ABSTRACT Born in Chicago, Illinois, I am a beneficiary of doors being opened during the 1960s. I was able to attend the University of Chicago Laboratory High School, and after high school, I attended Michigan Technological University. Thinking I’d like to become an architect, I enrolled in the civil engineering program. During orientation week, I discovered the geology department, and as my first class as a civil engineering major was Principles of Geology, it wasn’t long before the hook was set! However, I never really considered a career as a geologist after college because I assumed the draft and the Vietnam War would determine my ultimate fate. But I wasn’t drafted, and, ultimately, I took a job with Shell Oil Company in New Orleans as an “engineer,” though I had a geology degree. Realizing this was not the job I wanted or the place I wanted to be, I sought an adventure by going to the University of Alaska to get a master’s degree. This led to many more adventures and challenges as I learned to adapt to a new environment far different from my past experience. As I finished the master’s degree, I was invited to join the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and began a long career with the Alaska group of the USGS. It, too, has been one continuing adventure, working with and learning from some amazing people through the years. I only hope that others can find their way to their own adventures in the geosciences. There have been barriers thrown up along the way at times, sometimes reflecting that I’m African American. Yet, in all cases, I’ve found ways to adapt or overcome. My style has been to get along, but sometimes I’ve needed to push through barriers to accomplish my goal at the time.

ABSTRACT I have been fascinated by science ever since childhood, through college, during 30 years with the U.S. Geological Survey, and to this day. Younger and smaller than my urban elementary and high-school peers, I developed a great curiosity about the outdoors early in my life. Through capturing specimens and placing them in home terrariums, building plastic models, and attending school science fairs, I looked to learn all I could about the world of science. Yet, in a span of a few years, I went from gifted student to college dropout. After breaking away from school for three years as a college sophomore, I finally found the inspiration, confidence, and an environment for success in the U.S. Army. Taking chances and making changes to live my new dream of being a geologist, I worked in lunar- and Mars-like areas of the Columbia River Plateau and at a workplace staffed by scientists I had seen on television as a teen. I made opportunities or took those that came along to help me reach my goals and became a professional geoscientist, entering perhaps the least diverse of all the sciences. There were wonderful experiences that I had, through outreach programs, activities, and the personal involvement of caring and forthright people. There were other experiences or circumstances, perpetuated against me by people with uncaring, antisocial, and even antiscience motives. Having addressed my own insecurities, I took on these extra challenges and found ways of ignoring or overcoming hatred and contempt by finding and grasping the outreaching hands that wanted to make lasting changes in our profession. Through it all, I persevered and achieved goals and happiness I had previously only dreamed of. Aside from perhaps leaving a scientific or management legacy, I also strove to help as many other underrepresented, underserved, and overlooked students as I could. Content Warning: This chapter contains several instances of a racist slur. The editors have chosen to leave this language intact in order to most faithfully convey the power of the author’s experience.

Abstract The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operates the Core Research Center (CRC) in Denver, Colorado, USA, a public access repository of rock cores from over 9800 wells and drill cuttings from over 53 000 wells, primarily from states in or adjacent to the Rocky Mountain Region. Annually, approximately 1400 visitors use the collection for traditional and innovative research. The CRC has an online, searchable database which includes downloadable core photos, analytical data, and thin-section images. When visitors sample for analyses, the results must be returned to the CRC for public dissemination providing immediate, free access to users while sparing the finite, irreplaceable collection from redundant testing. A representative quantity of every core depth is preserved in perpetuity. Studies on CRC materials, paired with new extraction methods, have unlocked new productive deposits. Materials drilled and curated decades ago remain in high demand while materials receiving little attention today may be crucial for future research. The collection provides immediate, inexpensive access to subsurface materials at a fraction of the cost of new drilling, sparing money, time and environmental impacts.

Abstract Geological surveys have long filled the role of providing Earth system science data and knowledge. These functions are increasingly complicated by accelerating environmental and societal change. Here we describe the US Geological Survey (USGS) response to these evolving conditions. Underpinning the USGS approach is the recognition that many of the issues facing the USA and the world involve interaction among geological, hydrological and biological processes, and how these interactions in turn affect society. Therefore, a goal of USGS planning is fostering interdisciplinary science. This focus is occurring in part through implementation of the recommendations of strategic planning teams. The USGS has also put in place groups building a broad information technology infrastructure as well as identifying and disseminating new Earth science research tools. In addition, the USGS has established an analysis and synthesis centre that brings together groups of scientists who address interdisciplinary Earth system science issues. The goal is for these building blocks to evolve towards a comprehensive USGS data and knowledge platform – EarthMAP (Earth Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection). We also recognize that the modern geological survey must be a member of a community of geological surveys contributing data to a global database of three-dimensional biogeophysical observations and interpretations.