Erik Jackson is the Marine tech onboard the JOIDES Resolution. On the ship, his job has two main functions. The first priority is to help process the core as it comes on deck. This job can be extremely fast paced when the sediment core comes up, but can slow down during hard rock
sections.
When the tech is not assisting in the core lab, the work begins in the X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) lab. Responsibilities in the XRD lab include ICP prep to remove contamination from the hard rock core samples. This is a very involved process that includes cutting and polishing the rock, then crushing and grinding the rock to fine powder—with tedious cleaning procedures in between each step. The XRD and associated software allows for powder diffraction analysis of minerals and rock powders with software that has peak matching, mineral and other chemical compound identification facilities. Apart from working in the XRD lab, the marine tech must also supply the microbiology and paleontology laboratories.

You can find Erik spending his free time on board listening to music, socializing with crewmembers, or lounging in his hammock if the weather is nice. On shore, Erik is quite the world traveler spending a great deal of time traveling in Asia. In fact, he hasn’t really been back in the U.S. in the last two years. If he isn’t hiking through remote areas of Asia, you can always find him surfing. Through his many travels, he has made many friends across the globe while visiting some of the most remote areas.

Eric enjoys his current position on the JOIDES Resolution because he is able to apply his degree, and he has lots of time off to travel and surf. Erik also likes that this job allows him to be distanced from the hectic world of mainstream society.

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