these to a computer or to a TV screen so that more than one person can see it or you can enlarge things for better detail. 

>>> As you're looking at samples, one thing you might need to do is use a hand lens. There is one lens that you actually got two lenses on it, and one of them does ten times magnification. The other is 20. You might use an I will luminated hand lens or the plastic ones are different magnifications and very portable, very, very lightweight. The last thing we'll look at are the 3D models. These are examples of different kinds of Crystals you might run into, and it allows to you touch them, get a sense of the edges on them, and see exactly how Crystals might be formed. I have included this week a page that are resources for the different technology that we just talked about so that you would be able to find these yourself and maybe explore some of this technology. We will be sending that to you like we do our other resources for you. Thanks a lot. We'll see you next time.
>> Here is your foes for up front and up close, Mr. Jeff Vernooy. 
>> We're fortunate to have in the studio with us who is a geologist and worked on a number of projects and is working on a really exciting project that we'll tell you more later in the time. Good evening, Chris. 
>> Good evening, Jeff. 
>> We're glad to have you here. Want to take a few minutes to talk a little bit with you about some of areas you studied. Can you describe those and tell us more information? 
>> Sure. Through my under grad and masters degree I have had a great opportunity to be all over the country. A few of the ones that I remember most distinctively I have been up to study the meter it impact crater at Ontario, Canada, spent some time in SATURN Salva dor doing diving, and I have actually studied the Appalachian mountain chain from about 18 different states on either side of the mountains to study the structure and how they formed. 
>> You have been all over the world and seen a lot of different kinds of things from a lot of different perspectives, I think. 
>> Yep. 
>> What is a typical geology job like in the oil and gas industry or in the environmental protection? 
>> Well, there is a lot of different types of geology jobs. The major one being the oil and gas industry, a lot of my former colleagues from my under grad and master's degree are either in Houston or in Oklahoma city, you know, in the oil industry, but there is all jobs that people seem to forget about in education, and that's where I am at right now as a early research scientist working for the Ohio Super Computer center in Columbus, studying field geology from inside the classroom and the effectiveness of field geology and the changing effects of field geology as the economy is shifting because the changing economy has a major impact on how much field geology these students are getting. 
>> So when we hear the news stories where we talk about oil supplies and other kinds of minerals, coal, and other kinds of things, you guys are really down at the forefront in terms of making sure that that does happen or doesn't happen? 
>> Sure. Exactly. All the oil extraction, all the coal, essentially the world's energy starts with geologic exploration. 
>> And geology also is taking a look at other issues in terms of the actual warming of the planet and gases and other kinds of things that are happening within our environment as well, right. 
>> Yep, exactly. Climb tolling is a major aspect of geology. PALEOCLIMATOLOGY is the study of past global warming trends and that essentially is determining what's happening to our globe today. 
>> Okay. All right. Great. Chris, tell us a little bit more about some of your favorite studies you have done. 
>> During my master's degree I was teaching eighth grade science? Dayton, had a great opportunity to use a group of my students in my master's research. What we did, was geo arc logical excavation without digging at sun Watch Indian village to where we used subsurface imaging from MAGNATOMETER to see what we could find beneath the soil since it is on a flood plain near the great Mine river there is a lot of things that will show up including not necessarily from the magnameter, but they have found limestone slab from burial sites there within the village. We placed a sledge hammer in our data collection site just to make sure we found something in our data, but we did find a magnetic anomoly within our field site that was so strong, the sledge hammer actually didn't show up in our data collection. 
>> Wow. 
>> I had a great opportunity after that, after I finished my thesis and two years later I had a great opportunity to go back to Sun Watch when they finally agreed to excavate a two-foot by two-foot site where that anomoly showed up and actually found three old rusted coat hangers. 
>> Those were the things that set off  -- 
>> Yes. Knowing that Indians didn't use coat hangers 800 years ago. 
>> We haven't found too many in a cave. 
>> Right, right, so it was most likely something that was brought in from the great Miami river and deposited in a flayed plain. 
