Professor Jack Ridge’s affinity for geological formations, as his last name might suggest, began early in life. When he was five years old, his grandfather started taking him along on hikes. While ambling through the outdoors, he developed an interest in the processes that shape it, which was cemented by his first college Geology course. Over the past 31 years as a professor in the Earth and Ocean Sciences (EOS) department, Professor Ridge has worked most often with students who are not like him: majors and minors who had no idea they were interested in studying Geology before coming to Tufts. According to Professor Ridge, fewer classes in this area of study are being taught in high schools. Impassioned explorers and scientific investigators who, upon their graduation, will proudly wield the rock hammer that is the major’s parting gift, often stumble into the department serendipitously, through its popular intro courses. For those who choose to stay, EOS offers a dynamic education in two majors: Geology
and Geological Sciences, as well as a minor in Geoscience and, for engineers, in Geology. Part of what excites EOS students is the immediacy of what they are studying: the department cares not only about theory but about applications. Professor Ridge’s own research examines how the atmosphere interacts with soils and glaciers to influence climate change. He explained that past glaciation can be determined from lake deposits. Like rings on trees, lakes have annual layers, which can be used to construct a detailed history of the climate in the area. One of his current projects finds its inspiration only a few miles from Tufts, in the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a state park that is popular among locals looking to escape into the outdoors. Professor Ridge and some of his students are mapping the Fells in order to create an app that visitors can use for navigation. He said that the project has gained ground through data collected for a recent senior thesis.
As an undergraduate-only department, EOS provides its students with unprecedented research opportunities. The department helps to fund research trips with destinations that are always changing. Two years ago, Professor Ridge led ten students on a trip to Death Valley. Caroline Gleason ’17, a Geological Sciences major, was a sophomore at the time. “Being out there in such a different world, and with the resources of the department, we were able see things that tourists might not catch on to,” she said. “We were thinking critically at every stop and became a tight knit group along the way.” For Professor Ridge, opportunities for field experience are “life-changing” because they allow students to engage directly with their area of study, not as textual material but as organic material: real, right before their eyes, and brimming with information. —-ABIGAIL MCFEE ’17
JACK RIDGE PROFESSOR, CHAIR OF THE EARTH AND OCEAN SCIENCES DEPARTMENT
PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER
“Part of what excites EOS students is the immediacy of what they are studying”