Moving Heaven and Earth

Scott Myers ('83) will move heaven and earth for his clients. Or, more accurately, he helps them move about heaven and earth. As a district sales manager with Industrial Scientific Corp., he is working now to provide a hydrogen-detecting instrument for a NASA observational balloon. Myers' company sells instruments that measure dangerous levels of gases, a feature required for this specific NASA project.

And he has done the same for a more down-to-earth client - NASCAR. "Two years ago," explains Myers, "NASCAR's seven-time Winston Cup Champion Dale Earnhardt kept passing out in the cabin of his race car. His team approached us, and ISC fitted his cars with carbon monoxide-detecting instruments. Supposedly, Earnhardt will not drive in a car without this feature now."

The geology graduate expected to find a career in exploration geology, but found sales more to his liking. When Myers first joined ISC, his territory included two states, and total sales hovering at $100,000. Now based in Maryland, he covers six states and generates nearly $3.2 million in sales, and has helped establish a government supply agency for ISC.

Myers was a lab assistant at JMU and still remains close with members of the geology faculty. "I loved every minute of being at JMU and I come back whenever I can," he says. "When I graduated, I envisioned traveling out west or working on an oil rig. But I began my postgraduate life with a job looking for gold. The economy wasn't conducive to that line of work 13 years ago, but my geology degree has proved very useful in helping people solve real-world problems. I owe that to JMU."