IRIS is pleased to announce that Dr. Catherine Johnson has been appointed to the position of Coordinator for the IRIS program in Education and Outreach. She will take up the position full time in January, 1998. As Coordinator, she will be responsible for working with IRIS members to develop and implement programs and activities which build on the facilities and resources of IRIS to bring the excitement and stimulation of seismology to the classroom and to the public.
Catherine received a B.Sc. in geophysics from the University of Edinburgh in 1989, having spent her junior year abroad at the University of Pennsylvania. From Edinburgh, Catherine went to IGPP, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, obtaining her PhD in 1994, and continuing at IGPP for a further year as a postdoc. Her thesis work comprised studies in two distinct fields: planetary geophysics, in particular studies of Venus using Magellan satellite data (working with Professor David Sandwell) and geomagnetism, specifically behavior of the Earth´s magnetic field over the past 5 Myr (working with Professor Catherine Constable). Since October 1995 Catherine has been a postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, working with Dr. Sean Solomon. Catherine has continued her work in planetary geophysics as a PI in NASA´s Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program. Her studies of Earth´s geomagnetic field have broadened to include paleomagnetic field and laboratory work.
Catherine has a broad background in seismology: she was responsible for seismic and well log interpretation of North Sea prospects while working for Esso Exploration and Production, U.K. Ltd., during the summers of 1989-1991; she has worked in the field in Jalisco on a portable broadband experiment in 1996; in addition she has been surrounded by colleagues interested in global and regional problems in seismology at IGPP and DTM! Catherine has supervised four undergraduate thesis projects, two via NASA´s Planetary Geology and Geophysics summer internship program. Through these experiences she developed a broader interest in Earth science education (both for future scientists and future non-scientists) as a means of heightening public interest and excitement in science, as a way of promoting educated opinion about environmental issues, and as a way of providing a solid training in the physical sciences. Catherine comes to the IRIS Education and Outreach Program with a strong commitment to Earth science education at all levels.