Archive of September 30th, 2007

Teacher at Sea log for September 30, 2007 by Linda Sciaroni

Today I interviewed Akel Kevis-Stirling. His job for the Jason 2 crew is to Navigate. Akel is a local to Hawaii. He went to Castle High School in Kaneohe and then matriculated to the University of Hawaii. His first degree is in Geology and his master's is in Marine Geophysics. He loves his work. He makes good money, he gets to travel, and it is fun. The most interesting place he has ever traveled to was Easter Island. He liked the entire trip and the bonus was a few days in Tahiti.

I interviewed Akel in the Jason Van. We had a short break from rock collecting as we crossed a portion of sea floor that was all sediment with no outcrops. Akel sits to the right of the Jason Pilot. He is in charge of the Fledermouse display and he drives the ship. He works for 4 hours and then he has 8 hours off and then he works 4 hours again. Our watch is from 8-12. He also works as a deck hand whenever Jason enters or exits the ocean.

In discussing his work I learned that his wife is also a Marine Geophysicist and they live in Norwich, England. She works for Fugro who does surveying for the phone companies and the oil companies. With two good quality careers they only live together in the same home 7 months of the year. It is interesting, most of the tradesmen and seamen I have met work very hard for 3 or 4 months and then have 3 or 4 months off. Akel met his wife through his work as a geologist.

Akel wrote his master's thesis on Movement of the Pacific Plate Relative to the Pacific Hotspots. His thesis advisor was Paul Wessel. When Akel was in high school he took math through AP calculus and found he needed to take even more math to complete his education. Some of the classes he took were Geological Math and Equations for Geophysical Calculus with Janet Becker.

For fun he enjoys spending time with his wife, surfing, and playing golf. While visiting friends he has surfed - Tunnels, Acid Drop, Centers, and Majors on Kauai. When asked why he went to college he laughed and said, "I wasn't good enough to be a pro-surfer".

Presented by the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii, with financial support from the National Science Foundation.