Post Rocky Mountain (or, Hooray! I didn't screw up my talk)

I'm back from Orem, Utah - although it turns out I'm going back out there again in June - and as it turned out, I had a pretty good time at RMGSA. Of course, seeing my friends from W&M is always great, and they did a wonderful job on their poster presentations. My talk, despite it being early in the morning, went well - I managed not to get completely nervous, forget what I was going to say, or flub the answers to the questions I received. I even got some useful feedback, since the room was full of people who'd been working on mapping around my study area for, oh, decades. (This was somewhat intimidating at first, since I have relatively little experience in Utah geology, and I'm a young female person.)

But it all worked out in the end - better than the poor girl who had half her graphs fade out and had to draw them back in with a digital pen. (That would have completely freaked me out, and although I wasn't terribly interested in her subject matter, I have to say she recovered pretty well.) The conference setting was pretty nice, too - in the library at Utah Valley University, which has incredible views of the Wasatch and Utah Lake. (The rooms were a bit small, and it must have been annoying to the students trying to use the library to have a bunch of noisy geologists around, but for the most part the setting was fine.)

Here are a few of the talks I listened to:

TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL WASATCH RANGE: GEOMETRIC, KINEMATIC AND AGE ANALYSES OF NOTABLE STRUCTURAL FEATURES: HARRIS, Ron, Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, rharris@byu.edu

EVIDENCE OF EXTENSIONAL AND COMPRESSIONAL TECTONISM ON SATURN'S MOON TITAN: RADEBAUGH, Jani, Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, S-389 ESC, Provo, UT 84602, jani.radebaugh@byu.edu

GRABENS GONE WILD: LATE CENOZOIC EXTENSION ON THE FISH LAKE PLATEAU, UTAH: BAILEY, Christopher¹, BUCKLEY, Trevor R.¹, BOWLES, Christopher J.¹, and MARCHETTI, David W.², (1) Department of Geology, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, cmbail@wm.edu, (2) Geology Program, Western State College of Colorado, 600 N. Adams St, Gunnison, CO 81231

LITHOSPHERIC BOUNDARIES, MAGMATIC PROCESSES AND CRUSTAL SCALE FLUID CONNECTIONS OF THE GREAT BASIN AND ITS TRANSITION TO THE COLORADO PLATEAU AS TRACED BY ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY STRUCTURE: WANNAMAKER, Philip E., Energy & Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, 423 Wakara Way, Suite 300, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, pewanna@egi.utah.edu

PLEISTOCENE GLACIATIONS ON THE FISH LAKE PLATEAU, UTAH: MARCHETTI, David W., Geology Program, Western State College of Colorado, 600 N. Adams St, Gunnison, CO 81231, dmarchetti@western.edu, HARRIS, M.Scott, Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424, BAILEY, Christopher, Department of Geology, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, and BERGMAN, Sarah, Geology, Carleton College, One North College Street, Northfield, MN 55057

IMPLICATIONS OF WIDESPREAD, PALEOVALLEY-FILLING ASH-FLOW TUFFS OF THE WESTERN GREAT BASIN FOR PALEOTOPOGRAPHY, REGIONAL TECTONICS, AND TUFF VOLUMES: HENRY, Christopher D.¹, FAULDS, James E.¹, HINZ, Nicholas H.¹, GARSIDE, Larry J.², and BODEN, David R.³, (1) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, chenry@unr.edu, (2) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, University of Nevada Reno, MS 178, Reno, NV 89557, (3) Physical Sciences, Truckee Meadows Community College, Reno, NV 89512

THE GREAT BASIN ALTIPLANO DURING THE MIDDLE CENOZOIC IGNIMBRITE FLAREUP: INSIGHTS FROM VOLCANIC ROCKS: BEST, Myron G., Department of Geology, Brigham Young University, S389 ESC, Provo, UT 84602, myron_best@byu.edu, CHRISTIANSEN, Eric H., Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, eric_christiansen@byu.edu, BARR, Deborah L., U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Las Vegas, NV 89134, GROMME, Sherman, 420 Chaucer St, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2201, DEINO, Alan, Berkeley Geochronology Ctr, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709, and TINGEY, David, Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602

And, of course, there were a few W&M posters to visit:

SEDIMENTARY GEOLOGY OF THE NORTHERN FISH LAKE PLATEAU, CENTRAL UTAH: CARBAUGH, Joyce E. and BAILEY, Christopher, Department of Geology, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, jecarb@wm.edu

BEDROCK GEOLOGY OF THE MT. TERRILL AND HILGARD MOUNTAIN 7.5' QUADRANGLES, HIGH PLATEAUS, UTAH: BUCKLEY, Trevor R., BAILEY, Christopher, and CARBAUGH, Joyce E., Department of Geology, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, trbuck@wm.edu

JoBeth and Trevor did a very nice job on their posters, and they were busy talking with people for the whole authors-are-present hour (which was, unfortunately, scheduled for lunchtime). Here they are discussing the finer points of one of their maps:

(Obviously, JoBeth isn't convinced of whatever Trevor is telling her.)

