Boy Scouts Explore Geosciences at Bureau

November 12, 2020

David Carr is a research scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology. He is also a troop leader for Boy Scout Troop 31. Credit: Bureau of Economic Geology.

In February, Carr and Linda Ruiz McCall, a bureau information geologist, led the troop through an educational experience designed to help the scouts learn about careers in geoscience — and earn their geology merit badges.

The scouts participated in a number of hands-on activities. They explored fossils and minerals with volunteer and alumnus Allan Standen; took part in an interactive presentation with the bureau’s new augmented reality sandbox with Research Scientist Associate Dallas Dunlap; and observed a demonstration of groundwater and surfacewater interactions led by McCall. They also heard from Research Scientist Associate Vanessa Nu.ez-L.pez and Undergraduate Research Assistant Margaret Murakami, who spoke to the scouts about carbon capture and led them through a series of activities developed by the Gulf Coast Carbon Center.

Each of the presenters also spoke to the troop about careers in geology. The troop ended their visit to the bureau with a trip to the newly renovated Austin Core Research Center, where center manager Nathan Ivicic explained the value of archiving core samples. Highlights of the troop’s visit to the center include a walk through the research center entrance, which boasts a display of fossil dinosaur casts from the Jackson School Museum of Earth History, followed by an educational and energetic tour through the Stoneburner Family Rock Garden. The scouts left the bureau with a new understanding of careers in geology and the tools for understanding geological processes important to everyday life.