Morales, Juliana
BSc, 2013
What undergraduate program you did at UTM and year of completion?
I graduated from UTM in 2013 with a Specialist in Geology.
How you have progressed to your current profession?
During the summers as a student, I worked as a geologist-in-training for several junior exploration companies conducting field work. This field experience over my university summers provided me with the skillsets to secure a full-time role after graduation. I started my career under a new graduate program for a large diamond mining company. This opportunity allowed me to experience what work can be like under various environments, such as at corporate offices, remote-based seasonal field work for exploration programs, and fly-in-fly-out rotational work at mining operations. Looking back, I have always appreciated that program for giving me the sense of what work best fits my lifestyle. Eight years and counting, and I have worked as a mining geologist across Canada, in both open pit and underground mines, mining for gold and diamonds. The variety of this work has been highly rewarding and has aided me in developing new skills from physical tasks to computer software to people management. This career has given me the opportunity to travel the world, to understand where and how the materials are mined that powers the world, and for that I am extremely grateful for my studies.