We even found a little time for some geocaching, although I will recommend that it not be done in dress shoes and nice slacks. And, by the end of the trip, my undergrad advisor and I decided that we're definitely taking one more trip out to Fish Lake (the subject of all the research we presented at this meeting). While I'm excited to be going back, I'm hoping I won't be too burned out by that point, seeing as I'm going to the Toronto AGU at the end of this month, and then to Italy. (The Italy trip will be good practice for identifying those pyroclastic deposits, though!)

Nerves & presentations

So I've hit the pre-presentation mild panic stage, since I'm going to be giving my first professional talk at Rocky Mountain GSA on Tuesday.

It's an annoying state that seems to have evolved a bit since I was young. I've played violin for years, and for most of those years I've played solo pieces in recitals. I used to get shaky before a big performance (not a good thing if you're trying to draw a bow smoothly), since if you mess up in a solo piece, everyone (or what seems like everyone) can hear it. When I started giving serious class presentations in college, it was the same thing; I had a bad habit of babbling, and made a lot of little nervous movements when I was talking. (I remember specifically being told not to clutch the podium, or bang the pointer stick on the floor.) I also have a tendency to run on autopilot when I get into the talk; to this day I can't remember much about my undergrad thesis defense, other than one or two of the questions.

When I got to grad school, and had to start teaching labs and giving more in-depth talks, I developed the really annoying habit of sending all my stress straight to my stomach. Now, whenever I give a presentation, I can't eat before, and I'll usually keep myself up at night because my stomach is so upset. (This is not going to go over so well with my talk's early morning time - if I don't eat, I'm likely to keel over from low blood sugar.) What really annoys me about this is that I know - and I've been told - that I'm perfectly competent and actually give pretty good talks. Unfortunately, it's one matter to know something in your head, and another to make the rest of your body believe it.

One thing I have found that seems to help is doing tai chi to calm down - it involves really slow, controlled movements and breathing, which is exactly what I seem to need. (It will look really silly if I do that before the GSA talk, since I'm pretty sure they won't have a meditation room set aside.) I also had some fun with the other volcanology students, who helped me come up with an alert level scale for nerves:

Green - Everything's Cool
Yellow - Mild Panic
Orange - Why Did I Agree To Do This Again?
Red - I Am Totally F*cked

What I really hope is that I'll eventually get over this - or, at least, be able to control it much better. Has anyone else found a point in their career at which nerves are no longer such a big issue? What do you all do to deal with the pre-talk jitters?

Rocky Mountain GSA

If anyone is planning on visiting Orem, Utah for this year's Rocky Mountain GSA section meeting, and you feel like dragging yourself to a session at 8 in the morning, you can come hear my first professional talk ever! (Yipe...) For reasons known only to the session organizers, I'll be going first in the lineup. (How did that happen?)

T13. 13. Magmatism from the Mesozoic to the Present in the Great Basin and Colorado Plateaus: A Tribute to the Career of Myron G. Best

