Woodford-Eckis Lecture Series

The Woodford-Eckis Lectureship, endowed by Rollin 鈥27 and Caroline Eckis, was initiated in 1980 in honor of Professor A.O. Woodford, or 鈥淲oody鈥 as most called him. Woodford founded the Geology Department in 1922 and taught until his retirement in 1955. No doubt Woody鈥檚 crowning achievement over those years was his production of outstanding geology students, including Rollin Eckis, who spent his entire career in the oil business, particularly with Richfield and later ARCO where he retired from the position of executive vice-president. Eckis served on the 6V电影网 Board of Trustees from 1958-1977.

Based on discussions with the department and a couple of close alumni, it was decided to use Rollin鈥檚 gift to establish this annual lectureship at which an outstanding geologist, whether or not a geology alumnus or alumna, would present a major banquet talk followed by a research lecture/seminar the next day. This affair is one of the highlights of our academic year.

Workplace locations in the list below were accurate as of the year the speaker gave their Woodford-Eckis Lectures.

2020-Present

2024- (UMass, Amherst)

  • 鈥淲hat Can Tiny Faults tell us about Seismic Hazards: New Tools for Understanding the San Andreas and other Fault Systems鈥
  • 鈥淔rom Alert to Action: Accessibility of Earthquake Early Warning for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons"

2023 -  (USC)

  • 鈥淒oes Mantle Weathering Help Maintain a Habitable Planet?鈥
  • 鈥淲eaving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into Education鈥

2022 -  '82 (USGS)

  • 鈥淏e a JEDI!: Why the Spotlight is on Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Geosciences, and How to Accelerate Change鈥
  • 鈥淓ducation, Outreach, and Mentoring: A Path through Academia to Public Service鈥

2021 - Held virtually, with 3 guest lectures:

  (St. Olaf College)

  • 鈥淔ossil Corals as Archives of Cenozoic Seawater Chemistry鈥

(Ohio State University)

  • 鈥淓arth as a Model for Rocky Exoplanets: Describing Earth 2.0鈥

(Wesleyan University)

  • 鈥淩adiophysical Properties of Venus Highlands鈥

2020 -  (Carnegie Institution鈥檚 Geophysical Laboratory and George Mason University)

  • 鈥淐hance, Necessity, and the Origins of Life鈥
  • 鈥淭he Story of Earth: How Life and Rocks have Co-Evolved鈥

Previous Lecturers

2010 - 2019

2010-2019

2019 - (SUNY Buffalo)

  • 鈥21st Century Mars: Our Changing Views of the Red Planet鈥
  • 鈥淒riving in the Dark: Exploring Mid-Ocean Ridges as an Analog to Venus鈥

2018 - (UC Davis)

  • 鈥淒eep-Time (Geologic) Insight into Earth鈥檚 Future鈥
  • 鈥淩econstructing CO2-climate-vegetation feedbacks during Earth鈥檚 penultimate icehouse鈥

2017 - (President - National Academy of Sciences)

  • 鈥淗ow Basing Decisions on the Best Scientific Evidence has Impacted our Everyday Lives鈥
  • 鈥淎dvice for Communicating Science to Broad Audiences: Do's and Don'ts鈥

2016 - Jim Secord '75 (Cambridge University)

  • 鈥淕lobal Geology and the Empire of Tectonics鈥
  • 鈥淐harles Darwin and the World of Geology鈥

2015 - Don Swanson (USGS Hawaii Volcano Observatory)

  • "Kilauea volcano in Hawaii: When she's good, she's very, very good, but when she's bad, she's horrid"
  • "Kilauea calder: Its formation and the ensuing 300 years of explosive activity"

2014 - Doug Yule '83 (California State University, Northridge)

  • "Great earthquakes on the Southern San Andreas fault: How large, how frequent?"
  • "Paleoseismology of the San Andreas fault at San Gorgonio pass"

2013 - (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

  • "The environment of earliest Earth: Decoding the oldest zircons"
  • "Growth-rate effects on crystal composition: From phenocrysts to climate proxies"

2012 - (California Institute of Technology)

  • "Going to Gale: A Search for Habitable Environments on Mars"
  • "Building Curiosity"

2011 - (Arizona State University)

  • "Recent Slip History of the South-Central San Andreas Fault"
  • "Surface Processes and Fault-Related Deformation Using LiDAR Topography"

2010 - (University of Oregon)

  • "Mount St. Helens: A Tale of Three Decades"
  • "Bubbles and Bangs: When are Volcanic Eruptions Explosive?"

2000 - 2009

2000-2009

2009 - Lonnie Thompson (Ohio State University)

  • "Global Climate Change: A Paleoclimate Perspective from the World鈥檚 Highest Mountains"
  • "Climate Histories from Tropical Glaciers and the Evidence for Asynchronous Glaciation"

2008 - Allen Glazner 鈥76 (University of North Carolina)

  • "Granite and the Unique Landscape of Yosemite National Park: New Thoughts on an Old Problem"
  • "What Controls Space-Time Patterns of Cenozoic Magmatism in Western North America: Plate Tectonics, Delamination, or Convection?"

