Note I come from Longview, a town of muchos paper mills, so from
Longview's smog to volcanic smog, vog, best titles my life.
Why volcanology?
One of my favorite questions to answer! A
vivid childhood imagination directed me to volcanology! After watching
an interpretative video at Mount St. Helens visitor center or listening
to an interpretative talk at Windy Ridge, I would sit as a seven year old
backseat driver in our family vehicle. "Dad hurry up! If St.
Helens erupts now we could not outdrive a pyroclastic flow!" Or for
days after the visit I would try to imagine the dome growing like toothpaste,
or just how hot the ground was after the eruption if scientists were able
to cook breakfast in the rocks. Yet as a teenager I did not know
that volcanology was the path I should take. I first tried medicine
and chemistry. Working in a hospital and a nursing home robbed me
of my interest in medicine. I also worked in a chemistry lab, fun,
but too easy to call in sick when hiking weather was perfect.
This whole time the only constant was my interest in Mount St. Helens.
So to feel out what had always seemed impossible and only in Discovery
Channel, I began researching Mount St. Helens and volunteering as a Backcountry
Ranger at Mount St. Helens. There I was paid to teach others
about my childhood wonder, and to learn what scientists study in areas
such as this. I was offered a position to work as a field assistant
for a geologist/volcanologist at Mount Rainier; there I learned to love
counting, collecting, interpreting rocks and digging in the dirt!
These summer jobs, led me from my studies of geology at the University
of Washington to graduate school at MTU, to focus on volcanology!
