What happens when a kid who finds geology “gross” ends up running a program that changes the lives of future earth scientists? Jasmine Gulick, the senior program coordinator for GeoForce, takes us on a whirlwind tour from eighth grade science fairs to field trips that shape careers. We talk about how GeoForce hooks students on geology, the unexpected journey to loving rocks and volcanoes, and why it’s not just about getting your hands dirty (but rather, about getting inspired to shape the future of our planet). Whether you're a future geologist or just someone who's still wondering what makes earth science so cool, this episode will make you rethink what rocks can really do.

Got a lava questions? Email me at dgaur@utexas.edu

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Transcript

very rich patron would maybe hire someone to, you know, study whatever they wanted to study, and that's like, this is the modern version of that.

Our patrons are now these big National Science Foundation or NASA grants, and you have to Have to ask your patrons for the money to keep researching. And universities themselves. Universities are the biggest funders of research. And that's a very special thing about the United States in general. There's a lot of really cool research being done all over the world and all over different institutions, but the U.

S. specifically has a, our university system has a very big emphasis on research, and being a research institution is a really big deal. Uh, so It's a really cool part about our education system. 

[00:56:43] Diya Gaur: And just like, to add on to that as well, like, I was actually researching this because I'm applying for college as well, right?

So I was wondering, like, for geology majors specifically, how do they get to go on exchanges to these different institutions and continue, like, studying geology there as an undergraduate major? How exactly is the process? And yeah. 

[00:57:04] Jasmine Gulick: Yeah, so they're different, just like any, um, major that you might be in. At any institution, there is study abroad opportunities, um, and some of those are major specific and some of them are generalized, uh, but certainly when it comes to UT, which is a rather large institution, there are several opportunities, uh, for our students to study abroad in different, uh, colleges that they have kind of a, an agreement with to study, specific things.

Um, it's also something that is very, very common in the field of geoscience when it comes to what's called your post doc, your post doctoral research. So in the geosciences, if you want to do research, uh, you have to get a doctorate. You can get a master's, you can get a bachelor's and do stuff, you can get a master's and do stuff, but if you want to specifically do research, it's really, really common that you need a doctorate degree.

So that final level, a PhD, um, of research and In the sciences, especially in the geosciences, you do get paid. So you don't ever have to pay to get your doctorate. Once you get to that level of graduate school, they pay you to get your doctoral degree. You usually actually get paid as part of one of those grants we were talking about.

So written in those grants is money for the researchers to have students working on that project. Um, so when you become a PhD student, you are assigned a specific research project that you're going to be working on, um, as part of your doctoral research. So you'll, you'll get your doctorate, and then you seek out opportunities, uh, to continue doing research.

These are, like I said, called postdocs, and those postdocs can take you all over the world. I know my dad, his first postdoc after he got his PhD was six months in Japan. Wow. So he went to Japan for six months, yeah, doing research with the Ring of Fire. Um, and there's a lot of opportunities like that. I know of researchers that went to Spain for nine months or Argentina, uh, or, you know, or other places in the United States.

If you want to go experience what it's like living in the University of Alaska Fairbanks, then, you know, you can go up there. So, there's a lot of opportunities, uh, in, in the sciences in general, but especially in the geosciences. 

[00:59:19] Diya Gaur: Yeah, that's actually super cool. Like, one of, like, my favorite GeoForce trips was definitely the 11th grade one, and that's when we learned about the Ring of Fire.

So, to be able to go on the other side of the ocean and explore how different the mountains formations, like, the volcanic mountain formations are different, I think that would be super interesting as well. So you can kind of just see both sides of what you've already learned. Science 

[00:59:42] Jasmine Gulick: is, like I said, it's super, super collaborative, and it's really internationally collaborative.

There's people from three different continents that were on that Greenland expedition. So, wow. Yeah, it's very exciting. 

[00:59:53] Diya Gaur: Yeah, that is so cool. Well, I don't think I have any more questions, but if you have any more questions for me, I can always answer them. 

[01:00:01] Jasmine Gulick: Hmm, I think my final question for you, my final thing maybe to wrap this up on is I would love to hear from you about the thing that you are most excited about for your future you know, in the geosciences, and as you look to your college career and what comes after that, what's the thing you're most excited about?

