Geek of the Week: Rosie Leone, Geophysicist

As the semester starts wrapping up and getting hectic, most students are in a frenzy completing assignments with just minutes to spare, but Rosie Leone remains calm. She does this through the balance of being a sometimes mild-mannered geophysicist, having light-hearted humor, and finding time to do what she loves. “The Oredigger” found time to sit down and talk with Leone about her form of geekiness.

[Oredigger]: Why did you decide to come to Mines?
[Leone]: Well, I’m originally from New York, and I like to travel, and I’ve been living in the Northeast my whole life, so I thought “Hey, why not go to Colorado?” And I really wanted to study Geophysics and I heard Colorado School of Mines was the best place to do it.

Why Geophysics?
I like how you can basically do anything with it. The two things that interest me the most are energy and space, especially space, because my life goal is to discover life in other planets. I like Geophysics so far. It’s pretty cool. I’m taking Intro to Geophysics now.

What has been your favorite class this semester?
I really like Geologic Principles and Processes with Humphrey. I like learning how the Earth was made and created. And I like math, so basically all my math courses. My math teacher is pretty cool.

What makes you a geek?
I know 100 digits of pi.

Seriously?
Yeah. [Demonstrates]. I think that’s like 50 or something.
I collect rocks and I like LEGOS. One time I built an entire town of LEGOS, and one time I engineered designed a staircase palace – it was really cool. My next project with LEGOS is doing a scaled design of the Eiffel Tower. I’ll do that when I go back home, because I don’t have LEGOS here, which is depressing.
I’m looking forward to “The Hobbit” coming out. I’ve read most of the books.

What are involved in on campus?
I’m in the Space Society, SWE, Society of Student Geophysicists, and my new own club, Horticulture Club! We plant stuff around campus and we garden. Next Spring you’re gonna see tulips by Guggenheim, and we helped plant those.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
This is hard, I want like all of the superpowers. No, actually I wouldn’t want all of the superpowers because the superpowers would overtake me and control the world. But I would probably read minds. No, wait, fly. No, read minds. Yeah.

How do you like the people at Mines?
The people at Mines are pretty cool. I have friends, which is good. There’s some awkward people here, but… I’m one of those, so it’s okay.
Our geophysics class is all cool. We’re the second smallest major on campus, so we’re going to be real close. We’re like to most social people on campus, so come party with us! Just kidding.

What do you do in your spare time?
Well when I’m stressed, I online shop, which is pretty bad. I read a lot. I’m re-reading “The Hobbit,” and I read “The Godfather” recently, which was really good.

Where do you see yourself in the future?
I see myself discovering life on other plants, you know, maybe living on another planet… going to Europa and discovering the ocean water that exists underneath the ice layer that surrounds the planet. Maybe going to Titan too. Mostly I don’t see myself in the vicinity of our earth, but I’ll live in my vacation house in Venice. Yeah, I like to travel.

Are you planning on studying abroad?
Yeah, I want to study abroad in France of my Senior year. I really want to be bilingual, because there’s a joke, “What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language? American.” I took five years of French, but I’m losing it, so I really want to become fluent in French and study there fall of senior year.

Do you have any advice for Mines students?
They should take time, and go on a spontaneous trip somewhere, and they should travel, because the world is very different, even across the United States.

What’s your favorite thing about Mines?
I like how my teachers know my face, how I’m just not a random person in a lecture hall full of 400,000 people. And I like how everyone here is smart because I don’t like stupid people. [Laughs.] Just kidding.