Jeff Babcock

Project Scientist, runs Ocean-Bottom Seismology Lab Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Denise: Tell me a little about how you first got into this field.
Jeff: This is a funny story actually; I remember when I was a kid in the third or fourth grade, they always had times when you'd free draw things, and the things I always drew pictures of was volcanoes. As I went through school I always thought science was neat though I didn't take much geology in high school. I took my first earth science class when I was a physics major at UCSD and I thought this was really neat, and I took another one and it kind of escalated from there and so I ended up with what was the equivalent of a geophysics degree at UCSD, they didn't offer geophysics, but I had a physics with a specialization in earth science degree. After that I thought it was an interesting field and I looked at opportunities to go to grad school and Scripps was one of the choices. I had worked down there for a year before starting grad school, and I applied to a whole bunch of places and ended up staying at Scripps. As it turned out, once I found the right advisor, which happened to be John Orcutt, one of the first projects I started working on was underwater volcanoes. Large chains of underwater volcanoes at plate boundaries where you have spreading centers and like I say, a few years ago, I came to the realization that I probably had that seed in my mind when I was a kid. It's funny how it all went full circle and I ended up in a career where I was studying the things I found fascinating as a kid.

Denise: Any advice for young students, follow your interests?
Jeff: Yes. It's easy to get stuck in a rut and follow a path where you might make more money. There are lots of influences, parents, and peers who shape the paths you might go down. The most important thing you can do, is do something you find interesting. Its not an easy thing for a lot of people to do because you have to worry about paying rent, and if you have a family, providing for them, it's not always easy in whatever field you're in, but pursue your dreams!

Denise: Is there any instance that exemplifies for you, a great aspect about your career?
Jeff: I definitely find myself very lucky in what I'm doing, and I'm sure that's the case with most people out here. It's a fun and fascinating thing to be able to go out and study the earth. I was always an outdoorsy person; I always liked to look at the weather and mountains, always fascinated by the processes that shaped them. Just being able to pursue my dreams and go out and study the earth is a great thing. The ocean is the realm that fascinates me as well, I'm a very ocean oriented person, I live next to the ocean, I spend a lot of time there, and going out to sea is a neat thing to do, it's almost like living a second life, because when you go out to sea, you leave all your troubles behind and unfortunately you leave your family behind though it's easier to keep in communication with e-mail these days. It's really a different environment and I think it's a new frontier; so working with the ocean is a great thing. As far as particular experiences, I had one about a year ago. I have a three-year old daughter and I was asked by the owner of the day care center to come and give a talk to kids, three to four year old kids, and believe it or not, that was the most nervous I had ever been for giving a presentation because I had no idea what to expect! The kids were a little older than her (my daughter), she was only two at the time. I gave just a little presentation and the reception I got from the kids and their enthusiasm was just special. It was a really neat experience. That's something that really stands out in my mind.

Denise: Do you get into the field often with your work?
Jeff: Yes, quite a bit. I spend on average one month of my time a year at sea which is a fair amount. That can be over one cruise that's one month long, or several two-week to one day cruises. I love the fieldwork, though it really takes a lot of time and effort to set up for them to go out to sea.

Denise: So it keeps you in the adventurous mode.
Jeff: It does, and that's part of the allure to go to exotic places, and to study exotic lands, here in Papua New Guinea is a perfect example of that. It really is a nice break to not sit at the desk all the time. When I'm back at home I spend 99% of my time behind the computer, so this is a great break to come out and collect the data that I actually work with when I'm back at home.

Denise: What is one of the challenges or harder aspects of your career?
Jeff: Well for one thing, as a young scientist, this is a tough time in my or any young scientist's career, you have to be able to find your nitch in the community and be able to get funding to be successful. That's been a hard learning experience, you have to work very hard at writing proposals, writing papers, it's not the most fun thing in the world, but it's part of the job. It's one aspect I don't think anybody expects, that there's going to be as much politics being a scientist, but there is, and learning the politics and dealing with it is one of the toughest parts of the job.

Denise: I guess you could say there are politics in everything.
Jeff: That is one thing you learn, the further you progress in your career, and I think this applies to any career, the more management and political struggles you have. I've found this in science, you'd think we'd be a little more isolated, but I don't think that's the case at all.

Denise: But the payoff can be so great.
Jeff: That's just it, we are doing things we have an inherent interest in and there's a lot of independence in being a scientist and working at a university. I can dictate what kinds of subjects or projects I want to work on by submitting proposals to get funding to go different places. I've been very lucky because I started out in a group that is very talented, and I'm still working with the same group of talented people and we've been very successful and we feed off each other. It makes it a very easy process to have colleagues very near and dear to you that you can throw ideas off of and you can talk about science, you can talk about family, you can talk about whatever you want, but they're there and very supportive and family like. That's another very nice thing.

Denise: Anything else you'd like to add?
Jeff: One thing I could definitely reiterate, going in and getting at least a college degree and perhaps thinking of a more advanced degree is a very worthwhile endeavor. You don't necessarily have to pursue whatever degree you get for your bachelors. The thing that college and education does for you is make you think critically about what is going on in your environment; education is a gem. Keep on trying to learn as much as you can, hopefully about things you find near and dear and interesting, and try to pursue those dreams of moving on.