Thanks to the Hamblin Global Geology Fund, geology students have the opportunity to travel the world.

W. Ken Hamblin, a former geology professor, started the Hamblin Fund in 1998 for geology students to benefit from experiences unavailable in the U.S. Hamblin passed away recently, but because of Hamblin’s fund, 22 students and three professors were able to explore and draw upon research in India for two weeks this summer.

“If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be able to have these experiences,” said Tyler Hair, a senior majoring in geology.

Hair traveled to India this summer and said the Hamblin Fund helped subsidize the cost of traveling to India.

Hair said traveling to this part of the world was particularly exciting for students because the Himalayas are the most recent continent-to-continent collision in the world, which means the geology at this location is the best and most well preserved to date.

Ron Harris, a professor of geological sciences, has gone with students to Alaska and Eastern U.S. on geology trips previously in addition to going to India this summer.

Harris said he became aware of Hamblin before attending BYU because of a textbook Hamblin had written, and he came to BYU with the hopes of taking a class from Hamblin.
While he was an undergraduate student, Hamblin went on an expedition to Africa and invited Harris to come along. Going to Africa had always been a dream of Harris’, and the trip set a tone of exploration in his life.

“When you experience something like that, you want to share it with people,” he said.
This is Harris’ reason for taking part in the geology trips, but he said it was Hamblin’s reasoning for starting the fund, as well. 

Harris had the opportunity to interact with many research colleagues from the University of Delhi, many of whom said there had never been a group of students who had done a trip going through most of the Himalayas like theirs before. He also said seeing his colleagues be impressed with students’ conduct was a wonderful payoff.

“It was great not only to share India with students, but to share students with India and colleagues as well,” he said.

Kirk Schleiffarth, 24, majoring in geology, also went to India. He said before going, he was mostly excited about the geology aspect of the trip, but after spending time there, the culture was what stuck with him the most. Schleiffarth and the other students had the opportunity to hear the Dalai Lama speak in India, and he said it was an eye-opening experience to see people with such a strong devotion in such a different part of the world.