Day: September 29, 2021

Ward, Peter

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Dr. Peter Ward is a paleontologist and astrobiologist at the University of Washington and a world-renowned authority on mass extinctions, climate change, evolution, and astrobiology.  His research examines the history of life on Earth over billions of years, focusing in particular on mass extinction events.  That work gives him unique ‘deep time’ perspectives on the future of life on this planet, as well as the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.  Dr. Ward has appeared on NOVA and Ted Talks and written over a dozen popular science books including “Rivers in Time: the Search for Clues to Earth’s Mass Extinctions” and “The Flooded Earth: Our Future In a World Without Ice Caps.”   In Dec. 2019, Peter presented on “The (Coming) Great Simplification.”  (Updated Oct. 2021)

Kelman, Melanie

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Melanie Kelman is a volcanologist with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) in Vancouver. She first became interested in geology as a child, when her father, a hobby rock collector, took the family to quarries, gravelly lake shores, and mine dumps around western Canada and the United States. She completed a B.Sc. at the University of Saskatchewan in 1994, an M.Sc. at Oregon State University in 1998 (studying altered seafloor rocks from the Tonga trench in the southwest Pacific), and a Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia in 2005 (studying volcano – ice interaction at southwest BC’s Mount Cayley volcanic field).

After brief stints working in industry, drilling for metallurgical coal and then looking for gold in ancient volcanic rocks, Melanie started work with NRCan in October 2007 during the Nazko region volcanic seismic swarm (which did not lead to an eruption). She currently devotes her time to volcanic hazard research, volcano emergency planning, and the preparation of educational materials. If volcanic unrest were to occur again in Canada, she would play a major role in monitoring, hazard assessment, and eruption forecasting.

In May 2018, Melanie lectured to the QGS on the “Sea to Sky Geo Tour—Geology of the Vancouver to Whistler, BC road.)  (Updated Oct. 2018)

Badger, Tom

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Tom has a BS in geology from Western Washington University (1983) and an MS in geological engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno (2002). In 1984, he started work with the Washington State Department of Transportation, monitoring instrumentation for the I-90 Mt. Baker Tunnel project. Tom has been employed with WSDOT since, served as the Chief Engineering Geologist, and retired in 2017. During his 30-year tenure with WSDOT, he’s had the good fortune of working with many talented professionals on a great variety of transportation-related earthwork and structure projects, as well as many landslide and rockfall remediation projects.

eHe is a past chair (2000 and 2002) of the Washington Section of AEG, and a past chair (2003-2009) of the Engineering Geology Committee for the Transportation Research Board, National Academy of Sciences. He is licensed in Washington State as an engineering geologist, hydrogeologist, and professional (civil) engineer. In March of 2018, Tom lectured on “Geology, gravity and growth of landslides in Washington.”  (Updated Oct. 2021)