On a planet filled with cool rocks, Ethan Penner ’21, MS ’22, found one of many coolest — freshly cooled, because it occurred.
The slab of black basalt got here from Iceland, which he visited on a Binghamton University journey throughout his grasp’s program. A 12 months after a volcanic eruption, the bottom proved cool sufficient for strolling; Penner found the rock and introduced it residence.
At his New Jersey condominium, he hoisted up the basalt, corded as if it have been constructed from bundled ropes. On the again, he traced shining crystals: a mixture of feldspar and olivine.
“There are certain minerals that only form in certain places. To get an igneous mineral that came straight from a volcano really blew my mind,” he mentioned. “It’s definitely the coolest spot that I’ve ever found a rock.”
When he’s not working at his day job at an environmental consulting firm, the geological sciences alum is called Rock Man Ethan (rockmanethan) to his 1.7 million followers on TikTok and 130,000 on Instagram. And his social media star continues to shine: Penner is amongst National Geographic’s inaugural Creator Cohort, which brings collectively content material creators in conservation, wildlife images, science, and historical past.
Over the course of the six-month program, Creator Cohort members will take part in model occasions and actions and make content material immediately for National Geographic, highlighting their initiatives and applications. They’ll additionally head to some wonderful locations — though, for specifics, you’ll need to tune in and see what unfolds.
Penner’s declare to fame is the catchy sequence “What’s Inside that Rock?” through which he finds cool rocks and breaks them open with a hammer to see what’s inside. He additionally creates movies that debate geological discoveries and geology-related information, or which clarify ideas and ideas central to the self-discipline.
“I want to push geology as far as it can go,” he mentioned. “In the end, my goal is to bring people content that helps them and inspires them to pursue their passions.”
From rocks to likes
Originally from Garrison, NY, Penner’s love for the outside drew him to Earth Sciences as a toddler. His household inspired his curiosity; his uncle gave him a rock assortment, and his mother and father took him on journeys to Howe Caverns, he mentioned.
Drawn to Binghamton for its science applications, he participated within the First-year Research Immersion’s environmental visualization stream, which launched him to the usage of drones, geographic data programs and knowledge processing to unravel complicated environmental issues. His workforce targeted on methane emissions and had the chance to current their analysis at an educational convention, he mentioned.
On the social media entrance, Penner started sharing enjoyable pictures in highschool, drawn by the prospect of connecting with others. In 2020, he created his rockmanethan accounts as a inventive outlet throughout the pandemic, sharing among the information he acquired at school.
His first viral video was a part of his “What’s Inside that Rock?” sequence. In his mother and father’ yard, he picked up a plain rock; a pointy faucet of the hammer revealed the shine of quartz inside. He was shocked when it obtained 5,000 likes.
“At the time, that was huge for me. I didn’t even know 5,000 people. For the first two or three episodes, I was running around and shouting into my phone, telling people what I found and how excited I was,” he mentioned. “There was something about that equation of ‘guy breaking open a rock with a hammer and showing off crystals’ that made sense for the algorithm, and people watched it.”
Practice makes good, and Penner has since change into expert at discovering cool rocks and cracking them open, revealing minerals and even tiny fossils. He’s gone past the yard to different locations, wherever he occurs to be.
Along the way in which, he solid connections with organizations such because the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, the Association of American Petroleum Geologists, the Geological Society of America, and finally National Geographic.
The analysis expertise Penner obtained at Binghamton is an important ingredient for his success, he mentioned.
“I know how to ask a question and find the right sources,” he mentioned. “At the end of the day, I want to be someone who relays information, makes it fun and gives the proper sources due credit because that’s what science is about.”
He’ll undoubtedly uncover much more cool rocks throughout his time with National Geographic, though he admits that the Icelandic basalt could be laborious to beat. Maybe lava recent from the eruption, he quipped.
The partnership with National Geographic is the last word dream come true for a science-related content material creator. It’s opened up a large vista of prospects, for which Penner is grateful.
“I never expected any of this to happen,” he mentioned. “Every day that I get to post content online and interact with thousands of people — I never take it for granted.”