Kevin Norton earned his BS in Geology from SES in 1997 and is now an Associate Professor at the Victoria University of Wellington.
Contact: kevin.norton@vuw.ac.nz
"I think some people will have a clear idea of what they want to do. But, don’t fret if you have no idea at all. You will have time to sort it out."
Where has your degree taken you?
It has been a pretty circuitous path. After graduating OSU, I spent the following summer as a NAGT intern at USGS in Colorado followed by an MSc at University of Minnesota-Duluth. There was a fair bit of working in bike and ski shops in there as well. I then found myself back at university working as a Lecturer at Penn State Erie after a brief stint as the geologist/mapper for an archaeology company in New Mexico. Lecturing reminded me why I liked university life, and I decided that, if I wanted to stay in academia, that I should continue on for a PhD. That took my wife and me to Hannover, Germany where I did research on erosion and weathering in the Swiss Alps using cosmogenic nuclides. A couple years later, we moved down to Bern, Switzerland where I continued to work on orogenic-scale feedbacks; this time in the Andes. As all good things must come to an end (and new ones start), in 2011 we moved to Wellington where I took up a Lectureship at Victoria University of Wellington that has turned into an Assistant Professorship. Work here has taken me as far afield as Antarctica and Papua New Guinea, and as close to home as the hillslopes around Wellington.
How do you feel your experience, specifically as an SES/geology student at OSU, prepared you for your career or life in general?
My OSU Geology degree (as it was back in those days) is definitely the basis (how many of us will write ‘bedrock’ here?) for my entire career. I was taught by some of the best researchers in the world and had outstanding supervision. Rodney Tettenhorst inspired me to move into geology from chemistry. Thanks to Terry Wilson, I’ll never forget what a drag fold is and Ken Foland gave me my first introduction to the isotopic systems that I now use in my own research.
What is your favorite memory as a student?
I’ve always been happy in the field. I loved the extremely soggy Structure field trip, but of course field camp must be the highlight. There were some hard days and long nights, but we also found time for extracurricular activities. I recall a great day hiking up Mt Nemo and a rather ill-advised, but truly fabulous, mountain bike ride through fields and rocks back down from Skyline Drive above Ephraim (there might be a track now….).
What advice do you have for current and future students?
I am pretty sure I made just about every mistake possible, but I learned a lot about what not to do along the way. It seems to have worked out in the end (well, not ‘the’ end). So, enjoy your mistakes.
Seriously though, I never planned on going into academia. I was planning on working as a geologist somewhere. I ended up teaching a lot at OSU, partially because I needed the cash, and found that I quite liked it. I tried working in industry and government a couple times and realized that it was not for me. I think some people will have a clear idea of what they want to do. But, don’t fret if you have no idea at all. You will have time to sort it out.