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Western Coastal and Marine Geology Team Welcomes Three New Hires
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)'s Western Coastal and Marine Geology team is pleased to announce that three new employees have recently joined us at the Pacific Science Center in Santa Cruz, California. Jennifer Ludwick is our new contract administrative assistant and office manager, replacing Kathleen Donahue, who left the USGS to pursue a graduate degree in education. Jennifer comes to us from Mission College in Santa Clara, California, where she was an Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Instruction. She holds an Associate in Applied Science Degree, Office Administration/Administrative Assisting, from ESS College of Business in Dallas, Texas. While pursuing this degree, she served as President of the Student Advisory Committee and was a member of the Dallas Central Chapter of Professional Secretaries International. Jennifer is a well-traveled individual, coming from a military-background family, and currently lives in the long-time family home in Watsonville with her two dachshunds. Jennifer co-owns a dance studio and event-production company in Soquel and is a professional belly dancer. Steve Watt has been hired as a contract employee to work with Bruce Jaffe on studies of tsunami deposits. Steve earned a Master's degree with Gary Greene at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) in 2003 and then spent 3 years working for Sea Engineering in Santa Cruz. During his time at MLML and Sea Engineering, Steve became familiar to several of the staff at the Pacific Science Center when he monitored dredging at the Santa Cruz Harbor. That work, which he discussed at length with members of the Western Coastal and Marine Geology team, included mapping areas of the sea floor and looking for changes in offshore sediment texture and benthic habitat. In his new position with the USGS, Steve will be mapping boulder distribution on Bonaire (an island in the Netherlands Antilles) as part of an effort to distinguish storm-wave deposits from tsunami deposits, and looking at shoreline change caused by the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Sumatra. Yes, as a long-time Santa Cruzan, he surfs and mountain-bikes. Mark Buckley has joined the USGS as a term employee to work with Bruce Jaffe on tsunami deposits, sediment transport, and tsunami-inundation modeling. Mark received a Bachelor's degree in physical oceanography from the University of San Diego in 2006. Since then, he has been working toward a Master's degree in ocean engineering from the University of Rhode Island (URI) and working as a graduate assistant for URI's Graduate School of Oceanography. Last summer, Mark accompanied Western Coastal and Marine Geology team scientists Jaffe and Bruce Richmond to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, to look for evidence of historical tsunamis. At the Pacific Science Center, he will apply his strong quantitative background to many aspects of tsunami studies, including inundation modeling and the identification and interpretation of tsunami deposits, particularly those formed by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Mark's hobbies include surfing, snowboarding, and camping. Please welcome Jennifer, Steve, and Mark when you're visiting the Pacific Science Center!
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in this issue:
Teacher Research Experience in Long Island Sound Scientist Shows Evidence for 300-Year-Old Tsunami
Good Showing by USGS Paddlers in Outrigger-Canoe Races
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U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
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