A Whole New World

I kind of fell into the research pathway. My journey into research at USC was a bit of a bumpy road. I hit the start of my senior year and knew that I hadn’t been involved in any research. Yeah, I had a cool DNR internship but still felt like I wasn’t amounting up to my full potential. I was feeling like I hadn’t done enough and like I was falling behind my classmates. I also felt like my career wasn’t impressive enough. I still don’t think everything I have done is that impressive. Especially how I have wound up with the positions I have held and currently hold. 

 

It started with a very boring class with a professor I love very much. I found myself a senior in a freshmen class which very much annoyed and irritated me. Not only was I a senior in a freshmen class, but I was also a senior in the marine science degree in marine science 101. The most basic freshmen marine science course. The course was a breeze and truthfully, I had already learned most of what was in the class, and the labs, well I had done everything before. What is even crazier to me though is that it’s the one and only marine science course that covers plate tectonics and how the world itself functions. 

 

During the lectures about plate tectonics and earth function, I felt myself strangely attached to it and interested. For a while, I was trying to figure out if it was an ADHD fascination that was fleeting or if I was genuinely interested in it. It happens pretty often when I find something interesting, but the interest never lasts very long. It lasts for a few weeks at most. It happens the most often with hobbies. In this case, though, it turns out that I actually enjoyed it. It was a lasting interest which was proved later on.

 

One day I went to a random seminar that was held where the faculty of the SEOE had to elevator pitch themselves. Basically, they had one minute to explain what they did and what their research was on. Well, me being the ADHD person I am focused on the slide that had a giant dinosaur bone and that he did stuff with seismology. Right when I was about to leave, I made a split-second decision to turn around and go to his office. I introduced myself and basically did an elevator pitch of my own. He then invited me to sit down and talk more. I word-vomited everything I had ever done and was honest saying everything I have done until this point has nothing to do with your research, but he liked my enthusiasm and willingness to learn. He knew that I knew absolutely nothing about the subject and was willing to teach me simply because I cared and asked. Someone finally saw something in me, it struck a chord in me. He knew it would be more work for him, but he still chose me to be on his team. 

 

After our first meeting where it felt like I talked on and on trying to convince him how great I am, he finally gave me a reading to focus on. The reading was basic plate tectonics, how does it work thing. After this reading he had me reach back out if I was still interested and he gave me another reading to look at to make sure my interest was unwavering. After this, the onboarding process began. I joined my first-ever research lab. Now to figure out what I’m doing in a very new world I knew nothing about. 

 

Welcome to the world of seismology and geophysics. Do I like physics? No. Do I like earth processes? Yes. So here we are. I am currently in charge of my own project just getting direction here and there. I am learning more and more information about the subject as time goes on. Even now I am in a geophysics seminar to learn more about my work and what I am doing. The class has been very interesting thus far, shedding more light on what I am doing.

 

My project mainly deals with a type of seismic wave called an SmKS wave. I have been tracking them from specific seismic stations and viewing the data collected. The goal of my project is to see the shape of the geologic structure underneath Alaska and Mexico. 

 

Through the process, I’ve had to learn to manipulate code and use it as an aid in my research. I’ve learned to create and compile graphics from code as well as run the data through varying analyses with code. I don’t think I would be where I am right now without my research. I am currently working under the mini-Magellan grant from the University of South Carolina helping to further my journey in research. With geophysics being such a small community, I am helping start a new generation of geophysicists under my instructor Daniel Frost. He has helped me a lot to understand the world around me and its function.

 

This experience has taught me the meaning of research. First, you have to identify what is wrong or how many things are wrong. Then what can be done to fix it, which leads to even more questions about what is wrong. Essentially this is what research is all about. Looking forward and asking more questions. Wanting to make the world a better place. What are your intentions? Are they good? Bad?  What do you want to get out of this? What are your goals? It all leads to who you are at your core. What you want to accomplish with what you’ve learned. Create change. Get proved wrong. Try again. All science done at some point eventually becomes obsolete. What you do will be proved wrong. So why do it? Why try? To make a difference. Do better. Make something out of nothing. Making a future for whoever will be here after we’re gone. Make a difference. To make a change.