Graduate school at Indiana, with field work in China and an internship with Chevron and another with Phillips Petroleum sandwiched in, left her well-prepared for her work in New Orleans. It was a Big 10 school, and the geology department was really high up there. This is where you're on the cutting edge of technology. His business KANE GeoTech Inc., in Stockton, Calif., began in March 1997, spawned by the rash of mudslides triggered by the rains of El Nino, and has since taken him on jobs throughout the country. By adapting TDR to landslide and slope stability situations, Kane can monitor sites quickly, accurately, relatively inexpensively and at a far greater depth than previously possible.
Data collection takes a few minutes versus the hours required with other methods.
Sites are automatically monitored at regular intervals using phone connections between the site and computers, and if something at the site changes, phones automatically call the computers. And while it has captured Kane's imagination and entrepreneurial spirit, it does occasionally rattle his nerves. You worry more about the economy. It's a far cry from his former life. After earning a master's and doctorate in civil engineering from Virginia Tech, Kane launched a teaching career that included stints at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.