Tessa Buswell (BS in Geology, 2007)

I am employed at Gram, Inc. as a field geologist supporting the soil and groundwater remediation project at the Department of Energy's Hanford Site - and have been since January of 2008. This job involves watching people dig into the ground, taking notes, watching dirt come out of the ground, classifying it, and writing a report on it later. Okay, so it's a little more complicated than that. As we all know, Hanford is not a pretty place. I provide technical and quality assurance support for nuclear and chemical remediation projects. This job includes drilling supervision, subsurface soil investigation and characterization, groundwater investigation, well development, report and proposal writing, and getting to drive around in a nice company truck. I spend at least 75% of my time outside, and 25% in an office (which I currently share with Jacob Throolin, BS '06), and that is just the right amount for me. Along with Mr. Throolin, I also work with Sean Sexton (BS '07), Aaron Lantau (BS '07), and Mike Caron (MS '03). So, we have our own little CWU office here in Richland and I get to experience a little geology camaraderie that was so abundant at Central.

CWU Geology provided a plethora of experience and skills that I use daily. Do you know how many stratigraphic columns I have to draw for this job? I utilize my knowledge of the Missoula Flood deposits, Columbia River Basalts, groundwater properties, sieve analyses, report writing (I know everyone hates doing it, but it makes life so much easier when you are writing for government documentation), proposal writing (thank you Lisa!), and more than I can think of right now. However, I have yet to use my amazing colored pencil skills. When note-taking in the field, I still have Charlie's voice in the back of my head screaming, 'use a straight-edge!'

I actually enjoy living in the Tri-Cities. Within an hour's drive, you can go hiking, fly fishing, camping, boating, wine touring, to minor league baseball games, to hockey games, to arena football games, etc. I do plan on living here for a while and sticking with the job I have. The geologist positions here provide a great way to gain interesting experience - in an entry-level position.

The photo was taken in August 2007 near Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier.