Subdivision
| • | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | [X] |
| | 1 | Name: | Dr. Thomas H. Jordan | | | Institution: | Southern California Earthquake Center; University of Southern California | | | Year Elected: | 2002 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1948 | | | | | | |
Thomas H. Jordan received his Ph.D. in geophysics and applied mathematics from the California Institute of Technology in 1972. He has taught at Princeton University, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served as head of MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences from 1988-98. In 2000 he moved to the University of Southern California where he currently serves as University Professor of Earth Sciences. In 2002 he also became the Director of the Southern California Earthquake Center. Dr. Jordan is a geophysicist interested in the composition, dynamics, and evolution of the solid earth. His research concerns seismology, plate tectonics, the formation of continents, mantle structure, earthquakes and fault systems. He developed seismological techniques to make major discoveries about the three-dimensional structure of the earth's deep interior. He found that continental cratons have an underlying deep structure that translates with the continents during plate motions, and he discovered that lithospheric slabs penetrate deep into the lower mantle, demonstrating that the mantle convection system responsible for plate tectonics extends throughout the mantle. He has done seminal work on plate motions and plate-boundary deformations, slow earthquakes, and seafloor morphology. Dr. Jordan's contributions have been recognized with the James B. Macelwane Award from the American Geophysical Union in 1983, the George P. Woollard Award from the Geological Society of America in 1998, and the National Associate Award of the National Academy of Sciences in 2001. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2002. | |
| 2 | Name: | Dr. Marcia K. McNutt | | | Institution: | National Academy of Sciences | | | Year Elected: | 2002 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1952 | | | | | | |
Marcia K. McNutt received a B.A. in physics at Colorado College and a Ph.D. in Earth sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1978. She was a geophysicist for the Branch of Tectonophysics of the U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park from 1979-82. In 1982 she joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, serving as the associate director of the SeaGrant College Program from 1993-95. For the next two years she directed the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Joint Program in Oceanography. From 1997 to 2009 she directed the privately funded Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, serving as its president and chief executive officer. In 2009 President Obama nominated her to be the Director of the United States Geological Survey and her nomination was approved. She stepped down as Director of the USGS in February 2013 and returned to the west coast. In June 2013 she became Editor-in-Chief of "Science," the journals from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was elected President of the National Academy of Sciences in 2016. In 2017 she was named the Desert Research Institute's Nevada Medalist.
Marcia McNutt is an active student of the Earth's physical properties. She relies for her field and modelling work principally on geophysical data, some of which she has collected herself in the course of more than 20 oceanographic cruises using equipment she helped to design. Her studies have led to more than 90 papers in international refereed journals on such topics as convection in Earth's mantle, continental break-up, and the uplift of the Tibetan plateau. Dr. McNutt is the recipient of the Macelwane Medal and the Maurice Ewing Medal of the American Geophysical Union, the MIT School of Science Graduate Teaching Prize, and the Sanctuary Reflections Award of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. She was elected president of the American Geophysical Union in 2000-2002. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences and was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2002. | |
| 3 | Name: | Dr. John A. Orcutt | | | Institution: | Center for Earth Observations and Applications, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego | | | Year Elected: | 2002 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1943 | | | | | | |
John A. Orcutt received a B.S. at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1966, graduating 3rd in Class. He went to the University of Liverpool as a Fulbright Scholar and received an M.Sc. in 1968. He was the chief engineer of the nuclear submarine USS Kamehameha for the U.S. Navy, 1967-73. In 1976 he earned a Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, and joined the faculty at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography as an assistant research geophysicist in 1977. Subsequently he became professor of geophysics and the director of the Cecil and Ida Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. He was the director of the UCSD Center for Earth Observations & Applications and deputy director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and is currently Professor of Geophysics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Distinguished Researcher at the San Diego Supercomputer. John Orcutt has made major contributions in marine geophysics and particularly the elucidation of the volcanic mid-ocean ridges. He was the first to discover an active magma body beneath these ridges and his work led to the initiation of a major, continuing research program called RIDGE. He has taught an exceptional number of students in geophysics, and they have now assumed important leadership roles in the study of the oceans and the continents. He has played an important role monitoring the Earth for nuclear tests and is currently leading a new program to establish a permanent presence in the oceans for detecting changes in Earth systems. Dr. Orcutt has served as president of the American Geophysical Union and has received numerous awards, including the Newcomb-Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1980) and the Maurice Ewing Medal from the American Geophysical Union and U.S. Navy (1994). He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2002 and a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2011. | |
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