Hello, my name is Alan Gelatt. I live in Romulus, NY, which is located in the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York. My dream job (the one that I have now!) is at the Romulus Central School (RCS), where I teach Earth Science and Environmental Science. Through a local community college I also teach two college level courses (Geology in the fall and Physical Science in the spring) to 12th graders at our high school. RCS has approximately 600 students, pre-K through 12th grade. In addition to teaching I do a lot of extra-curricular activities. I coach boys modified soccer and am the co-advisor for Ski Club and the Senior Class. I also advise the Stage and Lighting Crew, Colorguard and Marching Band. In my spare time I am working with the local comprehensive planning commission.

I grew up in Gelatt, PA (yes, it was named after an ancestor), a very rural northeast Pennsylvanian community with a population of only about 50 people. Because of the rural setting, I spent most of my youth outside, or wishing I were outside. There was a very good fishing stream running through town, and a lot of woods to build tree forts and go camping in. I was always, and still am, connected to the environment.

I spent a lot of time figuring out what I wanted to do when I grew up. So after two separate tours in the Navy, and with help from my wife Joan, I obtained my geology degree from Alfred University (NY) and my Masters in Education at Mansfield University (PA).

I have an active interest in showing my students how their classroom knowledge can be applied in the field. The students are led on numerous field trips throughout upstate New York. We investigate mineralogy at the Herkimer Diamond Mine, glacial geology and weathering at Watkins Glen State Park, glacial deposition and erosion at Mendon Ponds Park and Chimney Bluff State Park, and geology and physics at the Niagara Gorge. We also study the limnology of Seneca lake at “Science on Seneca” at William Smith and Hobart College. Finally, we also attend Physics Day at Six Flags, Darien Lake. The school has an 11-acre plot, maintained by my classes, that contains a nature trail used by all grade levels. It is nice to be in a school district that supports the sciences! 

After getting my dream job at RCS, I settled with my family -- wife Joan and sons William (now attending college at Norwich University), David (10th grade) and Matthew (8th grade) -- in a historic home in the village of Romulus. It is a large Greek revival in which the original section of the house was built in the late 1700's and the large addition put on in 1840. The house was used as a stop in the underground railroad. For the most part, it is still as it was in the 1800's. We love our money pit! Helping us occupy it are our five cats and a dog. I have landscaped or reclaimed half of the four acres for lawn, and the rest is left natural except for the mowed nature trails through it.

It is an extreme honor to be chosen to participate in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program – US Implementing Organization (IODP-USIO) sponsored Teacher at Sea (TAS) program. I am excited to join in the cutting edge research on the IODP non-riser drilling vessel, the JOIDES Resolution. For the next 49 days, I will be spending time in each of the labs on the ship, creating laboratory activities for grade levels 9 through 2nd-year college using data and possibly core samples from Expedition 309.

During this expedition, the JOIDES Resolution will be deepening a previously drilled hole (1256D), located at a superfast spreading ridge (>200 mm/yr) on the East Pacific Rise, from its current depth of 500 m to approximately 1400 m or more. We hope to pass through the pillow lavas of the volcanic basement into the underlying sheeted dike complex. Results from studies of Expedition 309 rocks will aid in the understanding of lithology, structure, magmatic processes and hydrothermal circulation of oceanic crust in this region.