What does a Biosystems Engineer do?
Trayle Kulshan Biosystems Engineering (BS, 1998) Natural Resources Emphasis Clemson University This one goes to graduate school. (Unfortunately this does not mean I do not work, it means I am not paid very much). I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Hydrogeology at Stanford University. I work with Dr. Steve Gorelick in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences in the Hydrogeology Research Group. Our group does a variety of applications, but all of them involve computer modeling at some level.

I am very excited about the project for several reasons. I have been interested in coastal aquifer systems and saltwater intrusion for a long time because I grew up on an island with such problems. Additionally, my efforts are part of a large group of scientists devoted to characterizing the on-off shore interactions of the aquifer system. The USGS Water Resources Division, Marine Geology Division and the Water Replenishment District of Southern California have been very generous in offering support and data. Click on the map to see full-size image. (24K)

Suface geology, major faults and monitoring wells of the Central and West Coast Basins, Los Angeles County, California. Link to a full-size screen image of this map (Image 72 dpi, 112 K) Link to a fulls-size printable page of this map (Image 300 dpi, 720K)

Graduate school is not all work though. I have had some great opportunities to learn and travel. Last summer I took five weeks and joined a geologic expedition to the Altai Region of Southern Siberia. The premise of the field trip was to do some reconnaissance work on super-flood deposits similar to those in the Missoula Complex of the western United States. The huge gravel bars (Inja photo) and fluvial dunes (Kuray Dunefield photo) are hypothesized to have been formed when an ice-dam burst allowing its lake to flood a huge mountainous area. The sheer size of these formations and the fact that they are made of gravels and cobbles are both evidence of enormous sustained flows. The bars have formed in tributaries of the main Katun River channel and, as seen in the photo, the cross bedding in the bars indicates that the flows that formed them were directed upstream in the tributary. Additional evidence of the flood is shown in this picture of water scour into the cobbles around a large boulder.

Click on the images below to see the full-size photos. (Size 48 to 56K)

The first four weeks of my trip were spent camping and hiking with a great group of Western and Russian scientists as well as some Russian students and friends (16 in all). Besides hiking to the many impressive geologic and geomorphologic sites, we also had some fun. There were five birthdays in four weeks (one of which was mine) which made for some long nights toasting warm vodka to the moon. For my birthday, we hiked to an Aktru glaciological camp in the South Kuray Mountains (Kuray Basin photo) where we had a Russian sauna (wow!) and hiked up the Balshoy Aktru glacier (photo). It was very impressive and beautiful. That night our driver, mechanic and master chef, Byrom, cooked "shashlik" which are Russian barbecue-like shishkabobs.

At the southern-most part of our journey, we camped in the Chuya Basin (photo) which is large and desert-like. There we were shown the Mongolian border (photo). We were served a meal from a generous Mongolian family who lived in a traditional yert. Later that day, the two Russian scientists and I ate lunch with a secret police officer (I did not quite understand his title, and I do not think I was supposed to) and the officer who ran the border crossing. The lunch was arranged because there had never been an American woman at that military base. It was a real neat experience, although I have to admit a little scary.

After four weeks in the field, I went on a solo journey to Moscow. I rode the Trans-Siberian railroad for 48 hours from Novosibirsk to Moscow. It was nice to see the countryside change, but I got a little bored of being by myself on the train. I had a blast for three days in Moscow. I saw the tourist sites and went to Red Square. I met a nice Russian girl and we hung-out and went to an outdoor concert in front of St. Bastille Cathedral that the city was sponsoring for the founding of Moscow.

One of the amazing things about the culture is that Russia is technologically fully advanced, yet much of the infrastructure has not been maintained or has simply been left unfinished. We saw half-built bridges, left as is because they ran out of money. The photo shows a hydroelectric dam that failed and was abandoned. The villages (photo) were all very simple, almost third world in character. In the cities like Novosibirsk and Moscow, there are signs of westernization and a growing economy. Although this could be a positive thing, it also creates huge class separation; wherein the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

I gained a lot of knowledge and experience from this trip. I learned about glacial, fluvial, diluvial and other sedimentary deposits and geology, and saw some of the world's most classic examples. I learned about a unique and changing culture. I could go on and on and on about how much fun I had and about the people I met. This was truly a great experience in my life. I should thank the Center for Russian and East European Studies without whom I could not have had this wonderful five weeks.

Graduate school has been great and stressful. I have floundered and flourished. I am learning a great deal about geology, cultures and also, about myself. I have the freedom to explore those things I find most interesting, rewarding and important. I think this freedom is what is both scary and invigorating about my choice to remain in an educational environment.

I hope this gives a small insight into
the types of environmental work done
by Biosystems Engineers!

Agricultural Biological Engineering Department `
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