Byron Stone earned his BA in Geology from Ohio Wesleyan University and attended Ohio State's Geology Field Camp in 1968. Byron now works as a Research Geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey.
Contact: bdstone@usgs.gov
"Completing a study of geology and a map requires the ability to work with others so that the final products are greater than the sum of the parts."
Where has your degree taken you?
Lessons in hands-on geology and geologic mapping in Utah, along with interests in sedimentology, structural geology, 3D geologic mapping (structure contours) led me to an NAGT summer assistant job with USGS in eastern Kentucky. I stayed through Christmas and assembled part of the Geologic Quadrangle map as junior author. Thence to graduate studies at Vermont, where I continued as summer USGS field mapper in Pleistocene basins, where I again became junior author on maps. Thence to The Johns Hopkins Univ., where I broadened mapping interests to stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochronology. USGS then extended a job offer to me, and I have worked as a researcher for 46 years following the initial three years as assistant.
How do you feel your experience, specifically as an SES/geology student at OSU, prepared you for your career or life in general?
The group at Field Camp was diverse, and I found myself on a mapping team that contained colleagues from many ends of the spectrum. Completing a study of geology and a map requires the ability to work with others so that the final products are greater than the sum of the parts. In review of the Ephraim geologic map, it was satisfying to know that the whole (4D) map framework was based on details in the field, which also added up to 100% of the model.
What is your favorite memory as a student?
Field experiences with stratigraphic successions, faults on the west side, plane table map behind Manti temple, trip to metals mine at 130o F, trip to canyon country (which was revisited in GRE test the following year), appreciation for professionalism of Jim Collinson, Mac Weiss, Dick Threet, Edmund Spieker (who played piano in Ephraim that year).
What advice do you have for current and future students?
This is an evolving period for employment as a geologist in government service. Research jobs are scarce and the future is not certain. Field training will strengthen your abilities in making/understanding geologic maps. The ability to envision and construct a detailed cross section must be learned, including the ability to add different materials properties to rock units (facies changes). Few practicing hydrogeologic specialists, for example, feel confident in their ability to analyze and construct a valid section. Any job in applied areas of geology requires demonstrated understanding of stratigraphic and structural principles. Any job applicant who can demonstrate this detailed knowledge will be in the top 90% of candidates.