I am a consulting hydrogeologist. I work for a company that specializes in the study of the occurrence and characteristics of groundwater - water that exists below the earth’s surface.

In the fifteen years I have practiced, the use of computers has spread into all aspects of the study and the business. We use computers to store, analyze and display results. We use large databases to maintain records of the chemical analysis of hundreds and thousands of groundwater samples. Once chemical and geologic data has been collected, sophisticated mathematical models are used to simulate the flow of groundwater and the fate and transport of contaminants. Many of the programs used to complete these mathematical modeling tasks were written by people at my firm. Recent developments in the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been employed by my company to display the results of our work in a systematic, accessible, and easy to understand manor.

Engineers at my company design and install groundwater treatment systems. During this process Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) programs are used to maintain intricate engineering plans. As with groundwater flow, the engineers in my company use mathematical models of their own to simulate the flow of treatment waters through the systems they design.

As with any business, programs such as spread sheets and word processors are used everyday to make sure that reports are completed neatly and efficiently. Accounting programs are used so that our clients get accurate invoices in a timely manor and vendors get paid quickly.

Fifteen years ago my company owned two computers: a mini-computer with a 20 megabyte hard drive and 2 megabytes of RAM; and, a first generation Apple that was used to run the payroll. Today we maintain a series of hundreds of personal computers linked together in local area networks (LAN) and branch offices correspond with e-mail over the Internet. The PC on my desk includes a 4 gigabyte hard drive, 32 megabytes of RAM, and a 150 megahertz Pentium processor. We’ve come a long way.

As the years have gone by, I have become more and more dependent on my computer for almost everything I do. I first began using computers for managing field data in testing of weapons during the Viet Nam war. I first learned to program the slow, large, cumbersome computers of those days in machine language (a torture I wouldn't inflict on anybody!. As time has gone by, the equipment and software I have encountered has become more sophisticated, user-friendly, and, above all, useful. I am now equipped with windows 95, pentium, and a whole lot of other stuff I'm not even sure of yet. I just got WP8 installed for word processing and similar functions, and it's the best for the purpose I've encountered yet. We manage a huge grants program for municipal sewer construction, where the vast majority of the data is still on various LOTUS 1,2,3 applications. I also use my machine to communicate on the LAN/WAN and/or to the outside world. I have reasonably good access to the internet, which I use primarily to look up technical and regulatory things. I also use my machine for keeping my calendar, addresses, and other related routine stuff.

Fri Oct 2 22:41:33 1998 from dial-199-tnt-03.btvt.together.net
Dayle Ann Stratton <dayleann@frodo.com> 

I worked for most of my professional life as an environmental planner/manager, dealing primarily with water quality issues. I entered this field when personal computers were just beginning to be used on a regular basis. In the agency where I worked, there was at first one computer that was shared by about 20 people. I was among the first, using it both for writing papers and managing data. I saw the use and value of the computer grow in my field: absolutely critical in terms of tracking and interpreting scientific data to assist in management decisions. In an atmosphere very often charged with strong feeling, good data could often serve as a focal point to help people work together in developing solutions they could support. The other increasingly important role of the computer developed as it became possible to link individual computers together in networks and then internets. This facilitated both the availability of information to wide audiences, and a means of communication among people involved. It has radically changed how we as a society go about making decisions, and has, I think, enlarged the discussion. Thus, in a couple of very different ways, the computer has become an important tool in enviromental management.

Thu Oct 15 19:30:22 1998 from 207-172-49-162.s162.tnt14.ann.erols.com
Mark Sutterlin <msutterlin@bbn.com> 

Over the last 20+ years I have used computers to simplify, automate, and improve the recording and processing the data involved in measuring noise and vibration levels for ships, submarines, and occasionally other machines and vehicles. I also use customized computer programs to model and predict noise and vibration for new ship designs, and to assess the impact of various noise and vibration control treatments.

Tue Oct 27 14:33:12 1998 from wright.eeb.uconn.edu
Jennifer Steinbachs <stein@karlin.eeb.uconn.edu> 

I use computers in a variety of ways, both at home and at school. I do all of my home accounting on the computer. I use the web for searching for directions to various places I want to go (5 years in CT and I still don't know my way around). At work, I use computers for email - I network and collaborate with other scientists through email. As a new part of my dissertation research, I am analysing the relationship of a particular gene that is found in a number of different plant species. As I don't do lab work, I collect my DNA data from a database hosted by the National Institute of Health (called Genbank). I then "align" the DNA sequences using one piece of software, and use another piece of software to compare the relationships among the different sequences. When I complete my work, I will produce my graphics for publication and presentation on the computer. If I'm lucky, the location where I present will have a computer with an overhead display so I won't need to rely on Kodachrome-type slides.