During his presentation, luncheon speaker Dr. Charles Brown, of the USGS and International Geological Engineering Research Institute, illustrated how geoscience offers numerous opportunities to travel and work abroad. His work has carried him to various parts of Africa and Latin America.
Other presenters included: Dr. Kristie King, who discussed the plethora of opportunities for geoscientists in environmental science; NABGG student chapter president Daniel Samake, who presented his work at the University of Oklahoma on Stochastic Fluid Substitution; and Dr. Wes Ward, who offered a geological view of Mars, using photos sent back via satellite last year during the pioneering Pathfinder mission.
Dr. Randolph Wilson Bromery, the senior statesman at the conference reflected on how far the profession has come since he entered it in 1948. In the early days, legend has it, you could fit all of the nation's Black geoscientists into a Volkswagen. Today, NABGG has an estimated 300 members.
Still, Bromery said, African American geoscientists are in a precarious position.
"If we push too hard, we may do more harm than good," he said, betraying a concern that by drawing too much attention to their scarcity Black geoscientists may actually hinder recruitment efforts. "But the fact is, the more African American geoscientists there are, the more you'll get."
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