ALEX KOLKER, PhD

Earth scientists like me collect data in many ways: with rock hammer and compass, with sediment or ice cores, or with measurements from satellites. As a Gulf Coast scientist working abroad for the year, I have been using a tool called a tide gauge to study sea level dynamics in Morocco, North Africa and the…

Leaving the train station in Benguerir I searched for a taxi. There were four or so vehicles lined up, most small blue cars and one donkey-drawn buggy. I caught one of the blue taxi cabs to Université King Mohammed VI Polytechnique a sleek, start-up institution. Paid for by largely by Morocco’s national phosphate mining company…

Worlds come together, collide and cross at the coast. In few places is more the case than Morocco’s northernmost coast- which I visited in November. A millennium ago, Arabic scholarship made it to Europe through Morocco. Many stars have Arabic names, a mark of Arabian skill in Astronomy during. Important concepts in mathematics, including algebra…

The other week I paid another visit to Safi, this time to deliver a lecture and speak to a class at Cadi Ayyad University.  One of my Fulbright hosts, Samira Idllalene, teaches here, and I spoke to her environmental law class about coastal change, and how we make choices about the future. This lecture informed…

I have been thinking a lot about maps lately as I am making a bunch for work. Maps are one of key products in geology, oceanography, and climate science. We map the world, (or parts of it), to see how the landscape has changed, and then we closely examine this information, and more data, to…

It was cold when we arrived in the Sahara. The wind was blowing hard from the north as we got the plane. “We” were a group of 7 scientists, 3 professors from King Mohammed V University and its Institut Scientifique, two from Belgium, one from the College of Charleston, and me. We were here to…

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the natural history museum at the Institute Scientifique. I visited Dr. Nadia Mhammd, a geophysicist who studies sediment dynamics in coastal rivers. She invited me over to meet with her students and staff, examine some survey lines and look at sediment cores. There are few things in…

The markets and the old cities are some of the most amazing things about Morocco. They are rich in spirit, diverse, and fascinating. In Rabat, I live about a quarter mile from the Medina- the old city, which is about one-half of square mile, surrounded by old stone and clay walls, and lived in by…

I went surfing last weekend. Spoiler alert: despite my time in California I’m not all that great. But, I can catch a wave and stand up a bit. The waves at the beach in Rabat on Sunday were modest but good- 2 or 3 feet.  And really, there’s no experience like intense boost from water…

The rest of my trip south was a set of contrast between worlds. There were contrasts between the developing and less developed worlds, between old worlds and new ones, and between populated and deserted landscapes.  Morocco’s coast, like so many coasts, is a mixture of landscapes, ecosystems, and peoples. I am here, in part, to…