As part of my internship, I got to visit the United States Geological Survey (USGS) headquarters in Reston, VA. For one thing, it's huge! Not only the building itself, but the range of different jobs and specialists who each contribute to the organization in their own way. It was really interesting hearing people from both geology and computer science fields talk about their work. I especially enjoyed seeing some of the advanced mapping and GIS technology that are becoming more and more instrumental in the work that USGS does. It is important to have up-to-date data about minerals, energy sources, and other resources for the United States and other countries as well. These new technologies are helping maps to be updated more efficiently, and they are allowing for the information to be more available to the public.
Overall I had a really great time and I hope I'll be able to visit again in the future.
Great to hear about the field trip! I'm sorry I couldn't join you :-(
ReplyDeleteWhat a great summary of the USGS field trip. I'm glad you pointed out that we do have a range of people working at USGS beyond just geologists. GIS is really going through some impressive innovation and I'm glad you noticed this too. We will definitely create other opportunities for you to visit USGS and work with the Environmental Health Team that you met so that you can work with them more closely and help them visualize their data in these interactive ways.
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