Understanding the growth of lava domes and cities: Twists and turns in a scientific career

In this talk we’ll look at two seemingly unrelated puzzles, which I’ve spent much of my career trying to figure out. First, we’ll see how my geology students and I have tried to unravel the threats caused by volcanic lava domes, like the ones that have grown off and on since 1980 in the crater of Mount St. Helens. Then we’ll switch gears to see how the policies of cities like Vancouver and Portland can help reduce the dangers of climate change. The common links are that both puzzles can be best solved when examples from many locations are compared, and when many different disciplines are combined. A challenge in both cases is that universities, as well as most academic careers, are not normally designed to foster these kinds of interdisciplinary approaches. The message for students is that you rarely can predict how your scientific training will eventually be applied.

Jonathan Fink, Professor of Geology and Vice President for Research at Portland State University, received his PhD at Stanford University, and then had post-doctoral research fellowships in the Applied Math Department at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and in the Planetary Geology group at Arizona State University (ASU). He spent 30 years at ASU as a geology faculty member and university administrator, helping to set up and then run their urban-focused Global Institute of Sustainability. In 2010 he moved to Portland State University (PSU), attracted by the close relationship the university has with the city of Portland, like Vancouver one of the greenest cities in North America. He serves on the advisory boards of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Oregon chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and the Smithsonian's Natural Museum of Natural History.