>> That's great. 
>> How did you get started with this? What interest did you as a child or a young student to get into the field of geology. 
>> Believe it or not, I enjoy being outside, but this isn't something that I started off in college to become. Believe it or not I started college to be an architect which then changed quickly to physics. I finished an associate's in physics and transferred here to Wright State actually and only took one geology class to get me hooked. I really enjoyed being outside, studying the world that we see each and every day. Besides, I can't think of a better way than to study the most beautiful places in the world, sometimes places that very few people ever get to. 
>> Yeah. 
>> Besides geologists really know how to have a good time. 
>> ( laughter ). 
>> So traveling around the world, seeing beautiful places, going in unusual places, maybe under the water, into a cave, up onto a mountain top, all of those kinds of things are that. When you went through high school, what kinds of subjects did you take there first and then once you got to college obviously, you went into geology? 
>> High school, it is just the typical classes that you might take in high school, the requirements, you know, earth, science, chemistry, biology, physics, are typical classes all the maths, through high school, once you get into college, it is just kind of a advancing those courses. You're going to take additional classes in chemistry and physics, depending on the type of geology you go into, you're going to take additional classes in biology. A lot of math again depending on what you go into, and then you get into a lot more specialized earth science courses. 
>> And I know when we were talking with some of the folks in engineering, they were talking about math courses that they had to take all the way up into the call includes area call can you los area. That true for all fields or can you get a by with algebra and not as advanced? 
>> Different fields have different requirements. If you go into  -- ( indiscernible ) and sequence. Again, there are under graduate requirements. If you go to get a bachelor's of arts in geology, you're going to take less math, a bachelor's of science in geology, you will take more. 
>> Okay. So those are some of the things as people begin to plan classes and begin to look at whether they started two-year or four-year school they may want to discuss those kinds of things to make sure they have the proper prerequisites. 
>> Sure. 
>> Great. What kind of training  -- did you do anything as part of high school or after high school that kind of helped you to head into this or was it simply that class that you took at Wright State that started your interest? 
>> It was really the first class at Wright State. Like I said before, going through high school I was going to grow up an architect, so architecture to geology is quite opposite ends of the spectrum, so really preparing to go into the field of geology is essentially following the required course that is have you in high school. 
>> When you got into Wright State and took the first couple of courses in geology, did you then do additional kind of internships or field studies or any of those kinds of things as part? 
>> Again, just through the program at Wright State you have several required field courses that you take. At the end of your program your requireds go to field camp. There is several schools that have field camp now. Geology has  -- I am sorry, Wright State has more of a segmented field camp now instead of what we had what used to be a six-week field camp in Tennessee. Now it is more of a segmented two-weeks here and there around the country. 
>> What did you do at those field camps. 
>> At the field camp in Tennessee that we had we basically it was a big study in the structure of the eastern United States and the Appalachian mountains. 
>> Okay. So you were working alongside other geologists? 
>> Yeah. 
>> Helping in terms of the process of researching those things, going to particular areas, looking and things and studying that. 
>> Exactly. 
>> Great. I understand you're researching innovative ways to get students outdoors, students with disabilities outdoors to study geology. Can you tell us a little bit about what your program is and the grant that you have written? 
>> Sure. I have a proposal, a current proposal ought and we'll see in the near future if the outcome of the proposal, but essentially what we're doing is I am working with Mammoth cave national park in Kentucky in the advanced computing center for arts and design at Ohio State to recreate a portion of Mammoth cave in virtual reality for students who are physically unable to experience traditional field study. Obviously the purpose is to provide opportunities for these opportunities who cannot physically get to Mammoth cave but provide them an opportunity to experience what it is like to study inside the cave, to start to develop ideas and make inferences how the cave formed, make actual measurements, all right from visually being there rather than physically being there. 
>> A virtual  -- not really a virtual reality, a reality that's there, but transmitting that image back up to the them in the classroom so they can then see the same things that their colleaguing might see if they were going to go down into the cave? 
