Professor David McGeary was born and raised in central Pennsylvania, learning to love the Nittany Lions as well as shoofly pie for breakfast. He earned his B.S. degree at Williams College, M.S. at University of Illinois, and PhD at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He helped pay for grad school by teaching scuba diving. David has been married to his wife for more than 30 years, has two grown sons, and a handmade house he built with his brother on 10 country acres. He taught geology at California State University for more than 23 years, specializing in physical geology, sedimentary petrology, oceanography, and field methods. He retired in 1995, turning his portion of the text over to the excellent hands of fellow professor Diane Carlson. He is now a theater actor, appearing in 5 productions in 1997. His favorite role was as Colonel Jessep in A Few Good Men.