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Pacific Region Colloquium

The Pacific Region Colloquium, founded in February 1996 as the Western Region Colloquium, was a monthly speaker series that spanned the spectrum of earth and environmental science. 

Background

The Pacific Region Colloquium, originally called the Western Region Colloquium, was founded in February 1996 as a monthly speaker series intended to bridge the gaps between the Water Mission Area's science disciplines. The colloquium featured speakers who presented information of broad interest spanning the spectrum of earth and environmental science.

The Pacific Region Colloquium is not currently hosting speakers.  Past presentations are listed below, although videos of these seminars are currently unavailable. While we are working to restore access to the video archive, we do not have an estimate for how long this will take.  

 

Past Colloquia

Date Speaker Affiliation Title
2018
8 January Lauren Wye and Simon Lee SRI International Next generation InSAR system for UAS or crewed deployments enables on-demand observations of transient surface deformation
2017
6 November Jonathan Payne Stanford The Modern (6th) Mass Extinction: A Geological Perspective
2 October Isabel Montanez UC Davis Reconstructing CO2-Climate-Vegetation Feedbacks during Earth's Penultimate Icehouse
22 September Various speakers USGS Annual Postdoctoral / New Researchers Colloquium
11 September Andrew Fisher UC Santa Cruz Enhancing Groundwater Recharge with Stormwater Mapping, Modeling, Measuring and Monetizing
10 July Andrew Ritchie USGS-Santa Cruz Measuring River Response to the World's Largest Dam Removal
5 June David Morrison NASA-Ames Defending the Earth against Asteroids
8 May Richard Lease USGS Alaska Science Center Patterns, Pulses, and Periodicity of Mountain Building Processes in Alaska
3 April Grant Hilderbrand USGS Alaska Science Center The Bear Necessities: Brown Bears in Diverse and Changing Alaskan Ecosystems
6 March Jeffrey Moore NASA Ames New Horizons, NASA's Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission
6 February Ken Newman Fish and Wildlife Service State-Space Modeling Delta Smelt Population Dynamics
9 January Tiziana Vanorio Stanford From Reactive Fluids to High Strain in Hydrothermal-Volcanic Areas
2016
3 October Nicholas Swanson-Hysell UC Berkeley Failed Rifting and Fast Drifting: North America's Midcontinent Rift and its Record of Rapid Paleogeographic Change
23 September Various speakers USGS Annual Postdoctoral / New Researchers Colloquium
8 August Michael Manga UC Berkeley The Fascinating and Complex Dynamics of Geyser Eruptions
11 July Dawn Sumner UC Davis Oxygen Oases in Lakes May Have Heralded the Great Oxidation Event
6 June Laurel Larsen UC Berkeley Taking the Pulse of Earth's Surface Systems
2 May David Freyberg Stanford University Dam Decisions: What We Know and What We Don't
4 April Douglas Barnum USGS Is California's Salton Sea Dying?
7 March Alan Jones Stanford Lighting Up the Lithosphere: Information on the Continental Upper Mantle
8 February Lynn Rothschild NASA Ames Synthetic Biology and NASA's Missions: Low-Footprint Monitoring and Exploration
11 January Seth Shostak SETI Will We Find E.T. Before You Retire?
2015
25 September Various speakers USGS Annual Postdoctoral / New Researchers Colloquium
Presentation
Panel
14 September Mary Power UC Berkeley The Thirsty Eel: Drought Impacts on Salmon and Cyanobacteria in River Food Webs
10 August Adrian Borsa Scripps Institution of Oceanography Water, Drought, and Crustal Deformation in the Western USA
6 July Jonathan Payne Stanford University Seafood through Time: Ecology, Body Size, and Energetics
8 June Jennifer Wilcox Stanford University Carbon Capture and Storage and a Back-up Plan
4 May Tanja Bosak MIT Microbial sediments as records of evolution of life on Earth
6 April Claudia Faunt USGS California Water Science Center Groundwater in California's Central Valley
9 March John Piatt USGS Alaska Science Center Global Warming and the "Glacier Murrelet", a Pleistocene Relict Seabird of Beringia
9 February Kate Maher Stanford University Hydrologic Regulation of the Geologic Carbon Cycle
5 January Michael Cheadle University of Wyoming The Life and Death of Oceanic Core Complexes and the Largest Normal Faults in the World
2014
8 December Michael Wehner Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and
University of California, Berkeley
Extreme Weather in a Changing Climate
26 September Various speakers USGS Annual Postdoctoral / New Researchers Colloquium
Presentation
Panel
8 September Chris Field Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford University Climate Change 2014: The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report
11 August David Lobell Stanford University Meeting the Climate Adaptation Challenge in Agriculture
14 July Amy Hodge
Julie Sweetkind-Singer
Stanford University Salmon Data on the Hook: Preserving Scientific Data for the Future
9 June Roland Burgmann UC Berkeley Periodic Deformation and Seismicity: From Tides to Seasonal Water Loads
