12:00 pm Mondays, 365 McCone
Organizers : Prof. William Boos & Ph.D. student Zachary Smith
| Date | Topic | Speakers | Affiliations |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 4, 2024 | Careers at the EPA | Idalia Pérez, Anna Mebust, Ashley Graham (all EPA Physical Scientists & Berkeley PhDs), Shaye Hong (EPA Physical Scientist; Berkeley BA, Atmos Sci major & Data Science minor) | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 9 (San Francisco Bay Area branch |
| March 11, 2024 | Livermore and the DOE National Lab system | Dennise Templeton (Deputy Group Leader, Seismology; Berkeley PhD), Kim Knight (Staff Scientist, Nuclear Emergency Support Team; Berkeley PhD), Robin Benedetti (Staff Scientist, National Ignition Facility; Berkeley PhD) | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory |
| April 8, 2024 | The world of environmental consulting | Claudia Llerandi (Principal; UC Davis MS), Karina Yap (Staff Engineer; Berkeley BS, UWashington MS), Emily Lynch (Associate Environmental Scientist; Lafayette College BS) | Kennedy Jenks, a private firm focused on water projects and environmental remediation |
In this seminar series, Berkeley alumni and other professionals talk with current students and postdocs about career paths. The seminars focus on all types of careers that can be pursued with a degree in Earth & Planetary Science, as well as careers in Earth & Planetary Science that can be pursued with degrees in other disciplines. Focus includes traditional science careers, jobs at large corporations and small startups in the earth and environmental sciences, careers in tech and finance that leverage the quantitative background of EPS graduates, and creative and unusual career paths. We have speakers from a broad range of career stages — recent graduates to retirees — and include alumni who can help build useful networks for undergraduate as well as graduate students.
This seminar series complements a 1-unit course, EPS 198: "Careers in the Earth & Planetary Sciences and Beyond", which coaches students as they work to turn a Berkeley degree into a meaningful and financially viable lifelong career. The course targets students who may not have family or friends to mentor them in the sort of career they want, provides hands-on mentoring in the job search process, and provides exposure to a wide range of EPS careers that help human society thrive in a complex and changing Earth system.
| Date | Topic | Speakers | Affiliations |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 10, 2023 | Startup companies in energy tech | Laura Lammers (Founder & CEO; past Berkeley faculty member) | Travertine Technologies |
| April 3, 2023 | How to get a job at NASA, NOAA, or NIST | Nikki Privé (Associate Research Scientist; PhD MIT Atmospheric Science) | NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Morgan State University |
| March 13, 2023 | Careers in earthquake, tsunami, and climate hazards | Todd Becker (Earthquake and Tsunami Program Specialist; Cal Poly Humboldt BS Geology) | California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) |
| Feb 6, 2023 | Federal government jobs in environmental geophysics and geology | Bridget Floyd (Environmental Design Section Chief; Berkeley BA Geology, MS Trinity College Dublin) | US Army Corps of Engineers |
| April 8, 2022 | A broad view of geology & geosciences careers | Jonathan Price (President Elect of the American Geosciences Institute; Berkeley PhD Geology) | Former State Geologist for Nevada |
| March 11, 2022 | A career path from mineral physics to big tech | Grace Pehl (data scientist, mother of six, and former CSA owner; Berkeley PhD) | large Bay Area tech company |
| Feb 11, 2022 | Jobs in geohazard evaluation for critical infrastructure | Özgür Kozaci (Principal Geologist; USC PhD), Jenny Taing (Senior Engineer; Berkeley BA Geophysics & MS Civil Engineering), Ryan Caspary (Project Geologist; Berkeley BA & MA Geophysics) | InfraTerra |
| Jan 28, 2022 | Geology & oceanography in the energy industry | Paul Henshaw (Berkeley BA Geology, U Washington PhD Oceanography) | Retired from Chevron and the US Navy, and advisor to energy industry companies |
| Nov 5, 2021 | Machine learning, minerals, and the energy transition | Jake Edman (Director of Machine Learning; Berkeley PhD) | KoBold Metals, a mineral exploration company focused on the electric vehicle supply chain |
| Oct 15, 2021 | Forensic Geoscience | Marianne Stam (Forensic scientist & Secretary of the Initiative on Forensic Geology) | California Department of Justice (the state crime lab) |
| Sept 17, 2021 | From climate science to software engineering of the energy grid | Percy Link (Staff Software Engineer; Berkeley PhD) | Tesla Energy |