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Exploration geophysicists steer kids' minds to future
NOT SO WEIRD SCIENCE
By Allan Turner | October 28, 2009
Photo By Michael Paulsen:/ChronicleRob Stewart, a geophysicist and astronaut selectee, center, talks to Chavez High students during the Society of Exploration Geophysicists exposition Wednesday in Houston.
Down in the convention center's exhibit hall Wednesday, soberly attired geophysicists drifted amid an overflowing cornucopia of ground penetrating radar, seismic contrivances and other high-tech gizmos of their profession.
Minds locked on the imponderables of continental drift — or what was for lunch — they clustered in small groups, talking earnestly.
Things were as quiet, as orderly as the organizers of this week's Society of Exploration Geophysicists 2009 International Exposition and 79th Annual Meeting ever could have hoped.
But high above this somnolent scene a tsunami of mayhem was busting loose. Waves of noise — thunderous stomping, blood-curdling screams, followed by more stomping, more screams — swept out of a third-floor ballroom.
What in the name of earth science was going on? Nothing more menacing than 200 scientifically inclined teenagers trying to determine what lay hidden beneath the convention center floor.
The raucous experiment was the brainchild of University of Houston geophysics professor Rob Stewart, who led the highschoolers as they scooted radar devices across the carpeted concrete floor. The stomping and screams provided vibrations necessary for seismic readings. The tests revealed nothing more exotic than I-beams, steel rods and electrical cables, but students hardly seemed disappointed.
Earlier, Stewart shared with students his adventures as a scientist, ranging from probing Mayan pyramids to scrutinizing the permafrost of an arctic island whose terrain might mimic that of the Earth's moon or Mars.
While many geophysicists find employment in the oil and gas industry, Stewart, who directs UH's Allied Geophysics Laboratory, said he hoped to broaden students' perception of the discipline. Increasingly geophysics graduates find their skills applicable in natural hazard reduction efforts — warning of earthquakes, landslides or tsunamis — or in mining.
“In our related fields of archaeology and paleontology, we can help find the history of modern humans,” he said. “We can help understand life history of societies — and why they went extinct.” The Mayans, he said, likely fell victim to climate change in a the form of a drought.
Stewart told students of his team's efforts to determine the contents of the Altun Ha pyramid in Belize. He told, too, of their search for dinosaur remains in Montana and evaluation of the stability of rock formations at Canada's Turtle Mountain, scene of a deadly 1903 landslide.
He regaled students with tales of his team's work with permafrost on Devon Island in the Arctic. Such knowledge, he said, may help humans obtain critically needed water for lunar or Mars outposts. Stewart is a former astronaut selectee, although he never participated in a manned flight.
“I'm good at science and better at math,” Cook observed, catching her breath after a bout of full-throated screaming. Geophysics has its allures, she allowed, but she likely will pursue a career as an anesthesiologist by way of a degree in engineering.
McNair, who has contemplated a career in psychology, may make a switch. Stewart's presentation was impressive, but the clincher, she said, is her father.
“My dad is a geophysicist who works in oil and gas,” she said. “Just being around him may make me reconsider.”