Gerald W. Bawden, Program Scientist in the Earth Surface & Interior and Terrestrial Hydrology Programs

Gerald Bawden

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Gerald Bawden is a NASA Program Scientist in the Earth Surface and Interior and Terrestrial Hydrology Programs and is responsible for Research and Analysis for Natural Hazard research science.  He supports the NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, the UAVSAR Airborne Program, as well as the Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAAC) at the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF).  He serves as the NASA-USGS liaison for solid earth and hydrology. 

Dr. Bawden is at NASA Headquarters on an extended detail (an Interagency Agreement IAA) from the USGS that began in 2014.  Prior to joining NASA, Gerald oversaw the USGS Western Remote Sensing and Visualization Center in Sacramento California, which specializes in the utilization of space, airborne, and ground based geodetic measurements to understand the fundamental mechanisms and tipping points that drive natural and anthropogenic hazards including earthquakes, land subsidence, volcanic unrest, floods, landslides and debris flows.  His research also includes glacier dynamics, ecosystem characterization, geodetically derived snow water equivalent techniques, levee stability, and 3D scientific visualization.  He has been an active participant in the Internal Charter, supporting global disasters.  Dr. Bawden received a B.S. from the University of California Santa Barbara, a M.S., and Ph.D. from the University of California Davis.