April 1999

While everybody recognizes that layoffs and downsizing creates turmoil and anguish for those involved, these cycles of change also can be -- and have been -- opportunities to explore new career paths that might not otherwise have been considered.

Growing up in Rochester, N.Y., Jim Clark always had two interests -- working with kids and geology -- so when he went off to college he pursued a dual major in geology and secondary education.

Jeannie Place was laid off in the mid-1980s as a result of a merger, and she and geologist husband, Blaze Cunningham, left the stressful world of big oil behind to operate a cave in her home state of Wisconsin.

Bob Cluff wasn't laid off from an oil company, but when his wife got hit by the downsizing trend and lost her job with a large independent oil firm in Denver in 1985 the couple had to make some hard choices about their future.

Jane Woodward was impacted by the contraction in the oil industry in the mid-1980s, but for her the impact was actually positive.

Ken Vogel made his career change voluntarily -- but the instability in the oil industry certainly was a factor when he decided to move into the field of environmental geology.

When eighth-grade students enter Herbert Turner's earth science class each fall, they get $1 billion to play with.

Pitman and co-researcher William B.F. Ryan have written a book to document their theory, Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed History, published recently by Simon & Schuster. This 352-page work describes a scientific investigation that mixes geology with oceanography, anthropology, linguistics and legend.