Interested in being a Geophysicist? Read Jay Wellik's interview as a research geophysicist, studying volcanic activity at the Cascades Volcano Observatory.
How did you prepare for your job?
As an undergraduate, I studied geology. A lot of people study mathematics or physics.
As part of my master’s program, I also worked at an Indonesian observatory while serving in the Peace Corps. That gave me an intuition about the limitations of the data because a lot of times you can’t answer questions unless you have really good data. It also forced me to work with scientists in other fields, such as geochemists. Talking to them helped me narrow down the possibilities of what might happen even if I don’t have good data.
What other skills are helpful?
Computer skills are essential. Sometimes I wonder if I’m a volcanologist or an IT specialist. I do a lot of programming and troubleshooting because different teams use different types of software, and we end up hitting a lot of snags that we have to solve.
Most of the people on my team, including me, speak a second language. Communicating well with our foreign counterparts is a very important part of the job. It’s also important to be sensitive to cultural differences, such as communication styles and expectations.
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