5 May Arunas Kuciauskas Naval Research Laboratory Overview of the Naval Research Laboratory Satellite Website, Along with Examples of Low Cloud and Fog Products
7 April Sarah Andrews Author A Grand Life: The Story Eddie McKee, Grand Canyon Chief Naturalist 1929-1940 and Legendary Geologist
10 February Solomon M. Hsiang University of California, Berkeley
Goldman School of Public Policy
Quantifying the Influence of Climate on Human Conflict
2013
2 December Bill Ellsworth USGS, Menlo Park Injection-Induced Earthquakes
4 November Ben Sleeter USGS, Menlo Park Projecting Future Land Use: Applications for Natural Resource Assessment
12 September Various speakers USGS, Menlo Park Annual Postdoctoral/New Researcher Colloquium
Video of Part 1
Video of Part 2
8 July Bill and Rosemary Alley Authors "Too Hot to Touch -- The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste"
10 June David Thau Google Large-scale and Deep-time Geo Analysis with Google Earth Engine
13 May Gordon Brown Stanford University Mineral-Aqueous Solution Interfacial Reactions and Their Impact on the Environment
8 April Paul Hsieh USGS The Science Behind the Taming of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
11 March Mark Zoback Stanford University Fluid Injection and Induced Seismicity
25 Februsry Chad Frost and
Steve Hipskind
NASA Ames NASA Earth Systems Science and Technologies
2012
22 October Jim Estes UC Santa Cruz Apex predators and the tapestry of nature
18 September Various Speakers USGS Annual Postdoctoral/New Researcher Colloquium
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
13 August Christopher Wilmers UCSC Large predators responses to human activity from grizzly bears in Alaska to mountain lions in the Bay Area
9 July Ron Oremland USGS Arsenic and the meaning of life
14 May Guido Grosse University of Alaska Fairbanks Deep soil organic carbon in pan-arctic permafrost regions and vulnerability to disturbance
9 April Diane McKnight University of Colorado at Boulder Climate change and surface water quality: The challenges of too much summer
12 March Dorothy Merritts and 
Robert Walter
Franklin and Marshall University Stream restoration in the Eastern USA: The legacy of water-powered mills
13 February Steve Bohlen Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Modeling the Anthropocene
2011
12 December Kurt Cuffey UC Berkeley Ice, sea level, and contemporary climate change
14 November Bill Dietrich UC Berkeley The soil is not enough: The importance of runoff and rock moisture in near-surface weathered bedrock to vegetation communities, climate, and landscape evolution
Not available at the request of the speaker
3 October Elizabeth Hadly Stanford University Mammalian response to climatic change
12 September Andy Fisher UC Santa Cruz Massive flows of fluid, heat, and solutes through most of the ocean crust
23 August Various speakers USGS Annual Postdoctoral/New Researcher Colloquium
8 August Robert Hazen Carnegie Institute of Washington and George Mason Univ. The co-evolution of the geo- and biosphere
11 July Anthony Colaprete NASA Water on the Moon: Recent discoveries
6 June Steve Perakis USGS Biogeochemical cycles of Pacific Northwest forests
9 May Dennis Baldocchi UC Berkeley Methane Emissions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
4 April Ripudaman Malhotra SRI International A cubic mile of oil
7 March Lorraine and Alan Flint USGS A general model for estimating groundwater recharge and runoff potential
2010
8 November Jill Baron USGS Fort Collins Science Center
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Colorado State University
Interactions of climate change and atmospheric nitrogen deposition
13 October Postdoctoral Associates USGS Western Region Postdoctoral Presentations
Video of Presentations
Panel Discussion
4 October Frank Chapelle USGS South Carolina Water Science Center Healing springs, groundwater geochemistry, and the history of bottled water
9 August Ken Miller Rutgers 100 million years of sea-level change: Should I sell my beach house?
12 July Jean Bahr University of Wisconsin Geoscientists in an emerging green economy
7 June Maggi Kelly University of California, Berkeley Modeling forest structure with LiDAR for fire management in the Sierras
10 May Chuck Meertens UNAVCO Hydrological effects on GPS ground deformation observed in the EarthScope Plate Boundary Observatory
12 April Susan Petty AltaRock Energy Current status of enhanced geothermal system (EGS) technology development
8 March Michael Manga UC Berkeley Earthquakes and water (and why the LUSI mud volcano eruption was not triggered by an earthquake)
8 February David Schimel National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) The design of NEON and the future of ecological forecasting
2009
7 December Steve Gorelick Stanford University Oil panic and the global crisis: Predictions and myths
23 November David Rogers College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Australia The art-science of earthquakes
9 November David Montgomery University of Washington Dirt - The erosion of civilizations
21 September Western Region post-docs and new researchers USGS Western Region Postdoctoral/New Researcher Colloquium
