I get to travel all over the USA and to foreign countries (Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, and counting) to study soil (play in the dirt there, too). I am an associate professor at a university, so my main responsibilities include teaching college students and doing research. I enjoy the lab activities most because we go outside and work with and/or in the soil.

One of the other really fun things I do is meet with school children, usually fourth or fifth graders, and talk about why soil is important to their lives (food, clothes, etc.), and to the environment. I am what I want to be when I grow up - in other words, I enjoy my job.