Brian Ostrom (BS Environmental Geology, 2012; MS Geology, 2016)

After finishing my MS in 2016 I started an internship with Weyerhaeuser in their Energy and Natural Resources group based in the Seattle office. I was primarily working on updating a minerals occurrence database, working with drill hole data for commodities like metals, construction aggregates and energy minerals. It was a great way to gain experience and see what economic geology can offer.

After the internship I accepted a temporary position with the Washington Geological Survey (DNR) as a field mapping assistant for summer 2017. This was a very valuable experience working with some great geologists mapping geology south of Olympia, WA. I highly recommend this position if the opportunity ever comes up.

This spring I received an offer to re-join Weyerhaeuser in a permanent role and I accepted my current position as a Hard Minerals Geologist in May 2018. I primarily assist senior geologists in Oregon and Washington with building materials projects (rock, sand and gravel), but I also work on some projects in the southeast US. I really like my job.

I get exposed to wide variety of topics and issues, some of which are straight-up geology, and some are not like budget, production tracking and accounting. It is a unique opportunity in that there are only five geologists and an engineer on our Hard Minerals team, and I live in the northwest but work in economic geology and mining.

I am now a 100% proponent of internships. It is a great way to learn about a company, but also for them to learn about you, and provides working experience and a professional network which can be hard to come by right out of school.

Earning both my BS and MS at CWU was an amazing opportunity and I look back on it often and very fondly. The Ellensburg area really is a special place!

If you are considering the Geology department at CWU you really can't go wrong. I met some amazing people there while completing my education. The department is top notch and has some of the most helpful and humble professors that I have ever encountered.

My wife Kaycee Hathaway (BS Environmental Geology, 2013) live in Puyallup, WA and I try to get outside as much as possible! We met at Bishop Field camp in 2011 (Nick paired us up as mapping partners!).