‘I feel like I’m made for that job’

Recent geology grad Eder Tavera hired at CalGEM

By California State University, Bakersfield

October 22^nd, 2025

When he was working in the oilfields not long after finishing his time in the United States Army, Eder Tavera would regularly work alongside engineering geologists from CalGEM, or California Geologic Energy Management Division. Those geologists, some of them veterans themselves, encouraged Tavera to return to school and earn his degree.

A few years and one bachelor’s degree in geological sciences from California State University, Bakersfield later, Tavera has now landed a job with CalGEM as an engineering geologist himself, calling it a full-circle moment.

“Just constantly seeing and engaging with these guys in a professional setting, that’s what led to them mentoring me and influencing me to get back into school, especially in geology,” said the 35-year-old Tavera. “I feel like I’m made for that job. I feel like I can contribute. I'm extremely lucky that everything played out according to how I envisioned.”

Tavera has already proven to be an outstanding addition to his team, said his boss, Jeff Kimber, who oversees the Field Engineering Unit as a supervising oil and gas engineer at CalGEM.

“His strong enthusiasm for geology and the sciences drives his commitment to understanding our work and mission,” he said. “His prior oilfield experience has been especially valuable because it’s a solid foundation that enables him to grasp new concepts, and he share his oilfield knowledge with his colleagues which strengthens our team.”

As a CSUB double alum himself — earning his bachelor’s and master’s in geology in 2014 and 2018, respectively — Kimber knows the university produces reliable, work-ready graduates like Tavera that can become valuable team members.

“CSUB has consistently prepared graduates for successful careers at CalGEM by equipping them with both a strong technical foundation and a passion for California geology and engineering principles, which are essential to our mission of protecting the environment and groundwater resources from the impacts of oil and gas operations,” Kimber said.

As an engineering geologist at CalGEM, Tavera now goes out to oil rig sites to ensure maintenance and well abandonments are being performed with strict adherence to state regulations. Tavera feels well-prepared for the job, now able to better understand things at work thanks to his education. But he’s not stopping at his bachelor’s degree — Tavera started in the CSUB geology graduate program this fall too.

“Working for CalGEM, I know they’re really big on their engineers and geologists pursuing their master’s degrees,” Tavera said. “I feel really lucky that I’ll be able to continue with school and still manage a full-time job.”

Two degrees in geology and a career as an engineering geologist wasn’t initially what Tavera had in mind for his life after getting out of the Army in 2015. He first planned to become a police officer, but when his academy start date was postponed, a chance meeting with CSUB’s Veterans Success Center coordinator, Jamie Pacheco, changed the course of Tavera’s life.

At the time, Pacheco was working at Bakersfield College (BC) when Tavera visited the campus. Knowing about his time in the military and that his police academy plans were on hold, she wouldn’t let him leave BC without enrolling in classes, Tavera remembered.

“I am incredibly proud of Eder and all that he has accomplished,” Pacheco said. “It has been an honor to be part of his academic journey and to witness his growth, dedication and success firsthand.”

The two reunited when Tavera transferred from BC to CSUB and began working in the Veterans Success Center, but it wasn’t his first time on the campus. Tavera recalled coming to CSUB as a kid every summer for the National Youth Sports Program. Growing up in a low-income area, he saw what education could do to save young people from poverty or gang violence.

“I would come here, and it was just grandiose to see these buildings,” Tavera said. “I would see the athletes hanging out, the students shaded under trees and going over books. I would just daydream about being a Roadrunner one day.”

As a new student, Tavera expected he would just show up for classes and go home. Instead, he found himself getting more involved with the college experience both on campus with the Veterans Success Center and off, such as with a research fellowship at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

“I just knew that I wanted to show up for my peers, I wanted to show up for my professors, I wanted to show up for the people who believed in me,” Tavera said. At CSUB, he’s found “a grounded, rooted feeling that I belong here.”

That’s why he knew he wanted to return to CSUB for his master’s degree, which he is currently pursuing under the guidance of Dr. Chris Krugh, an associate professor of geology and the graduate program’s director.

“I have a lot of trust and admiration for the geology professors here,” Tavera said. “They've all been instrumental in developing me as a student and as a geologist.”

For Tavera, the chance meeting with Pacheco at BC and getting to know the CalGEM geologists in the oilfields have led him straight to an education and career he feels blessed to have, almost as if it was all plotted out especially for him.

“I think about all this stuff in hindsight,” he said of the connections and where he might be now without them. “Sometimes I’m just like, ‘Man, am I living in a simulation right now?’ How did all this come together so fluidly? How is it that I’m so lucky?”