Meet Mattison Shreero

We recently connected with Mattison Shreero and have shared our conversation below.

Mattison, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

Creativity is something I try to exercise on the daily! I think it’s important to employ creativity in basically everything you do, whether that thing is an explicitly creative venture or not. Getting creative, seeing things from new perspectives, and thinking outside the box allows you to problem solve and learn in ways others might not.

I come from a background of art and science – I double majored in geology and studio art in college – and I approach both of these disciplines with healthy dose of creativity. Which is exactly how I keep my creativity alive; even when I take on tasks that aren’t typically seen as something requiring creativity, I get creative anyway. It is this daily practice that keeps my creativity alive, thriving, and well. Practice makes perfect, right?

In times when I feel creativity is lacking in my life, however, I try to surround myself with the things that I feel inspired by and make time to be intentionally creative. For me, that looks like getting out into nature and away from society, going on adventures, listening to music, reading books that inspire me, and being intentional about doing art (whether its in the form of drawing, painting, writing, or jewelry making).

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Hi everyone! I’m Mattison, and I tend to dabble in a lot of things and have far too many side projects (you can blame ADHD for that), but these days I’m on a mission to make science fun and accessible for everyone! And a big part of accomplishing that is taking the initial steps towards founding a science communication non-profit that I like to call “GeoSplore”.

Remember the days of Bill Nye? The Magic School Bus? The Crocodile Hunter? Yeah, back when science was fun and people cared about the state of the environment? Let’s bring that back! As a paleontologist and geologist, I want to bridge the growing gap between scientists and the general public and I think Earth Science is just the way to do it.

Let me tell you why…for my day-to-day job, I work as a Park Ranger, so I spend most of my days chatting to visitors who come to the National Park I work at from all over the country, and I teach them about the history and natural history of my park. The biggest trend I’ve noticed in my time working as a ranger is that people overwhelmingly ask me about the geoscience of the park, without knowing I have any sort of expertise in the topic…

I think there’s a very good reason why that trend persists – people are naturally inquisitive about the world around them, so when they go out and visit places like National Parks and see the beauty of the landscape and feel connected to nature, they want to know how it all came to be. And they often times realize they need to learn about the rocks. But there’s a problem, they were never really exposed to geology in school (it’s not exactly a high school graduation requirement), so they don’t have the background knowledge to understand a lot of the written resources on the topic – that’s why they ask a Park Ranger. They’re looking for someone who can meet them at their level and truly explain and interpret the deep time of the place they’re in.

My team and I want to create all sorts of open-access educational resources, materials, and content for people who want to learn more about the planet we all share! But one of our main missions is to create a user-friendly, location-based, free, interactive mobile application that presents paleontologic and geologic information to users in an interpretive and accessible way. As a user drives and explores the nation’s landscape, this app (again called “GeoSplore”), will provide notifications on the user’s cellular device about geology and paleontology as they see and experience them in real time. Our long-term mission is to bring an entire interpretive geoscience ecosystem to the general public and science education community alike. The GeoSplore mobile app and web-based experience will aim to inspire curiosity and create connections between the user and the planet, thereby inspiring environmental protection, sustainability, and responsible recreation!

Though it is just one missing piece in a puzzle riddled with missing pieces, I truly believe that a society-wide understanding of the basics of geology has the potential to inspire a sense of loyalty to the planet and drive people towards bettering the environment on a time scale longer than our own lifespans. So let’s save the world together, people! Who’s in?

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Passion – In my humble opinion, you need to be passionate about the things you do in order to make it through life. Without passion for what I do, there would be no journey to talk about. Passion is certainly the driving force in my life. My advice is to follow your passions (yes, all of them), be devoted to gaining as much experience with them as you can and learning as much about them as you can, and you’ll be surprised where your path through life will take you!

Persistence (aka stubbornness) – Sometimes, pursuing the things you’re passionate about, however, takes persistence – a wonderful trait that is far too often branded as “stubbornness”. I’ve come to accept being “stubborn” as a compliment (“Why yes, I do unapologetically and wholeheartedly pursue the things I am passionate about without letting any one or anything stand in my way! Thank you for noticing!”). When you’re first starting out in a field, there will always be people who will tell you you won’t make it or you’re not cut out for it, but you’ve got to know yourself and your ability! Never let others dictate what YOU know you’re capable of. Get out there, do what you love, and don’t stop doing it.

Open Mindedness – That being said, keep an open mind, be flexible, and be ready to adapt and jump at any opportunity that comes your way. I’ve found it’s super important to take advantage of opportunities that arise on your path, even (and sometimes especially) if they don’t fit into your “plan”. It’s never a bad idea to have a plan, just don’t become so attached to that exact plan that you miss out on all of the other amazing things life has to offer. And while you’re at it, keep an open mind in every way! It never ever hurts to be a kind and accepting person; you’ll make lifelong friends that way.

Basically, what I’m saying here is if you pursue what you’re passionate about, be persistent in pursuing it, and remain open and flexible to opportunities that come your way, you’ll forge a path through life that you enjoy traveling down and (hopefully) you’ll do some good for the world.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Yes yes yes! Are you interested in the GeoSplore concept? Want to do something good for the planet with your free time? I’ve got a small but dedicated team already, but I am still looking for…

COMPUTER SCIENTISTS/PROGRAMERS – I don’t know how to code at all!!! I need programmers (perhaps with a passion for natural history or perhaps with a desire to do something good for the world) to help my team and I build the GeoSplore app. Let’s make more scientific information accessible to everyone!

GEOSCIENTISTS – GeoSplore will target an incredibly broad range of consumers, from experienced geoscientists to the naturally-curious, inexperienced individual. Two broad categories of users will exist – general users and contributors – that’s where you geoscientists come in! GeoSplore contributors have the ability to add and revise entries (known as GeoPoints) to the GeoSplore database, similarly to Wikipedia, allowing the app to amass (and fact check) crowdsourced knowledge and make it publicly available. So if you’re a geoscientist who loves documenting your geologic travels, or someone who takes really good field notes, or someone who want to get their research out there for the general public to not only access but also understand, please consider adding your knowledge to our project!

SCIENCE COMMUNICATORS – We’re already creating sciece content on social media, but always need more science communicators to spread the word about what we’re doing and help us get the general public interested and excited! There are so many ways we can collaborate together.

GRANT WRITERS – Are you an expert at getting grants? Or setting non-profits? Pleaseee reach out to us! We want to do this right, and we need your help!

If any of these categories fit your specific skills OR if you’re just a passionate individual who wants to get involved OR if you just want to learn more, please reach out to me at [email protected]. Hope to hear from you 🙂

You can also give me (@geosplore) and my partner-in-crime and science communication (@notoriousnaturalistmax) a follow on social media to be sure to hear about any exciting updates in the future!

PS – Want some recommended reading to understand the importance of geology in the climate crisis? Check out “Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World” by Marcia Bjornerud.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geosplore
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@geosplore

  BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/geosplore.bsky.social

  ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mattison-Shreero

  Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/GeoSplore
  (Donate to support our science communication and research efforts! <3)

Image Credits

IMG_3563, IMG_3576, IMG_4769, and IMG_5059 – Maximilian Scott

IMG_8259 and 123_ 1 – Nickie Wheeler

36_Original – Palina Buchanan

IMG_9373 – Madisen Grenstiner

GeoSplore UI Mockup – Mattison Shreero