Where Are They Now?

So, where are all those amazing students now?

It's hard to keep track of all the students whom I've had the pleasure of mentoring on research projects, but here's what a few are up to (at last check), and the projects that I helped them with. If you're a prospective or active student in Earth Science, it's worth noting the wide variety of career paths that geology students follow (with only a couple exceptions, all the students below were geology majors). In fact, a large percentage of the students below are now doing environmental or geospatial/GIS work with their geology degree.

Brigham Whitney is a Geospatial specialist for a consulting firm in Atlanta, Georgia. Brigham did a nice study of displacement of the Shurtz Lake earthflow using high resolution topography we generated from drone photographs. He also worked on the Topliff Hill Fault (Utah) paleoseismic study and was part of our field team that made a high resolution topographic map of 40 km of the Southern San Andreas fault in 2020.

Alex Uribe is monitoring slope stability in the Bingham Mine for Kennecott Utah Copper. Alex worked on Indonesian tsunamis, including four weeks of field work in 2017 and a super investigation of a deposit of boulders on the south coast of Java likely created by a tsunami. Alex used repeat high resolution topography surveys to measure the effects of storm waves on the boulder deposit to help distinguish between the effects of storm waves and tsunamis. He presented that work at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in New Orleans.

Serena Smith obtained an MS from Texas A&M and is an adjunct instructor for UVU. Serena helped with Indonesian tsunami field work in 2017, and co-presented preliminary work on the history of major earthquakes on the Topliff Hill Fault (Utah) at the American Association of Geographers meeting in New Orleans, 2018.

Ryan Anderson obtained an MS from U. of Reno and a Ph.D. from Washington State University studying compressional tectonics in South America. He's now on the faculty at Idaho State University. Ryan worked on GLOFs and water quality in Nepal, including a five week field excursion down the Sun Koshi river and backpacking into Langtang.

Marissa Keck is a health inspector for Salt Lake County. Marissa helped with the Topliff Hill Fault (Utah) and San Andreas Fault work and led a presentation on work comparing different drone platforms used for obtaining aerial imagery to make high resolution topography. The presentation was at the American Association of Geographers meeting in New Orleans, 2018.

Jeremy Saldivar is a GIS Analyst and is doing drone-based surveys for the City of Lehi. Jeremy worked on San Andreas Fault topography and helped with Topliff Hill Fault data; he was a co-presenter of our drone work at the American Association of Geographers meeting in New Orleans, 2018.

Jack Wells was managing a thin section lab and is returning to school to pursue an MS. Jack worked on the House Range (Sevier Desert) collaborative study and is a co-author on the paper we published on that work.

Jeremy Andreini does environmental and geo-hazards work for Kleinfelder in Las Vegas. Jeremy was a super productive undergraduate student researcher. He worked on the House Range (Sevier Desert) collaborative study and is a co-author on the paper we published on that work. He also did five weeks of field work in Indonesia and presented an excellent poster on terrace formation along the south coast of Java at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. He didn't stop there, and helped with the Borah Peak (Idaho) project and a prototype study using SfM to measure snow depth.

Nick Butterfield did an MS in petrology at New Mexico Tech. He did a fantastic study of the size and age of two major pre-historic landslides in the central Wasatch Mountains (Grand View Peak and White Pine landslides). He won a well deserved award for his poster presentation of the work at the 2015 Geological Society of American meeting in Baltimore.

Brittany Ungerman works on environmental issues for Crystal Peak Minerals. She did some nice work tracking the Mile High Drive landslide motion and helped with field work on the Borah Peak, Idaho earthquake scarp.

Kade Carlson completed an MS in earthquake geology at the U. of Kentucky and does geohazards work for a consulting company in Santa Monica, California. He worked on GLOFs and water quality in Nepal, including five weeks of field work. We also did hydrology field work together in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (Mexico).

Tracy Kemp did an MS at the University of Reno and was working in the mining industry at last check. Tracy is another veteran of Nepal; she, I, and Kade Carlson (with former UVU professor Steve Emerman) ventured into Mustang and Langtang, Nepal, on foot, so study glacial-lake-outburst floods and measure water quality.

Colton Norman manages water quality and hydrology for Kennecott. Colton mapped the water table in Bamako, Mali, which included a couple weeks of field work in Mali using innovative GPS methods.

Andrew Fletcher completed an MS at the University of Oklahoma and is working in the oil industry. Andrew led one of our first high-resolution topography data-gathering efforts when he mapped a part of the Oquirrh Fault near Tooele, Utah.

Ryan Mower monitors environmental quality for the U.S. Forest Service, based out of Vernal, UT. He's always contacting us when he's looking to hire new employees and interns. Ryan did some super work on the Mile High Drive landslide.

Kevin Rey did an MS degree at BYU and now manages their lab facilities. Kevin mapped a aquifer in Tamaula Mexico that was later drilled to serve as a water source for the remote village.

Paul Gardner also was doing environmental monitoring for the U.S. Forest Service. He also worked on the Mile High Drive landslide (Utah County), back in the mid-2000's and presented his results at the Utah Council on Undergraduate Research meeting in 2006.

Jessica Oxford is an Environmental Site Assessor for Nova Group, based out of Provo - at least when she's not watching shark shows. Jessica, along with Paul, did some of the important early work on Mile High Drive Landslide and co-presented her work at the Utah Council on Undergraduate Research meeting in 2006.