(Offscreen) Oh, my goodness! Is that seismogram--is
that your son's?
(Dr. Doser) That's my son's drawing of a seismogram.
(Offscreen) Oh, that's so cute.
(Dr. Doser) When he was about, I don't know,
about 3.
So, my name is Diane Doser. I'm a professor
in the Department of Geological Sciences and
my specialty is geophysics. I'll be teaching
a course that involves looking at the soils
around El Paso and we'll be making measurements
of their geophysical properties as well as
their geological properties. We will go out
in the field and measure how fast sound travels
through the soil. We'll measure how it conducts
electricity, its magnetic properties and we'll
use this information along with information
on the minerals in the soil to try and tell
us about how salty the soil might get, when
farmers water it during irrigation, also,
how does water pass through the soil. If we
have an oil spill somewhere could we predict
how fast it might contaminate, say, water
supply in one area of town versus another.
So, in this class, you'll get to go out into the
field. You'll also get some experience working
on the computer. We'll take samples of the
soils. We'll come in and look at their minerals.
We'll actually collect data like the velocity
of sound. We'll come into the lab and we'll
learn how to model the data. We'll learn how
to make maps, read maps, figure out where
we are using GPS--a lot of the skills you'll
use in later course work in geology. The sooner
that you can find out about working in the
field and also working on computers, I think
it allows you choose what part of geology
or geophysics you like the best. Having these
kinds of experiences mean that you can go
and apply for summer research opportunities
to further your interest. Graduate schools
look at students who have done research and
have carried out projects because they want
to know that you can do the work so that you
can complete a thesis. Employers, of course,
want to know that you can work independently
and solve problems and come up with answers
because that's what you're employed to do
when you work as a professional. I think it's
really important to find out what you like
to do. I know when I was an undergraduate,
I thought, "Oh, I like to be outdoors all
the time." Well, I spent a summer working
in the swamps of northern Michigan and getting
bitten by mosquitos and other things. I decided
I like field work, but I don't think I want
to do it all the time. I guess, here I am,
where I have a good mix of field work and
teaching students and doing research, but
I think I learned a lot as an undergraduate
about what I didn't want to do as well as
what I wanted to do.
