Fulfillment of Dreams at GSA

Wow! What an exceptional great time I have had attending the 2016 Geological Society of America conference in Denver, Colorado the "Mile High City". This was not my first GSA conference, nor will it be my last.

What can I talk about that won't be a bazillion words long?

I attended so many talks in these past few days. Much of my time has been spent literately "camping" out in one room all morning. Much of this time has been spent with me mouth open in aww with all the exciting topics coming out of the Hydrogeology division and the Karst division. I went to other talks as well regarding Geoinformatics, Energy Conservation, and even Geology and Religion.

This year was the first year that I knew what people were talking about in the talks. I can safely say that after all of my core classes in the UALR Geology program that it has made me gained the knowledge that is needed to think like a Geo-scientist. I feel like I have taken something away from this conference and that is that I cannot wait to spend everyday with awesome professionals and researchers doing the things I enjoy. Learning, Collaborating, Motivating.

While at GSA, I met with so many bright and intelligent people. I was selected to participate in the GSA Hydrogeology Division lunch and award ceremony where I had the opportunity again to use my formal dinner etiquette skills. I also had a table full of top researchers from schools like Nebraska and UC Davis.

  Also I got to meet with several different graduate schools.

My most exciting moment of this trip was when I had the opportunity to me with Jason Polk from Western Kentucky University, a professor in the Karst division. I talked to him and his students about the exciting things going on at WKU. It's a top school on my list of schools I will be applying to for the Fall '17.

Another person I got to speak with was John Mylroie, professor emeritus from Mississippi State University. Mylroie is one of the leading researchers for Karst environments on San Salvador, Bahamas. I have read several papers that he has published and when we saw each other both of our faces lit up. He remembered me from attending a talk that he did at UALR. Mylroie is my idol in the Geoscience world.

Overall, this has been a great trip!

I want to think the University and the Department of Earth Science for allowing me to attend this conference.

Ryan J. Hefley