2013 President John Piccininni

Nature or a developer had placed career hints and puzzles in the vacant lot behind my boyhood home. Two large pink granite glacial erratics with thick layers of mica were more colorful than a candy   store. At 8 or 9 years old in the 1950's I didn't have a camera or a rock hammer, but I looked, poked and wondered. A short distance away, my street intersected Gun Hill Road up which George Washington's troops hauled their cannons during an early retreat from the British. The sparkling surface of a vacantlot at this intersection was Manhattan Schist. It was covered with deep glacial grooves and scratches pointing north - northeast towardnearby New England.  Another puzzle.

2013 - John Piccininni

By education I am a physical geographer with a background in geology. As an undergraduate I was in a Geology and Geography Dept. in a college within the City University of New York. Since it wasn't a large department, majors tended to take courses in both fields and at both campuses. As I moved further into geology I realized that I couldn't graduate with a double major. Lacking several math and peripheral science prerequisites for the geology degree, it would have been unwise to stay beyond four years. If I did, my Vietnam era student deferment would end immediately.

I began my graduate degree at the University of Chicago. Geomorphology was taught in my Geography Dept. as were fun courses such as Pleistocene Environments. I spent time with folks in the Geophysical Sciences Department (where J. Harlan Bretz had an office). They had funding for field trips around the country during breaks and for local trips on weekends. Soon I developed a fanatical interest in caves and karst geomorphology, and I became a lifetime member of the National Speleological Society. I grew in many ways during my travels on caving, climbing and backing trips.

In Chicago I met my wife Remy, a surgical intensive care nurse at the UC Hospitals. After 6 years in water quality programs at EPA's Regional office, we moved to Portland. We live in a 100+ yr. house on the Alameda Ridge and have two adult children. For nearly 30 years I worked for BPA as a surface and ground-water quality specialist in environmental, hazardous waste, and Fish & Wildlife programs. While in the hazardous waste program, I benefited from the excellent hydrogeology training courses offered by the National Ground-Water Association.

As a new GSOC member I didn’t know many local geologists. Past GSOC presentations appeared to focus on the Columbia River Basalts, Ice Age Floods and local geologists. Most GSOC members were not geologists and probably lacked a broad historical geology context. So, as Vice President, I invited a range of geographical geology presentations. Other guest speakers covered relevant topics including landslides, earthquake hazards, and shale gas production.