Field Work

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Logging Columbia River Basalt lavas with Richy Brown
I am primarily a field geologist and my work uses observations made on deposits of eruptions and interprets the information in terms of eruptive and magma-supply mechanisms.  My current research interests include dynamics and products of flood-basalt and explosive super-eruptions, and many kinds of smaller explosive and lava producing eruptions.  A recent addition is geologic aspects of disposal of high-level nuclear waste.    

Lectures

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Invited guest lecturer, UC Santa Cruz
I lecture widely on several topics, including the impact of large-scale volcanic eruptions on the environment and our society, relevant to both our present world and past Earth history.  With 40 years of experience in the study of volcanoes and volcanism, I have published numerous papers and articles in specialist, and more general, scientific journals on many aspects of volcanic activity.    
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AGU Chapman Conference Field Trip 2012, Reykjanes Peninsula (Mid-Atlantic Ridge), Iceland. (S. Self in hat).

Professional Experience

  • BSC (Hons), Leeds University UK, 1970
  • PhD, Imperial College, London, UK, 1974
  • Post Doctoral Fellow, Victoria University, Wellington, NZ, 1974-1976
  • NASA Research Fellow
            Dartmouth College, NH, 1977-1979
            Goddard Inst. Space Studies, 1977-1979
  • Assistant Professor, Arizona State University, 1979-1983
  • Associate Prof/Professor, Univ Texas at Arlington, 1983-1990


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Grand Ronde dike, Columbia River basalt province, WA, USA
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May 1963 eruption of Agung Volcano, Bali (photo by D. Mathews)
  • Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 1990-2001
  • Professor, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK; Chair in Volcanology, 2001-2008; currently Visiting Research Professor, 2008 - present 
  • Senior Volcanologist; US-Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2008-2018, Retired
  • Affiliate Faculty, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 2011 - Present
  • Adjunct Professor, University of California at Berkeley, 2012 - Present 

Honors and Affiliations

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With step-daughter Ella, age 9, at AGU Honors Celebration, 2012
 Vice President, 2011-2015, and Life Member, International Association of  Volcanology & Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI)
 Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
 Fellow, Geological Society of America (GSA)
 Fellow, The Geological Society of London (GSL)
 Past leader of UK’s Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group (affiliated with the Geological and Mineralogical Societies)
 Member, The Open University, Geological Society (OUGS)
 Member, Volcanological Society of Sacramento (VSSAC)