• New Guest Post! Research Assistant, Volcanic Hazards, Elaine Smid @lavabombs: A Day in the Life Series

    July 21, 2014 Author: Sandie Will
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    Elaine Smid - Presenting at scientific conferences

    NAME:  Elaine Smid CURRENT TITLE:  Research Scientist AREA OF EXPERTISE:  Volcanic Hazards YEARS EXPERIENCE:  6 EDUCATION: B.A. Environmental Science, University of Virginia (2000); M.S. Geology & Geophysics, University of Hawai’i at Manoa (2004); PhD in progress, University of Auckland WEBSITE: https://unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz/profile/e-smid What’s your job like? I would describe my job as challenging, but always fun and very rewarding. I am a research and project management assistant for a long-term, multi-disciplinary international research project aiming to quantify the volcanic risk to people and the services they rely on to live in Auckland, New Zealand. The project is called DEtermining VOlcanic Risk in Auckland (or ‘DEVORA’ for short) (see: http://devora.org.nz). The problem is that Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city and lies directly atop a dormant volcanic field that could produce an eruption at any time, threatening the lives and livelihoods of 1.5 million people. The DEVORA project is all about understanding

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  • Professor, Volcanology, Dr. David Pyle @davidmpyle: A Day in the Life Series

    June 24, 2014 Author: Sandie Will
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    Reconstructing a volcanic eruption for London Volcano. Copyright David Pyle

    NAME:  David Pyle CURRENT TITLE:  Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, UK. AREA OF EXPERTISE:  My research is mainly in the area of volcanology, igneous petrology and geochemistry – unravelling the stories of past volcanic eruptions, and trying to work out what makes volcanoes ‘tick’. My current research projects are focussed in Latin America (southern Chile; Ecuador and Colombia); the eastern Caribbean (St Vincent and Montserrat) and Ethiopia. YEARS EXPERIENCE:  about 25 years in research EDUCATION: B.A. in Geological Sciences, and PhD in Volcanology at the University of Cambridge; postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), and then lecturerships in Cambridge, followed by Oxford. WEBSITE: http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/people/profiles/academic/davidp What’s your job like? My job varies from day to day, and the perennial challenge is to keep the research going while balancing all of the daily tasks that can end up consuming most of your time. During term

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  • Postdoctoral Scholar, Volcanology, Alison Graettinger @AlisonGraetting: A Day in the Life Series

    June 19, 2014 Author: Sandie Will
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    Volcanologist

    NAME:  Alison Graettinger CURRENT TITLE:  Postdoctoral Scholar AREA OF EXPERTISE:  Volcanology YEARS EXPERIENCE:  8 EDUCATION: 2 yrs master’s, 1 yr research assistant, 3 yrs PhD, 2 yrs post doc WEBSITE:  http://agraettinger.weebly.com/ What’s your job like? My work is research focused, with light teaching and mentoring responsibilities. My research focuses on experimental physical volcanology. At the moment this means making man-made, maar-type volcanoes using dynamite. The craters we make are between 1 and 3 meters wide with jets that get up to 20 m tall. We do between one and two experiments a year. So the rest of the time is spent planning experiments, analyzing results of previous blasts, writing papers, writing grants, and running a graduate student seminar. There are occasional field work and conferences that involve travel in the U.S. and internationally. What’s a typical day like? This depends on the time of year, but since most of the

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  • PhD Candidate, Volcanology, Tom Pering: A Day in the Life Series @Volcanoblog

    June 4, 2014 Author: Sandie Will
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    NAME:  Tom Pering CURRENT TITLE:  PhD Candidate AREA OF EXPERTISE:  Volcanology (Remote Sensing and Modelling) YEARS EXPERIENCE:  4 EDUCATION: BSc Physical Geography at the University of Reading and MSc Volcanology and Geological Hazards at Lancaster University WEBSITE:  http://www.volcano-blog.com/ What’s your job like? Studying volcanology is fantastic, but of course hard work at this early stage in my career. I am currently coming towards the end of my second year, with one year remaining. I am lucky enough to be funded by a NERC studentship in combination with the University of Sheffield which allows me to concentrate fully on work and study. I have a lot of freedom to explore and investigate my own ideas which all helps to keep the day-to-day schedule as varied as possible. I am also getting teaching experience as a teaching assistant during field courses and lab work. What’s a typical day like?  A typical day

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