Employee Shoutout: Nathan Myers

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Dallas Peck was a volcanologist who served as USGS Director from 1981-1993, and the USGS Scientist Emeritus Program was established during his tenure. The Dallas Peck Award recognizes significant contributions and exemplary service made to the USGS mission by a Scientist Emeritus. 

Mr. Nathan Myers retired from his position as the Chief Scientist and Groundwater Specialist in September 2018. Since then, Mr. Myers has continued to exemplify USGS Guiding Principles as a Scientist Emeritus and continues to inspire us all through his genuine love of science and enthusiastic motivation to see projects through, begin new projects, and foster the successes of employees at his center.   

This past fall, Nathan organized a Geology and Hydrology tour of the Albuquerque Basin for employees at his Center. He worked with hydrologists, hydrologic technicians, and administrative staff in order to provide this learning opportunity. Employees who presented on the tour were able to share their knowledge in a collaborative field-trip platform, which was informative, enjoyable, and a relationship-building experience. This was a truly collaborative effort for the whole office, and it brought together employees that don’t often collaborate in their day-to-day work.   

Mr. Myers is incredibly focused. His dedication to his work can only be described as inspiring.  He completed a modeling report in May 2019, which demonstrated his dedication to our cooperators as well as everyone he worked with.  He is an expert in groundwater and a resource to all staff in the center on groundwater and many other subjects. In the past four months, He created a program to develop composite regional hydrographs and has developed several other tools and programs using scripting and Geographic Information Systems that are useful to the center and will be for years to come. Through all these technical efforts, Mr. Myers engages new employees in order to share his knowledge and get new ideas from others. He has energy for many things that have gotten abandoned or have always been a good idea but didn’t have an account to charge. With his energy, he galvanizes others to collaborate, and we accomplish more than we ever thought we could.   

Nathan creates long-lasting cooperative working relationships, whether at a meeting, a conference, or simply over a lunch-time conversation; he is always connecting people. Mr. Myers is a continual learner and his scientific curiosity is contagious and spreads to everyone that he works with.  

Above all, Nathan is a generous mentor and is always ready and willing to listen to new ideas, provide feedback, advice, and encouragement. Whether it is a new student with a question about the file archive, a Research Hydrologist with a question about conceptualizing a model, or an administrator attempting to remember a project or cooperator from 10 years ago, he is approachable and answers every query with respect and thoughtfulness. Despite being busy with countless projects, Mr. Myers always finds time and a cheerful attitude to help anyone that asks for it.   

The New Mexico Water Science Center is very grateful to have such a dedicated and inspiring leader, qualities that have made him an exemplary candidate for this year’s Dallas Peck Outstanding Scientist Emeritus Award. The Dallas Peck Award will be presented on Tuesday, September 15, 2020, at the USGS Headquarters in Reston, VA.