EES Alumni Spotlight: Kevin McMichael, BS ‘77

Tom Decarlo tdecarlo@tulane.edu

Where has your Tulane degree taken you?

When I was finishing my degree at Tulane, oil companies were actually coming on campus to recruit new graduates. Even though Tulane was not really known as an oil industry school, I was hired by Texaco right away. I went on to found my own exploration consulting company in 2004. Although I did not realize it right away, I believe my degree from Tulane set me up well with a broad geoscience background and taught me to think “outside the box” more than my peers in the workforce. That really helped me achieve what I wanted to in this field, including becoming my own boss.

What was your favorite course that you took at Tulane?

It was definitely Mineralogy. The professor had incredibly interesting experiences mapping craters on the moon as a former NASA geologist. It was absolutely a challenge, but I learned that it was a really foundational course for me to continue on and succeed in geology.

What is your favorite memory, in or out of the classroom, during your time at Tulane?

Without a doubt, it was a department field trip to the Arbuckle Mountains in Oklahoma. The trip included a combined focus on structural geology and paleontology. Everyone went home with a bucket of trilobite fossils. I recall that the local geological society had already gone out and labelled the rock outcrops, so it was a great learning experience. You can learn about a 10-mile outcrop in a classroom, but you just can’t really comprehend the scale until you are out there looking at it.

What advice would you give to current students in our department?

Find the part of geosciences that really interests you and give it your all. I could always tell apart the people who were capable from the people who truly gave things their all and learned to excel at what they did. There’s really no substitute for expertise, and you get expertise by giving something everything you’ve got. Also, a good way to get started is to find people who are doing what you want to do and just ask them about it or even ask if they will be your mentor!