Eric H. Christiansen, Presiding

Paper # Start Time 8:00 AM Introductory Remarks 10-1 8:05 AM VOLCANISM ON THE FISH LAKE PLATEAU, CENTRAL UTAH: BALL, Jessica L., Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, jlball@buffalo.edu, BAILEY, Christopher, Department of Geology, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, and KUNK, Michael J., U.S. Geological Survey, 926A National Center, Reston, VA 20192 10-2 8:25 AM LATE CENOZOIC VOLCANISM NEAR COVE FORT, CENTRAL UTAH: IMPLICATIONS FROM TRACE ELEMENT GEOCHEMISTRY: BETTS, William S. and CHRISTIANSEN, Eric H., Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, wmbetts@gmail.com 10-3 8:45 AM USING THERMODYNAMIC MODELING TO PREDICT FRACTIONAL CRYSTALLIZATION PATHS OF ANDESITE TO TRACHYDACITE: ALLEN, Tara L. and CHRISTIANSEN, Eric H., Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, tara.albertson@gmail.com 10-4 9:05 AM INSIGHT INTO MIDDLE TERTIARY CRUSTAL EXTENSION AND MANTLE MAGMATISM ALONG THE NORTHERN MARGIN OF THE SAN JUAN BASIN AT THE ONSET OF VOLCANISM IN THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO: GONZALES, David A., Department of Geosciences, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive, Durango, CO 81301, gonzales_d@fortlewis.edu 10-5 9:25 AM THE CENTRAL COLORADO PLATEAU LACCOLITHS: A TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL LINK TO VOLUMINOUS MID-TERTIARY MAGMATISM IN COLORADO AND THE GREAT BASIN: NELSON, Stephen T., Dept. of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, S-389 ESC, Provo, UT 84602, stn@geology.byu.edu 10-6 9:45 AM IMPLICATIONS OF WIDESPREAD, PALEOVALLEY-FILLING ASH-FLOW TUFFS OF THE WESTERN GREAT BASIN FOR PALEOTOPOGRAPHY, REGIONAL TECTONICS, AND TUFF VOLUMES: HENRY, Christopher D.1, FAULDS, James E.1, HINZ, Nicholas H.1, GARSIDE, Larry J.2, and BODEN, David R.3, (1) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, chenry@unr.edu, (2) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, University of Nevada Reno, MS 178, Reno, NV 89557, (3) Physical Sciences, Truckee Meadows Community College, Reno, NV 89512 10-7 10:05 AM THE GREAT BASIN ALTIPLANO DURING THE MIDDLE CENOZOIC IGNIMBRITE FLAREUP: INSIGHTS FROM VOLCANIC ROCKS: BEST, Myron G., Department of Geology, Brigham Young University, S389 ESC, Provo, UT 84602, myron_best@byu.edu, CHRISTIANSEN, Eric H., Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, eric_christiansen@byu.edu, BARR, Deborah L., U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Las Vegas, NV 89134, GROMME, Sherman, 420 Chaucer St, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2201, DEINO, Alan, Berkeley Geochronology Ctr, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709, and TINGEY, David, Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602

Deep breath. At least it will be quick, and I can go out and drink some low-alcohol beer afterward (it being Utah and all). Let me know if you'd like to join me!

Chocolate time again...

So I gave a talk in an informal seminar today - and now I feel terrible about it.

It was on some ongoing research that I've been doing with my undergrad advisor. We've been working on some volcanic rocks out in the High Plateaus of Utah, and arguing one particular scenario for their origins. This is the first time either of us has presented this work, and we thought that are arguments made sense, given the geologic setting and the characteristics of the rocks. The presentation was just a short one, twenty minutes with questions afterward, so it shouldn't have been too big a deal. Unfortunately, once I got to our arguments, I found out that many of them weren't so conclusive as we'd thought, and they got shot down.

How the hell did I get so far without someone noticing this? It could be because my advisor isn't an expert in volcanology, and neither am I, and most of the volcanology I knew that pertained to our project, I taught myself. Apparently I didn't learn it well enough.

I suppose I should be glad that I can weed out the shaky arguments in the work, but all I feel right now is incompetent. This is my first time presenting this kind of research in front of a group of experts in the field, and to have it dissected is tremendously disheartening. I wanted to present this particular research because I thought it would be interesting, and because I thought that my senior research didn't really contain enough volcanology for a volcanology seminar. I realize that it still needs a lot of work, but I'm a first year MS student, for crying out loud. I know I'm not an expert and I know my work can always be improved, and I didn't expect great praise for the presentation, but it felt like everyone was expecting me to be perfect, or to have all the experience that the previous student presenters had (and all of them had their MS already).

People are saying I did fine, but it sure doesn't feel that way. And I know I'm constantly second-guessing myself and my abilities, and I shouldn't do that so much, but it's really hard to be confident in yourself when almost everyone in the room has more experience than you do. Okay, it wasn't a big deal and it wasn't for a grade or a thesis or anything - I still hate feeling like an idiot.

This is also the last time that I do a presentation at this particular time of the month, seeing as my horomones make me a weepy nervous wreck in normal situations. Combining that with a presentation, which also makes me a nervous wreck, sucked. I'm going to go home and eat some chocolate.

This "life experience" thing needs to not happen when I'm already stressed out by life.