Quark Space Travel

Sir Walter Scott, 1824. St. Ronan’s Well

What makes a geologist?

The selection of the scientific field of geology as my long-term profession was not happenstance, however it was not straightforward either. It started when I was quite young, walking along the St. Louis & San Francisco RR (Frisco) tracks, on my way to buy candy at John's (Niederkowski) Market on Selma Avenue in my hometown of Webster Groves, Missouri. Obviously, we were not supposed to be on the tracks, by both parental and railroad edict. Nevertheless, it was fun seeing how far you could balance yourself walking on the steel rails. I also began to notice shiny minerals in the rock used as railroad ballast: bits of sphalerite (zinc sulfide), galena (lead sulfide), calcite (calcium carbonate), and sparkly crystalline and drusy quartz.

Later, as a Boy Scout, I was encouraged by Mr. Adrian Stolwyk, Assistant Scoutmaster, to work toward my Rocks & Minerals merit badge. Then, nothing happened for at least eight more years, although I did have my "Mad Scientist and Inventor" laboratory in the basement of our house, where the old coal storage area had been vacant as a result of switching the furnace over to natural gas. In this room there were old torn-apart radios, spinning motors, bottles, beakers and chemicals, along with lenses and miscellaneous, hopefully science-advancing, pieces of magical equipment.

Then, in early 1959, I was walking along the campus of Saint Louis University with my good friend, John Tonnsen, in the middle of my sophomore year. We were both undecided as to what to do with our lives. John suggested we walk down to the Geology building. After conversations with two professors, we enrolled and were underway. I obtained a BS in Geology in 1961.

University of Missouri Geology Field Camp, Lander, Wyoming Area, 1965

After a struggling year in graduate school at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville), during which I focused on mining geology, I filled out an application for the Peace Corps in July 1962. Accepted, I was on my way for training in Puerto Rico in September 1962, and eventually arrived in the Dominican Republic as a geologist working as part of a well drilling team.

As a result of the Peace Corps experience, I realized water was more important than ore deposits, so, I entered graduate school at the University of Missouri (Columbia, Missouri). My MA thesis dealt with the Geology and Groundwater Resources of Saline County, Missouri. This was later published by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as Water Resources Report No. 26.

Armed with my education and accompanied by my beautiful young bride, Mary Goodman, I headed off for my first job, in Panamá.. There I headed up the Groundwater and Geophysics Section of the Administración de Recursos Minerales de Panamá. Mary taught Sixth Grade in the Canal Zone. Our son, Chris, was born in Panamá while we were there. That was the beginning; the rest is history as summarized in the below paragraphs.

Studies for General Motors de México in the Mezcala River Valley, Guerrero State, México, 2000

General Professional Resumé

38 years experience with consulting firms, public agencies, and a water supply authority, both as investigator and manager for hydrogeological projects involving groundwater quality and groundwater resource development. Participated in a wide range of projects including groundwater protection, groundwater contamination assessments, monitoring and remediation; groundwater geochemistry; industrial wellfield development; deep well injection monitoring; land application of municipal wastewaters; hydrogeologic aerial photographic interpretation; chemical and hydrological ground-water modeling, as well as groundwater resource development in water-poor regions of the United States and internationally. Served as U.S. representative on the Groundwater Protection Commission of the International Association of Hydrogeologists.

Experienced in the development and evaluation of inland and coastal groundwater resources in unconsolidated sediments, alluvial fan deposits, fractured rocks, karst terranes, and volcanic, igneous and metamorphic rocks. Employed fracture trace hydrogeology for development of groundwater resources in water-poor regions of the U.S. and Latin America. Development of wellhead (groundwater) protection programs is an area where he has considerable experience with modeling (WHPA and MODFLOW).

Performed studies for land application of municipal wastewaters and made septic tank impact assessments and evaluated proposed landfill/hazardous waste disposal sites. Performed numerous groundwater contamination assessment, monitoring and remediation studies.

Experienced in evaluating heavy metals contamination of groundwater, surface water, soils and sediments, including assessments at secondary lead recovery facilities. Coordination of overall programs have included Risk Assessment and Feasibility Study components. Work included evaluating geochemical conditions at metals-contaminated sites using MINTEQA2, a geochemical speciation computer model. Developed skills with the natural attenuation model BIOSCREEN and the hydrological model Visual MODFLOW. Additionally in developing groundwater contamination assessments, monitoring and remediation he has specific experience in determining the hydrogeology of highly disturbed strip-mined lands.

Fluent in Spanish, having accumulated eight years of professional experience in six Latin American nations (Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Puerto Rico). Able to prepare reports and make presentations in Spanish, and to otherwise conduct hydrogeological consulting services in a Spanish-speaking environment.