Geology More Than Studying Rocks for ASU Student

To doctoral student Nathan Wilkens, every rock tells a story. In the last few years, he has divided his time between Arizona and Moab, Utah, trying to gain a better understanding of the living environments of the Early Jurassic for his dissertation research. Since fossil preservation of land environments is very rare, gaining a comprehensive view of the terrestrial paleoecology of desert systems 190 million years old is the not the easiest thing to do.

After extensive research, he discovered several well-preserved desert oases in Utah, which allowed him to analyze animal fossils, plant fossils, sediments and the geochemistry of that land-based environment to determine how the ancient living system interacted to get a complete picture of life during this time.

His road to graduate studies was far from ordinary. Wilkens began his academic career in 1990, and took a hiatus from his studies when he moved to Arizona to work as a production supervisor at Motorola. In 2002, he decided to go back to school full time.
"While I was at Motorola, I soon realized that a geologist working in a semiconductor manufacturing plant couldn't last long," Wilkens says. "This is why I decided to take an early retirement to pursue my passion."

It's a good thing he did. Not only is his research approach different from other scientists, but he has also come up with innovative techniques to help geologists with their own research. Last year, he developed a technique for identifying fossil wood using ultraviolet light that allows poorly preserved fossil wood to be identified that could not otherwise be using regular light microscopy techniques.

For all of his achievements, Wilkens was awarded a Faculty Emeriti Fellowship from ASU's Emeriti Faculty Association to continue his research.

Of his designation, Wilkens says: "This award will allow me to concentrate further on my research and graduate within a year. It will also help me reach my goals of developing innovative, hands-on teaching techniques for a Terrestrial Paleoecology course capable of bridging the distinct differences between geologists and biologists."

What's next for Wilkens? Eventually, he hopes to find the oldest multicellular (metazoan) life in the Middle Proterozoic, several hundred million years older that any metazoan fossils.

But this will all have to wait until he reaches his goal of graduating and becoming a faculty member.

"The next generation of scientists will have to be as comfortable with computer analysis and technical instrumentation as they are with breaking rocks open in the field," he says. "My ultimate goal as a researcher, scholar and teacher is to train the next generation of transdisciplinary scientists, adept at working across classical disciplines."

Recently, Wilkens took the first step toward achieving his goal — he accepted an offer to become an adjunct faculty member at Mesa Community College and will be teaching an introductory geology course this fall.


Upper photo: Geology student Nathan Wilkens is trying to gain a better understanding of the living environments of the Early Jurassic for his dissertation research.

Lower photo: Wilkens is examining several well-preserved desert oases near Moab, Utah, to determine how ancient living systems interacted to get a complete picture of life during this time.