Instructor Biographies
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2008 Field Seminar Program
Instructor Biographical Information
John Bishop
Dr. John Bishop is Associate Professor of Biology at Washington State Univ. Vancouver campus and President of the Board of Directors of the Mount St. Helens Institute. His research, funded by the National Science Foundation, focuses on mechanisms that control the development of new plant communities. He is especially interested in how herbivores and lack of nutrients shape colonization of barren areas. John is a 1996 graduate of
Rebecca Forbes
As the owner of Pixelegacy, Rebecca is a skilled photographer with 15 years of experience teaching technology and art to people of all ages and skill levels. Rebeccas provides patient, thorough, fun and understandable training to help you capture star-qualifty photos and then store, print and share them easily.
Dr. Andrew Fountain
Dr. Andrew G. Fountain is a professor of Geology and Geography at Portland State University, and currently chair of the Department of Geology. He has taught at PSU for ten years specializing in glacierstudies. Prior to PSU, he worked for the US Geological Survey in their glaciers project office. His work has taken him to Alaska and Arctic, Sweden, Antarctica, and to the many glaciers in the American West. He has published over 40 scientific papers on glaciers and continues to be active on the national and international scientific scenes.
Arden Hagen
As an avid birder and the President of the Vancouver Audubon Society, Arden has been birding for 29 years. He has identified 691 bird species in North America and 2190 throughout the world. Arden has traveled extensively in Africa, South America, Central America and throughout the United States. Birding is always a big part of his travels.
Larry Mastin
Dr. Larry Mastin is a Geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver. His research interests include the physics of volcanic eruptions, volcanic ash clouds, and magma-water interactions. At Mount St. Helens Larry has studied the effects of water on the cooling cracking, and explosive activity within the lava dome that formed in 1980-86. Larry has also studied the growth history of the current dome-building eruption and its implications for the size of the magma body and its implications for future activity. Larry graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the
Tom Pierson
Dr. Pierson started his geological education collecting rocks from neighbors' driveways in New Jersey in the late 50s and completed it in 1977 with a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Washington. This was followed by 3 years of post-doctoral research with the New Zealand Forest Service. He has been a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory and as adjunct Professor of Geology at Portland State University. Dr. Pierson focuses on volcano hazards involving the mobilation and rapid movementof rock debris and water down the flanks of volcanoes--debris avalanches, lahars, and floods. Current projects include the assesment of lahar, debris-avalanche, and flood hazards at Mt. Hood, Oregon. Dr. Pierson is currently a fellow of the Geological Society of America and a member of the American Geophysical Union and the International Assosciation of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior. His bibliography includes over 60 scientific publications.
David R. Sherrod
David Sherrod is a field geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s
Volcano Hazards Team. He mapped widely through the Cascade Range of Oregon in the 1980s and early 1990s before being transferred to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in 1996. While at HVO he monitored the ongoing eruption of Kilauea volcano. Elsewhere along the island chain he detailed
the volcanic history of Haleakala, island of Maui, and recently published the Geologic Map of the State of Hawaii. In June 2004 Sherrod transferred to the Cascades Volcano Observatory, just three months before the September 2004 seismic unrest and subsequent eruption of Mount St. Helens. He is the lead editor of a soon-to-be published 37-chapter USGS book on the volcano’s renewed eruption.
Roy Wilson
Roy Wilson, otherwise know as Itswwot Wawa Hyiu (Bear Who Talks Much) was born on the Yakam Indian Reservation to an Indian father and non-Indian mother. He is part Cowlitz, Chinook, Yakam and Inroquois and is an enrolled member fo the Cowlitz Tribe. Roy serves as the tribe's traditional spiritual leader, the tribal shaman and storyteller. He does beadwork and carving and is the author of numerous books.
Vancouver Sidewalk Astronomers
This loosley knit group of amateur astronomers from the Vancouver/Portland area are dedicated to sharing a view of the heavens with all who are interested. Star parties provide an excellent way to be introduced to astronomy. Unlike most sciences, the amateur can play a major role in astronomy and the Vancouver Sidewalk Astronomers have years of experience sharing their love and knowledge of the stars.
