FAVORITE MEMORIES OF WILLIAMS

Williams was a great environment to expand one’s horizons, learn more about ourselves, and enjoy the surrounding landscape.
William Fox – his Geology Winter Study and sedimentary geology class.

WILLIAMS CLUBS / ACTIVITIES

Crew

LIFE SINCE GRADUATION

Williams was both a terrific time and a very stressful time. Vietnam, the draft (and lottery), and the student strike were the major external intrusions. Figuring out the academic direction was the internal struggle. I arrived planning on being a mathematics major, was disillusioned by the classes, and shifted to history. A Winter Study “Waves and Beaches” class revealed that geology is a combination of math and history. Then a summer five-college National Science Foundation (NSF) program in North Carolina opened up oceanography. A year off, working in Australia for a geological mapping company, provided the fieldwork experience that cemented my academic and career direction.

Oceanography has enabled me to live in great places—a master’s degree in Delaware, eight years working as an oceanography technician in Maine, a PhD in Rhode Island, and then what was to be two years in California turned into 33 years and counting. Originally I planned a post-doctoral trip to Monterey, but that became nine years as a research scientist, followed by 15 years teaching in the Bay Area at San Francisco State University and followed by the presently ongoing nine years working in San Diego at the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center. There I am the director of the Environmental Research Division; my group focuses on understanding the impact of climate variability and change on fisheries management.

My Covid experience is a bit different from that of other people. The Fisheries Service has taken a very conservative approach to work since the onset of Covid in March 2020; we’ve been on full-time telework from the beginning (21 months and counting; now at the beginning of the Omicron). I’ve seen the inside of my office three times, each just a very brief visit simply to retrieve a book or some papers. (I miss looking out my office window at the sunsets over the ocean and hoping for a green flash.) All my work interactions have been through the computer, either email or video conference calls. My “office” is a corner of our dining room (and eight steps from the refrigerator), while Julie (my wife) is downstairs in the third bedroom (our study). This gives us enough separation for our onslaughts of daily video calls. In one sense, it’s surprising how well it has worked, but on the other hand, it’s hard to feel connected to the people I supervise.

It’s a shock to go out and see folks having relatively normal interactions.

On the personal side, Julie and I have been married for 27 years. My son, Nathan, from my previous marriage, is 41, and he and his wife have an eight-year old daughter. They live in Aspen, and he is splitting his time between carpentry and management of the ski patrol at Snowmass. Since Covid, it’s been difficult to get together; instead, we’ve had plenty of FaceTime calls. We were also unable to visit Julie’s dad in Australia before he passed, due to all the Australian-imposed travel restrictions. Unfortunately, during the graveside funeral, her comments had to be delivered via Skype. Missing family gatherings has been the hardest Covid consequence. What few social skills I had have significantly atrophied!