Dr. Bernard W. Pipkin is Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California. He received his doctorate from the University of Arizona and is a licensed geologist and certified engineering geologist in the state of California. After graduation he worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a variety of military and civil projects, from large dams to pioneer roads in rough terrain for microwave sites. He has been a consulting engineering geologist as well as a university teacher since 1965. Dr. Pipkin is past president of the National Association of Geology Teachers and is a Fellow in the Geological Society of America. He hosted the PBS 30-part program Oceanus that won a local… Emmy for Best Educational Television Series. In 1995 he shared the Clare Holdredge Award with Richard Proctor from the Association of Engineering Geologists for their book ENGINEERING GEOLOGY PRACTICE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. He currently lectures on geology on cruise ships and at last count, he and his wife Faye have been involved in 26 cruises throughout the world. Dr. Pipkin is a private pilot with a flight instructor's rating; he took many of the aerial photos in the book. They have three grown children and five grandchildren and live south of Los Angeles on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Dr. D.D. "Dee" Trent has been working at, or teaching, geology since 1955. After graduating from college he worked in the petroleum industry where his geologic skills were sharpened with projects in Utah, Arizona, California, and Alaska. When the company decided to send him to Libya he decided it was time to become a college geology teacher. He has taught for 28 years at Citrus Community College in Glendora, California, and along the way has worked for the National Park Service, done field research on glaciers in Alaska and California, visited numerous mines in the United States and Germany, picked up a Ph. D. from the University of Arizona, appeared in several episodes of the PBS… telecourse, The Earth Revealed, and served as an adjunct faulty member at the University of Southern California, where he taught field geology. He and his wife raised two children in Claremont, California and when not involved with geology he's either skiing or playing banjo in a dixieland band.
Richard W. Hazlett is the winner of 1996 and 2001 Wig Awards for teaching excellence at Pomona College. He is the first Stephen M. Pauley Chair in Environmental Analysis at the college, receiving this appointment in 2001. His main research interests involve volcanic stratigraphy, igneous petrology and resources, but most recently has been exploring land use issues focusing on the American West. Dr. Hazlett styles himself as transitioning from hard-core geology to environmental studies with a land use/natural resource emphasis. He is a co-author with Bernard Pipkin and Dee D. Trent on GEOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT and the script author of the EARTH REVEALED telecourse series.