National Laboratory Researcher
|
Responses from Peter Fiske
|
| How did you get interested? |
It was easy: my Dad was a
geologist and from the time I was born I was surrounded by rocks and taken
to amazing places where he would do his field work. When I learned that
one could actually be paid for doing this stuff I signed up!
|
| What types of jobs have
you held? |
I have worked mostly in research
positions: as a graduate student, a post-doc at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory and now as a staff member. |
| What started you down your
current career path? |
In graduate school I heard a
talk (at AGU actually) about shocked quartz and meteorite impact. A
subsequent conversation with the speaker led to a collaboration and then
to my post-doc position at LLNL. I went from studying meteorite impact
effects on geologic materials to a broader study of shock deformation and
high pressure condensed matter physics. |
| What are the positives and
negatives of your job? |
The biggest positive of working
at LLNL is the extraordinary breadth of talent in the technical staff. The
environment is inter-disciplinary and supportive of new thinking. The
biggest negatives are (typically) budgetary uncertainties, bureaucratic
frustrations and the amount of time it takes to accomplish seemingly small
things. This is a common lament among scientists in research institution I
think... |
| What information would you
give to someone just starting in your area of interest?
|
I would advise a young
geoscientist to do summer internships in areas that interest them. I had
fabulous experiences in the Canadian Arctic, the Caribbean, and Alaska.
There is no better way to learn about the geosciences then by actually
going off and doing fieldwork. Plus it's a heck of a lot of fun! |
| |
|
| |
|
Return to Careers in Science