Max Salman

I sort of fell into what I am doing today. I’ve always had a passion for flying. Ever since I can remember I wanted to be an airline pilot. I’m not sure why I decided to study earth science and physics at university. I wasn’t a very good at math and had a tutor. Also, I didn’t have the best attitude to school. I took a physics class in grade 11. At the end of the term, my physics teacher took me aside and told me I did not have a future in physics, and to not aim at pursuing a career in it. Today I’m working in geophysics. Go figure J

I became a better student at university. It just sort of clicked with me. I wanted to push myself a bit and I still had that itch about wanting to fly airplanes. So, while I was doing my B.Sc. I got my pilot’s license. I wanted flying to be part of whatever career I ended up doing.

When I finished my B.Sc. I worked in airborne geophysics. This involves doing land mapping and surveys from the air. I worked in South America looking for gold flying 200 feet off the ground in plane with special equipment. It was very exciting! We were flying just over the tops of the trees. As an airborne geophysicist I got to travel to Nunavut, Greenland, Norway, Iceland, and all over the USA.

When price of oil dropped in 2015, exploration work dried up. I was laid off so I started a consulting business. I work with the people in the mining and agriculture sectors who need geophysical expertise. I also decided this was a good time to upgrade my qualifications. I went back to school to do a Master’s degree in Earth Science. While doing this I was a teaching assistant on some university courses. I found that I enjoyed this and got my certificate in university teaching. I thought that I might want to teach full time at university. To do this you need to have a Ph.D. so I stated a Ph.D program.  Unfortunately, my first kick at the can was up not my standards. I had conflicts with my supervisor and felt I wasn’t progressing as I should. I decided to switch universities. I moved my Ph.D. to McMaster where I am now. This has set me back several years but I’m back on track. On the positive side, the work I had done toward my first attempt at the Ph.D was credited into a Master’s degree in Applied Science (Civil Engineering).

So there I was; a geophysicist who flies airplanes and working on a Ph.D. My research is on integrating geophysics with satellite data. My new supervisor suggested I take a course on Synthetic Aperture Radar. This is a type of radar that creates 2D and 3D images of the Earth using satellites. Pulses of radio waves are sent to the surface under study. Then sensors record information that is reflected back. This is used to create an image. It can be done at night and through clouds.

One of the instructors from that course works for Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. She was looking at how drones can be used for agriculture scanning. I reached out as my previous work was related. I got a position as a research affiliate with the Department. So, now I’m working on a Ph.D. that focuses on my personal interests. At the same time, the results of my study are supporting the work that I do for the federal government. As you can see, my path has not been straightforward but it all makes sense. With all the things I have happening, my time is limited. My consulting business is more of a part time operation now. I take on interesting projects when I can fit them in. I still fly at every chance I get. In a lot of ways, my Ph.D. is like my hobby. I’m looking forward to the next adventure!