Rector earned his B.A. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin– Madison in 1981 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in geophysics from Stanford University in 1984 and 1990, respectively. He joined the Berkeley faculty in 1992 and focuses on exploration geophysics and applied seismology.
Call him: Jamie
Teaching this fall: CE C178, Applied Geophysics, and CE 92, Introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Ringtone on his Blackberry: “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones or “Add it Up” by the Violent Femmes
Has a weakness for: “Great Danes. I have two. They’re sweet, sweet animals.”
When people find out he teaches at Berkeley: “Yeah, I tell them I’m a geophysicist, and they’re usually like, ‘Oooh. You must be smart.’ My wife tells people I’m world famous… in whatever the hell it is I do. I consider myself a scientist, not an engineer. I’m most interested in the why.”
If he could teach any course: “The history of jazz. I love jazz and I played professional jazz piano for many years. I still gig occasionally. I also sing with the Monks’ Chorus at Christmas. It’s a male vocal group that started over 100 years ago. We sing Latin drinking songs.”
Most interesting paper he’s ever presented: 3-D Seismic Exploration for the Victorio Peak Treasure. “Back in my early days here, a consortium of individuals approached me about helping them find a gold treasure they thought was buried in a New Mexico mountain. So we essentially built a brain scan for the mountain. It worked! We were able to find voids and caves in the mountain. Then the consortium ran out of money, so we never found the treasure. But what we learned and the technologies we developed became the foundation for my company, Berkeley GeoImaging.”
How students today differ from his student days: “Their math skills are not as strong, but they’re smarter. I don’t think I could get into Berkeley now.”
Biggest problem facing his field: “The lack of education about natural gas — [Senator] Joe Biden [the Democratic nominee for vice president] didn’t know it was a fossil fuel! I think the attention being paid to biofuels at Berkeley is a big crock of hooey. Natural gas is the best near-term solution to our energy needs. It’s the bridge to sustainable solutions like solar, wind, even tidal. The key is finding better, noninvasive ways to find and extract it. And yes, I believe in conservation. I’m currently installing solar panels on my roof and a solar water heater in my home.”
Final lecture would be on: “Golf course architecture and design. We’d go study at Royal Dornoch [the renowned golf course in Scotland]. Yes, I like to golf.”
