John Luczaj: Geologist digs his career

“One of the best things about being a geologist,” University of Wisconsin-Green Bay geoscience professor John Luczaj says, mock-seriously, “is being able to take your hammer and just smash a rock.”

Of course, the healthy release of aggression is just one aspect of the field Luczaj loves. As he sits in his office, paperwork scattered in deep piles like an excavation, he rattles off a list of six major projects he’s currently working on like it’s not three times a normal workload. “It’s a lot, but I like it,” he says.

Despite his long list of tasks and duties, he confesses to a pet project: the expansion of his dissertation on studying dolomite through the lens of hydrothermal systems. “Essentially, no one had looked at the rocks from a hydrothermal standpoint,” he says, meaning he’s the first to consider the effects of water temperatures on the rocks.

If this is all starting to sound like a science textbook, consider the importance of these environmental elements: earthquakes, volcanoes, gas prices and tap water quality all only make sense if you keep geology in mind. In fact, the sheer scope of the field, something that might daunt less ambitious scientists, actually enticed Luczaj. “I like big picture things, and I like variety.”

Indeed, as he talks he seems to realize just how much he likes it. “I’m pretty happy … [I guess I] couldn’t be happier,” he says, sounding surprised at the realization that his extraordinarily busy lifestyle is his true calling – and truly fulfilling.

It’s not difficult to see why his geological career makes him happy – an abundance of natural human curiosity fuels his work.
Referring to science as “the glue that holds the world together,” he asks rhetorically, “How does the earth work?”

“Have you ever thought about what’s beneath your feet?”

Gubbi “Sudha” Sudhakaran: Let’s get physics-al

You may not expect to bump into Nobel Prize-winning physicists in La Crosse, Wis., nestled next to the Mississippi River. Surely, you’d think, this quiet city with its old-fashioned ice cream and gift shoppes (the extra “pe” complimentary!), must lag behind other Midwest metropolises when it comes to attracting world-class scientists. Well, as Gubbi Sudhakaran told me, you wouldn’t be the first.

As chair of the physics department at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Sudha (as he insists everyone call him) presided over an almost complete turnaround of the department from near extinction to international fame. Despite working as a laser optics researcher in the past, he currently focuses on teaching and administrative duties, keeping up the reputation of the department he raised from the dead. (Who wouldn’t be protective of his resurrection?)

Under his tenure, the UW-La Crosse physics program teamed up with UW-Madison and other larger schools to offer specialized physics degrees for qualified students. The vast majority of these students did “very well,” and other schools have now begun using Sudha’s plan as a model. “I had this idea … but I think persistence pays off.”

And what of the Nobel Prize winners wandering around town? They’re here because of Sudha’s goal of bringing at least one each year to lecture and interact with students in lectures and lunches. This October featured Frank Wilczek of MIT, who came to talk about, among other things, the Big Bang and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

“You need physics … professors who can bring [it] down” for everyone to understand, he says. “Every Nobel Laureate is so ordinary, and ready to help. … [Sometimes they even say] ‘Guess what, I got C’s in physics! I’m like you!’ ”

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