The USGS is the United States Geological Survey.
It’s a federal agency studying all parts of the environment.
Our mission really is to assess and interpret the nation’s resources, the energy resources,
mineral resources, water and biological resources.
We operate stream gages throughout the state of Arizona.
It’s part of a national network to measure the stream flow in the rivers throughout the
nation.
We have the unique opportunity here at the University of Arizona because our office is
located on campus, which gives us the ability to hire students as contract students through
various departments at the university.
Many actually work directly in the science roles of USGS, either supporting the data
collection or the interpretation and the production of science, but they also serve a lot of supporting
roles.
The vast majority of our employees here at the Arizona Water Science Center have come
through the student training program and have been student interns.
Students provide a significant amount of balance in our workforce.
Students provide us a very cost effective way to achieve some of the keys parts of doing
science, that’s getting out in the field and collecting data, managing data in the
office.
We have been very fortunate with having this college of video arts.
We’ve had outstanding students that we have worked with over the years.
It’s a skill set that we don’t have internally, and so it’s a great way for us to go to
the university and use resources that they have, in this case it’s the students.
It was really interesting to find out that they have their own YouTube channel with hundreds
of videos, and now I am in charge of making some of those videos for them.
By the time our students graduate from our program they are able to skillfully operate
professional cameras, sound recording gear, grip and electric equipment, and they’re
also able to navigate different editing software programs such as Avid and FinalCut Pro.
So what USGS really provides to students, I think, is an opportunity to work in a top
notch, top tier science agency with some of the best scientists in the field, applying
the sorts of skills and knowledge they have learned in the classroom to real world problems,
that have very positive and tangible benefits.
It also allows them the chance to work in a professional setting and to get their work
out into the real world.
I really feel that we work for the people.
I mean I’m a public servant and I want the people to know what we do.
We are always looking to help the general public understand what we do and why the information
we produce is of value both to them and to resource management.
So my hope is that the videos will reach the range of folks from the general public to
resource managers who might actually use our information in their decision making process.
The survey gives you the opportunity to do about anything you want in the sense that
there’s a lot of avenues that you can go into and you can find out what your interest
is, and you can kind of throw yourself into that.
We’ve had the chance for students to get to know us and for us to get to know students.
Through that I think we’ve developed one of the most effective work forces in the nation,
through this relationship.
Overall, the Arizona Water Science Center is a place of collaboration and development
for both students and employees alike.