Category: National geology

Goldfarb, Ben

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Ben Goldfarb is the author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and named a best book of 2018 by the Washington Post. His environmental journalism has also appeared in the Atlantic, Science, The New York Times, Outside Magazine, High Country News, and many other publications. His next book, on the science of road ecology, will be published in 2022 by W.W. Norton & Company. Ben lives in Spokane, Washington, with his wife, Elise, and his dog, Kit — which is, of course, what you call a baby beaver.

Ben spoke about his beloved beavers in Feb. 2021. (Updated Oct. 2021)

 

Kieffer, Sue

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Susan Kieffer is a geologist and planetary scientist in international renown.  She is known for her research on fluid dynamics of volcanoes, geysers and rivers and for her model of the thermodynamic properties of complex minerals.  She has also contributed to the scientific understanding of meteorite impacts.

Susan Kieffer received her B.S. in physics/ mathematics from Allegheny College in 1964 and is an alumna of Cal Tech, receiving both an M.S. (1967) in geological sciences and Ph.D. (1971) in planetary sciences. She worked with the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona (1979–1990) and was affiliated with both Arizona State University (1989–1993) and Cal Tech (1982). She went on to head the Geological Sciences Department at the University of British Columbia (1993–1995). She is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a 1995 MacArthur Fellow. She was awarded the Penrose Medal by the Geological Society of America in 2014 and is currently the Charles R. Walgreen, Jr. Professor Emeritia at the University of Illinois.

Susan recently moved to Whidbey Island where she is retired, but still actively engaged in scientific writing, research and education. Her most recent book, entitled “The Dynamics of Disaster,” was published by W.W. Norton in 2014.  Dr. Kieffer hosts a popular blog called Geology in Motion.

Sue gave an explosive presentation entitled “Geologic Nozzles” to the QGS in Oct. 2016.  (Updated Oct. 2021)

 

Duffield, Wendell

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Now a pink-cheeked septuagenarian, at a much younger age I earned a BA in geology at Carleton College (1963), MS and PhD degrees in geology at Stanford University (1965, 1967), and then landed a job with the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) to study volcanoes and geothermal energy at home and abroad. My USGS years included a three-year stint as a staff volcanologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory; a north Atlantic sea-floor drilling cruise on the Glomar Challenger (Leg 49); a year working with volcano/geothermal colleagues at the French Geological Survey (BRGM, Orleans); a geothermal summer with the Icelandic Energy Authority in Reykjavik; several volcano/geothermal projects in Central America; field mapping and related studies of volcanic fields in northeastern California, at Coso in southeastern California, and in the Mogollon-Datil volcanic field of southwestern New Mexico. I also participated in USGS responses to the violent eruptions at Mount St. Helens in 1980, El Chichon (Mexico) in 1982, and Mount Pinatubo (Philippines) in 1991.

I retired from the USGS at Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1997, and moved across town to become an Adjunct Professor of Geology at Northern Arizona University. I continue a bit of volcano research, and write essays and books for a broad general readership. My closest professional colleagues at NAU are Nancy Riggs and Michael Ort, two of the worlds most ardent volcano lovers.

In Dec. 2013, Duff told a captivated QGS audience about his “Geologic Adventures at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii.” (Updated Oct. 2021)