>> Sure. The entire development of it is still really kind of in its idea stage. We're looking so far as to have students in a classroom or laboratory setting with a set of virtual reality goggles to where they see a complete 360 degrees view of what you would see in Mammoth caves. There is actually going to be capabilities to really kind of using a mouse to point, drag and click different features in the cave to get an idea of flow direction of the water that actually formed the cave, the speed, any of that kind of measurements, so it is really still in its development idea stages. 
>> That's great. That's one more example of the partnerships that we're working onto increase the opportunity for students in these STEMM fields, and this is a great example and will be interested to hear more as I get the program up and going, Chris. What kind of advice do you have to the students who may be interested in this area? What are some of the things they can do to again to learn more about this stuff, see some things, whatever?
>> Are there other kinds of jobs in the geology field that may not necessarily require a bachelor's degree or a master's degree that people could get involved? 
>> Unfortunately there is very few types of jobs that you could only get with an associate's. A lot of those jobs will most likely be administrative type of jobs, you won't necessarily get out in the field as much as you would with a bachelor's, and even with a master's in today's day and age, a master's is kind of where you start with industry jobs. It is more going to be administrative type of positions. 
>> Great. 
>> We're coming close to the end of our time here, Chris. Is there some additional advisor some additional suggestions you might have to students who want to think more about this area and do some additional things? 
>> Really just the only thing to is to talk, get in touch with people, don't be afraid to contact people in the colleges and Universities, and in fact on this slide my email address is there. Feel free to contact me.
>> I would like to throw it out there that if there is any students that are listening and watching tonight, that it might be interesting and learning more about the NAGD to please contact me because I really would love to have a student's perspective in this advisory. 
>> Okay. Great. That's great, Chris. I think we'll definitely be talking with you sometime in the near future to hear more about those kinds of things, and we really appreciate you coming in tonight. 
>> Thanks, Jeff. I really appreciate it. 
>> You have been listening to up front and up close in STEMM, indepth conversation with professionals in STEMM related careers. Join us for our next program Tuesday, March 24th, up front and up close in STEMM is a production of Starting Wright. 
>> Starting Wright presents great minds in STEMM. [ MUSIC ]  [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] 
>> With nine men, four boats and food supplies for twelve months, John Wesley Powell set out on one of the greatest geological Expeditions in American history. He would go to to study bought any, geology on his own without the aid of a teacher. In 1860 hen listed in the 20th Illinois volunteers. After the war major Powell would go onto become a professor of geology and cure rater of the museum at Illinois West lain University in Bloomington. It was during this period he began to formulate the plan for his famous Expedition. On May 24, 1869, Powell and his group did he parted along Wyoming's Green River into Utah along the grand river which converged into the mighty Colorado river, taking through the treacherous rapids of the Grand Canyon. Although he lost four members of his party along the way, Powell would be the first to ever make passage through the Grand Canyon. The knowledge he gained on this Expedition would put to rest many of the mysteries and widely held myths about the Grand Canyon was formed. In 1881 Powell was named the second directeddor of the U.S. geological survey, a government organization charged with providing the nation with reliable and partial information to describe and understand the earth, a position he would hold for some 13 years, major Powell died in September of 1902 and was laid to rest with military honors at Arlington national cemetery. You're listening to starting Wright. . 
>> We have up here in front of you a list of some of the geology resources, and remember as we talked about last week these programs snipets we're doing, the STEMM up close sessions where we're talking with people in various fields are really just the beginning of your journey, and we really want to encourage you to take time to go out and look at additional materials and use the internet for its full use to be able to become educated and that education isn't always a dull, dry reading. We have listed a couple of different game sites here for some geology games and jokes, some triff I can't questions,  -- trivia questions, word search and matchings. There is a bunch of game zone, review games, several earth science topics covering most grades and informal website on rocks and minerals including quizs. The Discovery Channel has a lot of information, and they have one for extreme geology challenge. The U.S. geological survey science education website is packed with all kinds of information, and if you have been to the NASA website and seen all the astro logical kinds of things they have there, the U.S. geological survey has the same kinds of things here on this earth and in various areas. Then geology rock sincerely a place for geology on the web, the mission is to promote earth science and provide a trust worthy source of geological information. You know, we know a lot about our earth, but we haven't answered all the questions yet. Geology is one of those ways to do pioneering kinds of things to go in those directions. 

