Once, the stereoscope and planimeter were the office tools of the engineering geologist, just as the Brunton compass and hand level were the tools of the field. The planimeter, Brunton and hand level all allowed for measurements to be made, which was good, but the stereoscope allowed visualizing more than could be seen with the naked eye, and that was great. Today, remote sensing technologies help with all of this, and the engineering geologist needs to be as versed in them as they once were with stereoscopes and Bruntons. Platforms are well established and yet still have tremendous untapped potential. Additionally, skills for back calculating what must have happened based on evidence left after an event will always be valuable, but so will skills for back calculating based on comments, images and videos posted by the public. Where once we could only imagine what happened, now we can often see it. Beyond the excitement of this, there is the potential to learn even more about earth processes.

Scott A. Anderson was named the Richard H. Jahns Distinguished Lecturer for 2016-2017. This lectureship was jointly established in 1988 by the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG) and the Environmental and Engineering Division of the Geological Society of America (GSA) to increase student awareness about applied geology.

Until recently, Dr. Anderson was the Geotechnical Engineering Technical Services Team Manager for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). He led a national team of geotechnical engineers that assist state and local transportation agencies through technical assistance, training and deployment of new technologies. Prior to joining FHWA fifteen years ago, he worked in positions from Staff Geologist to Senior Consulting Engineer and Landslide Technology Leader for a major A/E design firm and spent four years as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Hawaii. Now he is a Principal Geotechnical Engineer for BGC Engineering Inc. Dr. Anderson earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in engineering geology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and Colorado State University, and Master's and Doctorate degrees in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a licensed engineer and practicing engineering geologist with over 30 years of experience and approximately 100 publications and invited presentations. He has grown and lived in many places along a general path from Boston to Honolulu and now makes his home in Colorado, where he enjoys all the outdoor time he can get.