Ben Lake is a master’s student in the Department of Geological Sciences from Montpelier, Idaho. He enjoys rock climbing, backpacking, and landscape photography. His family owned a jewelry store growing up, so he became familiar with rocks and gems. Together they would go rockhounding and turn their polished findings into the jewelry that they would then sell.
As an undergrad, he took Geology 111 and from that, decided to change his major to geology. He loved the eye-opening field trips and the well-rounded students and faculty.
Ben is currently working with professor Jani Radebaugh mapping the distribution of sand on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. They are interpreting the data to discover the primary sand exposure areas.
He thinks everyone should be a geology major because the degree offers a lot of flexibility. With geology, you can start with a focus on environmental conservation and later, use those skills learned to switch to an entirely different discipline such as planetary science. Ben believes it is important for all students to take even an introductory geology class so we can be more aware of the processes of our Earth.