• Mark of all trades

  Mark Mathison performs varied tasks for geology - skillfully and cheerfully.

• His name is Mark, but he's a jack-of-all-trades for the geology faculty. Mark Mathison is the teaching lab coordinator in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, but his title does not cover the range of his diverse duties.
  
  Mathison does oversee the student computer lab, and even though he says it's "almost a full-time job in itself," there is more to his workload.
  
  He also repairs computers and other equipment, assists faculty with field research, keeps the Wyoming geology field camp up and running all summer, and has been known to counsel students as the person who knows "the pulse of the department."
  
  "It's nice to get a lot of variety," said Mathison. "There are always some new challenges."
  
  The personable Mathison is known for solving problems. If a computer does not work properly, he's been known for staying well into the night repairing the bug-a-boo. He admits some problems really stump him, but through trial and error, his track record for repairs has been good.
  
  "I'm not afraid to jump in and try to repair something. But sometimes it's over my head."
  
  During field research in far-away and sometimes inhospitable environments, he's present to keep equipment running properly. "Doing field work, half the challenge is getting the equipment to work correctly," he noted.
  
  At the rustic Wyoming geology field station, the Ames native is the person in charge with going out early and getting the camp ready for students and faculty.
  
  Because of the age and construction of the World War II-era buildings, Mathison is constantly performing his maintenance handiwork, including wiring, plumbing and carpentry. He's also done some vehicle maintenance.
  
  His work has saved the program "hundreds of thousands of dollars" over the years.
  
  Mathison takes pride in making the popular camp functional and operational.
  
  "It's a great place to work over the summer," Mathison said about the field camp. "It's almost the perfect location for geology."
  
  Earlier in 2008, Mathison was in northern Sweden assisting Neal Iverson, professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, with research inside a glacier.
  
  Working in temperatures of 35-40 degrees (F), they had bored holes in the ice using pressurized hot water. Inside some 45 meters, they were measuring such things as temperature, water pressure and, later, how much the glacier moved.
  
  In such a harsh environment, equipment breakdowns were common, which kept Mathison busy. "There were lots of points of failure," he noted.
  
  In recent years, Mark has spent up to six weeks annually in Egypt assisting some Duke University researchers studying fossil primates in the desert. (He made connections with the Duke scientists several years ago through a retired Iowa State faculty member.)
  
  Mathison also has been involved in other field excursions, including Ethiopia to assist with research on early hominid sites.
  
  For all his contributions to the geology program, Mathison was recently awarded the Professional and Scientific (P&S) Outstanding New Professional Award from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In his nomination papers, it was written his "innovation, determination, cooperative spirit and ability to tackle an extremely wide range of problems make him indispensable."
  
  And it was added, "Mark is a true gem."
  

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October 6-19, 2008