[01:00:22] Diya Gaur: Okay, so I would say travel is one of them, but I think also connecting to a community of like minded people, for example, the professors that you kind of meet along the way, I think that is something that can be very rewarding, especially because A lot of the professors in geology, they're really passionate about what they do.

And I've also seen this in my researcher, like my research mentors as well. They just truly love what they do. And I think going into community of people like that is something that's really interests me. And, you know, it's just like that tight knit bond, which you have, and it's like a different level of connection.

Like obviously there's professional connection, but you can also relate to those people on like. You know, a bit more of a closer scale. I don't know exactly how to describe it, but for me, I would consider myself to be an extrovert, a super social person. So I love to talk, like I could talk 24 7, and so for me to talk to other people about You know what interests me, and also if they have the same interests as me, I feel like I can get such good insights, information, and just like, conversations in general out of it, and there's just like, so much of things you can learn from other people within the geosciences, especially because it's so like, There's so many like different things that you can do with it from like Geobiology like environmental science.

There's just so many different ways that you can take geology and Going back to what you said about the international scale I think one thing that would interest me so much is just being able to meet all of these different people from other countries and seeing how we come up with different solutions and Systems which are really innovating the technology which we have today and the ones that we are developing for the future as well.

[01:02:10] Jasmine Gulick: So yeah. I'm so excited for you. I'm excited to see where your journey takes you. I hope to see you back as a counselor in a couple years and get to hear about all the experiences you have. 

[01:02:22] Diya Gaur: Actually, one more question. 

Becoming a GeoForce Counselor

[01:02:24] Diya Gaur: So for the people who have graduated from GeoForce or are graduating from high school and want to get involved in GeoForce, what is the process of becoming a counselor, like, for all of these academies again?

[01:02:36] Jasmine Gulick: Yeah, so we, uh, as long as you keep up with us, if you're subscribed to our newsletter, um, or part of our alumni listserv that we have, then you'll get all the information. But our staff applications, and this is for anyone. Um, regardless of, you know, any adult who is listening to this, who might be interested in working, whether that's as an instructor, if you're a geoscientist, an educational coach, if you're a schoolteacher, and you don't have to be a geology based schoolteacher of any kind, any schoolteacher, um, a trail driver, for those who are, uh, adults who are comfortable driving and, like, picking up the food and things like that, um, or a counselor, so those are our college students who come.

Uh, who come back, and it's primarily GeoForce alum, but also any, uh, college student who's interested, um, can apply. Our application opens November 1st, it closes November 30th, and it will be hosted on our website, so you'll find the link. On November 1st, you can go, click on it, uh, make sure you have your resume ready, able to answer the short answer questions that are on there.

We don't ask for a letter of interest or a cover letter, we just ask short answer questions and for the resume. Um, and then we select our staff in December and let y'all know who's been hired. Like I said, just like with our student application, our staff application can be quite competitive, um, but, It is something that I always encourage people to continue applying because even if they don't get in this year, maybe next year they'll have that little bit more experience, um, or they'll be just the right sort of like mix of people that they will get the opportunity then.

We love bringing new people on to support our summer academies. We need quite a lot of staff in the summer, so. Super cool. 

[01:04:23] Diya Gaur: You'll see me in that application maybe next year, so stay tuned for that. 

[01:04:28] Jasmine Gulick: All you have to do is, as long as you are in college, you can apply. So your freshman year of college, November, you can apply to start, start working with us the summer after your freshman year.

[01:04:38] Diya Gaur: Hmm, okay, I see. I'll keep that in mind. Okay. 

Final Thoughts and Farewell

[01:04:44] Diya Gaur: Do you have any more questions for me, Jasmine? 

[01:04:46] Jasmine Gulick: No, thank you so much for this opportunity to talk with you and talk about the program and everything else that we we chatted about. 

[01:04:54] Diya Gaur: No, thank you so much for like being on the podcast, like this is really so insightful for me and also just like the other people who listen to the podcast as well.

So I'm really grateful that you were able to come on and you were willing to share your experiences with GeoForce as well. So thank you so much. 

[01:05:11] Jasmine Gulick: Absolutely, and good luck with all of your future episodes and everything that you have going on. I'm really rooting for you, for your future. 

[01:05:20] Diya Gaur: Oh, thank you so much!

So this is Dia and Jasmine on The Art of Subduction, out.