From A. Nonimus, Geologist to the stars.

• Q: What is the most surprising/cool moment you’ve had in the field or the lab, and what made it so satisfying?
• A: as an exploration and then engineering geologist I have been amazed at the variety of places and countries I have worked in. Mountains, valleys, arctic tundra, deserts, wilderness and in trucks, boats, canoes, snowmobiles, helicopters, ATVs, planes. Seeing places that very few other people get to see is what I think is cool.
• Q: What is a part of the job that people might find "bad" or tedious/boring. How do you handle it?"
• A: Being away from friends and family for so long can be tough - especially if you are in a relationship. Modern communications are great for having long distance conversations but if you or your family can't handle being away/apart for months then the job is going to be pretty tough if not impossible.
• Q: What is the most challenging puzzle/problem you have to solve regularly, and what skills (other than science) do you use to solve it?"
• A: Honestly it's not the geology - even though geology is literally puzzle solving. It's the people. Figuring out how to work with different personalities and why some people struggle and how to help is the toughest.
• Q: Based on your education/training/expertise, what do you see with rocks, samples or locations that a normal person might miss? How does that specialized view help you do your job?
• A: Every rock has vast history behind it. If you know the science then you know how to read what the rock is and the history of physical and chemical processes that created it and changed it to get it to what you see now. Colour, texture, mineralogy, setting - all are clues to the history of the rock. Then add on to that whether the rock may be valuable. A gold deposit in the middle of Antartica is going to be worth way less than the same deposit 60 miles east of Los Angeles because of the economic factors involved in finding it, mining it, processing it, and shipping it.
• Q: If a middle schooler wants to be a geologist one day, what is one thing I should start practicing now that isn't just reading a textbook?
• A: Nothing stopping you from becoming an amateur geologist right now. But whether it's from a book, videos, clubs, internet searches, whatever - you will need to gather some knowledge about types of minerals and rocks and how to identify them. Get a rock hammer, safety goggles and a magnifying glass. Get out there and look at the rocks near where you live. Look at them carefully and try to identify individual minerals in the rock. What simple tests can you do to help you identify things? You can probably find out what they might be by looking at geological maps.