Zelma Maine-Jackson
Born
Gullah-Geechee Nation
Other namesZelma Jackson-Maine
Alma materVirginia State University University of Washington
Scientific career
InstitutionsWashington State Department of Ecology

Zelma Maine-Jackson, also known as Zelma Jackson-Maine, is an American hydrogeologist at the Washington Department of Ecology known for her long-term role in environmental remediation of nuclear waste at Hanford Site, for which she was covered in the Daughters of Hanford feature of Northwest Public Broadcasting in 2015.[1]

Early life and education

Maine-Jackson was raised by her grandmother in the Gullah-Geechee Nation in South Carolina until the age of seven when she moved to the U.S. Army Base in Heilbronn, Germany with her parents.[2] She was inspired to study geology by her grandmother, a mid-wife, who taught her as a child that red clay was used to treat iron-deficiency in women.[2] Her science based education and fluency in the German language paved the way for her later acceptance in an integration program. Partnered companies (ARCO, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil) would pay for the participants' undergraduate education and in the summers the students would work in oil fields or uranium exploration sites.[2] She earned her bachelor's degree from Virginia State University and her master's degree in economic geology from University of Washington.[3] While working on her master's degree, Maine-Jackson found herself working at Mount Baker, only 300 miles north of Mount St. Helens when it erupted in 1980.

Career

Maine-Jackson started her career as an exploration geologist specializing in uranium mining in the Rockies for the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company.[4] In the 1980s, she worked on drill rigs, including at the Hanford Site, where she studied the flow of groundwater toward storage sites of radioactive hazardous waste and analyzed the core samples that were drilled out.[1] She has worked for the Washington Department of Ecology Nuclear Waste Program on decontaminating the Hanford Site for over twenty years. Maine-Jackson currently serves on the Board of Earth Sciences and Resources for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Division on Earth and Life Studies.[5]

Advocacy and Leadership Positions

Maine-Jackson is a trustee at The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina, where she works to protect loggerhead sea turtles and wildlife in the ACE Basin.[2] She served on the State of Washington African American Affairs Commission during four governors,[6][3] as chairperson of the City of Kennewick Diversity Commission,[7] as a two-term appointee to the Washington State Community Economic Revitalization Board,[3] and an advisory member to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.[3] She is a founding member of the National Association of Black Geoscientists.[3][8] She has also served as an advocate for communities damaged by the environmental impacts of nuclear waste.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "Daughters of Hanford: A Black Woman Geologist Digs Into Hanford Soil". Northwest Public Broadcasting. August 1, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Women in Conservation". The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "The National Academies Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, 2020 Membership Biographies" (PDF).
  4. 1 2 Hunter, Dana. "Black History Month: Making History in the Geosciences". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  5. ↑ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering (October 21, 2019). "Board On Earth Sciences And Resources". Assuring Data Quality at U.S. Geological Survey Laboratories. National Academies Press (US). ISBN 978-0-309-49562-2.
  6. ↑ "Locke appoints to African American Affairs Commission and various state boards and commissions". State of Washington Digital Archives, Governor Gary Locke. January 29, 1999. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Kennewick's new Diversity Commission tackles complex issue". Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business. August 11, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Sponsor Information | National Association for Black Geoscientists". GrantForward. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
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