Carrie Laudon: A Life Shaped by the Earth

Carrie Laudon’s path into geoscience was not defined by a single moment of discovery. Instead, it was shaped over time by experience, family, and a deep and lasting connection to the natural world. After her career has taken her from the Yukon, to Alaska, to Texas and beyond, she reflects on that journey with clarity and conviction. Geoscience, she believes, is not only a way to understand the Earth, but one of the most important tools we have to protect it. 

Carrie grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in a household where geology was part of everyday life. Her father was a professor of geology, and his work shaped her early experiences with the Earth sciences. “My dad was a professor… and that kind of, right off the bat, explains why I ended up in the geosciences,” she recalls. “He took his students to the Yukon every summer, and we would camp for 8 weeks.” Those early experiences instilled in her a familiarity with landscapes that many students only encounter later in life. They also made her career choice feel almost inevitable. When she enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, she chose geology without much hesitation. “We all ended up as geoscientists,” she says of herself and her four siblings.

Even so, her path within the geosciences took shape gradually. As an undergraduate, she began taking physics courses after struggling to get a space in chemistry classes, which were required for other larger majors. That unexpected shift moved her in a new direction with a lot of career potential. “There were 30 geologists for every geophysicist… so that pushed me to study geophysics.” What began as a practical decision became a defining feature of her career.

Carrie continued her studies in graduate school, eventually transferring to the University of Minnesota to complete her PhD. There, she faced one of the most difficult moments of her academic career when her advisor, Dr. Harold Mooney, passed away early in her program. The loss created both professional and personal challenges, but she remained committed to finishing what she had started. “That made things a harder… but I pushed through that,” she says. With support from others in the department, she was able to complete her degree under a third advisor, Dr. David Yuen. She also carried forward a sense of resilience into her next phase of life. 

Like many graduate students, Carrie initially expected to pursue a career in academia. Instead, a different opportunity emerged. “I assumed that I would be looking for a postdoc… and then I got a summer job in Alaska,” she recalls. That experience, working with the oil company ARCO, introduced her to industry and opened the door to a new professional path. From there, her career expanded in both scope and geography. Her first role with ARCO placed her at the center of subsurface exploration, where geophysics plays a critical role in identifying and characterizing potential energy resources. She worked with seismic data, using sound waves sent deep into the Earth to map underground structures that can’t easily be inferred from wells or surface geology. The work often involved integrating seismic data with well information and regional geology to better understand hydrocarbon systems. The work required both technical understanding and geological intuition, translating complex datasets into meaningful interpretations about what lay beneath the surface. It was an introduction to the scale and impact of applied geoscience, where decisions informed by data could shape entire drilling programs.

Her next position was with another Alaskan company called Arctic Geoscience working in both the energy sector and on environmental projects. This position included field work that took her to remote locations in Alaska and as far away as Russia, where she contributed to projects in vastly different geological settings. There, she encountered new subsurface conditions and operational challenges that required flexibility and problem solving. The work incorporated surface or shallow geophysical investigations such as electromagnetic and ground penetrating radar surveying. It was not only a technical exercise but also a collaborative one, requiring coordination across teams, languages, and scientific approaches. These experiences broadened her perspective and reinforced the global nature of geoscience work.

Eventually, Carrie joined Schlumberger, where she would spend nearly two decades building a career at the intersection of science, technology, and industry. In this role, she pivoted from hands on interpretation to working with Schlumberger’s customers on utilizing their geoscience software technology to evaluate the subsurface. Her work focused on helping clients build sophisticated workflows for utilizing their seismic and well data to its full extent.. Over time, she took on increasing responsibility, moving between projects and locations as well as between technical and management roles while contributing to both technical problem solving and broader strategic efforts. “I spent 17 years with them… and ended up moving a lot,” she says.

Throughout her career, Carrie drew on her combined training in geology and geophysics to connect data with real world conditions. “Geophysics is like a toolkit… to apply to geology,” she explains. Whether she was interpreting seismic images, evaluating reservoir potential, or working alongside engineers and geologists, her focus remained on making sense of the Earth in a way that could inform meaningful decisions. In some cases, she observed how industrial processes could intersect with groundwater systems in ways that posed risks. 

Over time, Carrie developed a broader perspective on the role of geoscience in society. Studying the Earth, she explains, changes how you think about time and change. “It does let you take the long view a little bit,” she says. Having this perspective shaped her understanding of climate change early in her career. After attending a seminar while in graduate school on global warming, she came away with a clear sense of its inevitability. “That was so eye opening to me… this is going to happen, absolutely.” Years later, she has now seen those predictions unfold, reinforcing both the urgency of the issue and the importance of scientific insight. 

Geoscience, she believes, plays a critical role in understanding and addressing these challenges. It provides the framework for studying complex systems, from groundwater flow to global climate patterns, CO2 sequestration, and offers tools for developing meaningful solutions. “You have to really understand geologic systems… to try to turn things around,” she says. Many of these challenges operate at large scales, requiring scientists to think beyond individual sites and consider entire systems. Whether examining watersheds or global processes, geoscientists must be able to integrate data, theory, and observation in new ways.

At the same time, advances in technology are transforming the field. Data science and artificial intelligence are creating new opportunities for analysis and interpretation. “Understanding AI… will be very important,” she says. Yet she is careful to emphasize that these tools cannot replace human judgment. “You can’t get a computer to do the work of a geoscientist 100 percent.” For students entering the field, Carrie sees both challenge and opportunity as the field evolves. The problems are complex, but the potential for impact is significant. Geoscience offers a way to engage directly with the forces shaping the planet, from resource management to environmental protection. It is a field that demands curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to think across disciplines.

Reflecting on her own career, Carrie sees a path defined not by a single decision, but by a series of experiences that built on one another over time. From childhood summers in the Yukon to decades of global work, each step contributed to a deeper understanding of the Earth and its systems. “I can’t think of another science that would be more important to preserving humanity than geology.”