>>> Well, you know, in addition to being interesting in STEMM, being a good student is an important aspect of starting Wright to prepare to you get ready to go to college and so now we have our tips from Miss Hanna, and they will talk with you about another interesting area to improve your ability as a student. 
>> Have you ever heard the statement you learn something new every day? That statement not only applies to things that you learn in the classroom setting, but also things that you learn by doing and experiencing in life. Here with some great information on alternative ways of taking the learning process into your own hands is San Francisco principal and teacher Miss Hanna ebber heart with this week's helpful hint. 
>> What are theTell me the last time a multiple choice quiz prepared you for the real world N schools we try to create neat blocks of time where you students are expected to learn what we say you're to learn when we say to learn it. As a result, school learning can become artificial, unreal, and boring. It engaging only the lowest level of thinking. Now, don't get too excited. I am not proposing we get rid of classrooms altogether. I think it is the students job to add more to their own learning. True learning means responding effectively to situations. It applies growth and continuous learning throughout life. To make this happen, try to apply your classroom experiences to real life. You know, visit museums, check out national and state works, play an instrument. Do service for your community. Play sports. Try teaching something you're interested in to someone else in a creative way. Basically I am asking you to seek opportunities to extend your learning because that knowledge is what's going to help open up opportunities in your future. 

>>> Okay. Now to our homework session of Starting Wright, and we'll talk about last week's or last night's homework question which was to name and describe one biology specialization that was not mentioned during the last webcast, and Matthew and Anthony from Granville came up with micro biologists, study micro organisms and how they affect humans. That's great. William from beaver creek, and, William, I want to tell you we appreciate hearing from you as often as we do. Talk about a specialization that's not mentioned is zooing on. That's the study of animals and even includes things like insects and butterflies. The second question was choose one resource link and describe what you learned from it. Weighing from orangeville  -- Wayne from orangeville, Ohio, chose biology.about.come. He also found a page which includes animated plainings of mitosis. I guess I better go to the website to take a look at those kinds of things. 

>>> Then Wayne also had a question from Orange Village who wanted to know in general is the biology degree the most common degree for graduates seeking entry into medical school? Wayne, yes, it is. It is very common that physicians will take biology so that they can take in the biochemistry and the anatomy and other kinds of things, but they're also is other fields that you can go into in chemistry and others that will still allow you to be able to sit for the medical exams for medical schools. Congratulations to Paul from Dayton, Ohio, Wayne, the third from Orange Village, and Matthew and Anthony from Granville. You were the winners of the Pizza Hut gift cards, and we'll getting those in the mail to you quickly here. This week's homework we want to know who developed the theory that couldn't innocents were moving  -- continents were moving? The second question is what does a PALEOclimate toltion do and why is it important, and I think Chris mention that had in the first part of the talk with us today, and we also would like to hear from you if you have other questions that you can send into the Starting Wright team. We would love to hear from you. 

>>> So send us your answers. If you get the answers in by Tuesday, you will be entered into a drawing to win one of four geological specimens, and I have them sitting right here next to me. We'll have some geological specimens we can send out to you that were actually collected by Chris, and he is donating to us for a prize this week. 

>>> Our upcoming program next week after next, now, not next week, but the week after next features the STEMM field of computer science. So stay tuned for our next program on Tuesday, March 24th at 7 p.m. to see the program again you can go to the www.on li lin lin lineconferencingcms.com/WSU/arch ives/HTM. For Starting Wright, this is Jeff Vernooy from the office of disabilities services Wright State University saying good evening. 
>> You have been listening to starting Wright, getting ready for college and careers in science, technology, engineering Starting Wright is a production of Wright State University. [  event concluded