13 July James Workman DamBroker, San Francisco, CA Heart of Dryness: How the last bushmen can help us endure the coming age of permanent drought
Video
Interview
15 June Carol Kendall USGS, Menlo Park, CA Drive-by extinctions: The role of vehicle exhaust in urban runoff and ecosystem degradation
11 May Elisabeth Holland National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO Changing climate, carbon and nitrogen cycles
13 April John Slack USGS Probing the redox state of Proterozoic seawater: Geochemical, biological, and economic implications
Not available
9 March Philip Mote WA State Climatologist, University of Washington Climate change: Past, present, and future in the next 50-100 years in the West
9 February Mary Lou Zoback RMS Risk management: A perspective from the private sector
12 January Robert Glennon University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law Unquenchable: America's water crisis and what to do about it
2008
Dec 2 2008 Margaret Leinen Climos, Chief Scientist Mitigating climate change: Will direct removal of CO2 be necessary?
Sep 15 2008 Western Region Post-docs USGS, Western Region Annual Post-doc Colloquium
Aug 25 2008 Dr. Paul Winchester, MD Clinical Professor, Indiana Univ. School of Medicine and Director, Neonatal Intensive Care, St. Francis Hospital. Environmental Contaminants in our Drinking Water, Breast Milk and Our Babies: How Worried Should We Be?
Jan 14 2008 Scott W. Tinker Director, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas, Austin Global Energy: Myths and Realities
2007
Dec 03 2007 Lisa Lucas USGS, Menlo Park The Wiggles Matter: Significance of high-frequency processes to surface water quality
Nov 5 2007 Bob Smith University of Utah Geodynamics and seismic/geodetic imaging of the Yellowstone hotspot
Oct 15 2007 Sally Benson Stanford University Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage in Deep Geological Formations
Jul 9 2007 Dr. Sankar Chatterjee Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Geosciences, Texas Tech University Feathered dinosaurs from the 'Cretaceous Pompeii' of China and the origin of avian flight
May 21 2007 Brad Reed USGS, Flagstaff National Phenology Network
Apr 23 2007 Dominique Weis Univ. of BC The structure of mantle plumes -- insights from geochemical and isotopic studies in Hawaii
Mar 19 2007 Barbara Sherwood-Lollar Univ. of Toronto Life's Chemical Kitchen: Support of Deep Terrestrial Subsurface Life by Abiogenic Hydrogen and Hydrocarbons
Feb 15 2007 Brooks Hansen Science Magazine The Future of Scientific Publications
2006
Nov 13 2006 Diane Boyer USGS, Tucson, AZ In Search of Dam Sites: The USGS Expedition of 1923 in the Grand Canyon
Oct 10 2006 Jon Christensen & Richard White Stanford Univ. The Checkerspot Butterfly and Serpentine
Sep 11 2006 Fran Hostettler USGS Menlo Park, CA Trains, Pains, and the Legal System: Forensic Geochemistry of Two Oil Spills Affected By Methanogenic Biodegradation
Aug 14 2006 Margaret Torn Lawrence Berkeley National Labs Climate change feedbacks and the future role of soils
Jun 12 2006 Rob Dunbar Stanford Univ. Tropical temperatures, global warming, and land use change: A view from the Coral Reef
May 19 2006 John Kelmelis Senior Counselor for Earth Science, USGS/US Dept. of State Earth Science Findings with Foreign Policy Implications
Apr 10 2006 Patty Fryer Univ. of Hawaii Subduction, Seismicity, and Serpentinization: Capturing a Subduction Event
Mar 13 2006 Nina G. Jablonski CA Academy of Sciences The Evolution of Human Skin Color
Feb 13 2006 Claire Kremen Univ. of Berkeley ESPM Managing for Ecosystem Services: Wild Bees and Crop Pollination in Northern CA
2005
Dec 12 2005 Dr. Katheryn Moran Univ. of Rhode Island Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX): A North Pole Discovery
Nov 14 2005 Prof. Pamela Matson Stanford Univ. Agricultural Intensification in the Yaqui Valley, Mexico: Will it "Save Land for Nature"?
Oct 03 2005 Todd Dawson U.C. Berkeley, CA Redwood forests, fog water subsides, and the land-sea interface
Sep 06 2005 Jake Lowenstern USGS, Menlo Park Intrusion, Deformation and Gas Discharge at the Yellowstone Caldera
Aug 15 2005 Joel E. Cohen Rockefeller Univ., & Columbia Univ. Human Population Trends, Human Carrying Capacity and Sustainability
Jul 11 2005 Michael Alley Virginia Tech Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides
Jun 06 2005 Adina Payton Stanford Univ. High Productivity During Cretaceous Ocean Anoxic Events
Apr 11 2005 Jeremy Jackson Scripps Institution of Oceanography Brave New Ocean
Mar 14 2005 Elliot Sclar Columbia University You Won't Always Get What You Pay For: The Economics of Privatization
Feb 14 2005 Christina Ravelo UC Santa Cruz Global Warming: Lessons from the Pliocene Warm Period
Jan 10 2005 Robert Webb USGS, Tucson Grand Canyon Downcutting: Has it occurred in the Holocene?
2004
Nov 15 2004 Dr. Jayne Belnap USGS, Utah Soils, crusts, dusts and the role of microbiotic crusts in resource management and ecosystem recovery
Oct 18 2004 Roland Burgmann UC Berkeley, CA I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet: Crustal Deformation in the Bay Area
Sep 13 2004 Andrei Sarna-Wojcicki USGS, