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How do Marine Geologists Dress for Success? By Carolyn Degnan June 2000 in this issue:  previous story | next story The beacon of boisterous laughter attracted visitors in the "Exploring Hidden Worlds" tent at the USGS Open House 2000, held at the Menlo Park Field Center on May 13th and 14th. Inspired by Glenn Bennett, Dennis McMacken, and Sue Beard's "Dress up like a geologist" activity at the Flagstaff Open House, the Data Acquisition, Processing, and Storage (DAPS) group created the "Dress like a marine geologist" activity in Menlo. The DAPS group included Clint Steele, Michael Hamer, Carolyn Degnan, Dan Mosier, Herschel Lelaind, and Jennifer Dougherty. Racks laden with a colorful selection of hard hats, work gloves, lab coats, life jackets, environmental suits, rubber boots, and a Hawaiian shirt enticed visitors to try on some of the more exotic gear marine geologists can wear in the field. Children and adults mugged for a digital camera in front of a blue background. Soon after each photo was taken, we replaced the blue background with scenes from "the field" using Adobe Photoshop on a Power Macintosh G3. Each evening, using compression routines and web-page-generating programs, we posted that day's collection of pictures on the web. The web pages were reviewed for public access following CMG guidelines and web-review requirements. On the surface, this activity inspired children to fantasize about marine geology as exciting work, allowed adults to romanticize about fieldwork as an adventure, and promoted science in general to all. However, the veiled objective was to attract visitors to USGS and Coastal and Marine Geology Web sites using the draw of viewing photos of themselves. Participants received a bookmark printed with the following information: "I participated in USGS Open House 2000 Dress like a Marine Geologist. Look for me at http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov. Follow links to Education & Outreach then to Dress Up Participants. My # is _________ (Here, we wrote their picture number.) Related USGS sites: walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank walrus.wr.usgs.gov/ask-a-geologist TerraWeb.wr.usgs.gov/TRS/kids www.usgs.gov/education Participation constitutes permission to publish image. USGS makes no guarantees of image posting." The Western Region Open House Committee also included their home page, http://openhouse.wr.usgs.gov, a direct link to the pictures. If you are interested in doing a similar outreach activity and would like more information and suggestions, contact Clint Steele (csteele@usgs.gov) or Carolyn Degnan (cdegnan@usgs.gov). in this issue:  previous story | next story

June 2000 Mailing List: Sign up to receive monthly email updates: in this issue: Puerto Rico OBS Study Gulf of Mexico Shelf-Edge Habitats Channel Islands cover story: Barataria Barrier-Shoreline Study Menlo Park Open House Dress for Success Nat'l Weather Service Open House Marine Quest Basin Symposium Coastal Morphodynamics New England Coastal Issues Coral Reef Studies South Florida Restoration Florida Keys Field Course Visitors June Publications List

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