2007 - (Arizona State University)

  • "Mars: New views of a Changing Planet"
  • "The Geologic Evolution of Mars: The Competing Roles of Volcanism, Wind, and Water"

2006 - Ray Weldon 鈥77 (University of Oregon)

  • "Past and Future Earthquakes on the Southern San Andreas Fault"
  • "The 1700 AD M9 Earthquake and Tsunami on the Oregon Coast ; How bad was it and when will it happen again?"

2005 - (Smithsonian Institution) and (Arizona State University)

  • "Jade Hunting in Subduction Zone Metamorphic Terrains and the Cathodoluminescence Laboratory" 鈥 Sorensen
  • "Exploring Earth鈥檚 Deep Interior: Earthquakes, Diamonds, and Earth鈥檚 Oldest Rocks" 鈥 Fouch

2004 - (University of Massachusetts)

  • "Magnetism on the Move: Chasing Field Reversals in South America"
  • "Earth Analogs for Martian Magnetic Anomalies"

2003 - Herbert V. Frey (NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center)

  • "Mars: More than the Moon, Less than the Earth"
  • "MOLA and the Hidden History of Mars"

2002 - Eric T. Sundquist 鈥70 (U.S. Geological Survey)

  • "Adventures in Carbon Cycle Science: From Cottage Industry to Global Enterprise"
  • "The Cycling of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: Natural Variability from Hours to Eons"

2001 - and (Vanderbilt University)

  • "Antarctica: Tales from the Earth鈥檚 Past, Clues to its Future"
  • "Granite as Builder and Historian of the Crust"

2000 - (Brown University)

  • "How Rocks Flow and How We Know"
  • "Interpreting the Microstructural Record in Deformed Crustal Rocks"

1990 - 1999

1990-1999

1999 - (University of California, Santa Barbara)

  • "Taking the Pulse of California鈥檚 Earthquake Faults"
  • "Origin and Emplacement of Granite Plutons: A Problem Solved?"

1998 - Robert I. Tilling 鈥58 (U.S. Geological Survey)

  • "Volcanoes, Volcano Hazards, and Society"
  • "Volcano Monitoring and the 鈥楢rt鈥 of Eruption Forecasting"

1997 - (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)

  • "Geologic Hazards and Risks: Living on an Active Volcano in Hawaii"
  • "Submarine Geology of Hawaii: Landslides, Lava Flows, and Drowned Coral Reefs"

1996 - David D. Pollard 鈥65 (Stanford University)

  • "Science, Politics, and Adventure at Katmai Volcano: Who Benefits when the Goals of Scientists and Environmental Clash"
  • "Using 3D Seismic Data and Geomechanical Models to Investigate Slip Distributions on Faults"

1995 - John S. Shelton 鈥35

  • "A Feel for How the Earth Works"
  • "The Aerial Perspective"

1994 - (University of Wisconsin鈥擬adison)

  • "What a Fickle Datum is Sea Level: A History of Ideas about Relative Sea and Land Levels"
  • "The Enigma of Pure Quartz Sandstones and Their Distribution in Time"

1993 - (University of California鈥擠avis)

  • "The North America-Antarctic Connection and Possible Clues to the Origin of Animals"

1992 - Bruce A. Bolt (University of California鈥擝erkeley)

  • "Prediction of Strong Shaking in Earthquakes"
  • "What Risk is Acceptable in Earthquake Country?"

1991 - Gail A. Mahood (Stanford University)

  • "Volcanic Hazards in the Western United States"

1990 - (University of California鈥擫os Angeles)

  • "The Oldest Known Fossils: A Late Look at the Earliest Evolution of Life"
  • "The Rise and Fall of the Proterozoic Biosphere"

1981 - 1989

1981-1989

1989 - Robert P. Sharp (California Institute of Technology)

  • "Geology in our Own Back Yard"
  • "Reincarnation of a Geologist"

1988 - Harrison H. Schmitt (Apollo 17; U.S. Senator, New Mexico)

  • 鈥楢 Trip to the Moon on Apollo 17鈥
  • 鈥楨volution of the Moon: the View from Taurus-Littrow鈥

1987 - Douglas M. Morton(U.S. Geological Survey)

  • 鈥楪eology of the Northern Peninsular Ranges and Adjacent Transverse Ranges鈥
  • 鈥楢lkali-Silicate Rocks, Mountain Pass, California鈥

1986 - Thane H. McCulloh 鈥49

1985 - John G. Vedder 鈥48

1984 - Warren O. Addicott 鈥51

1983 - Mason L. Hill 鈥26

1982 - Roger R. Revelle 鈥29

1981 - C. Barry Raleigh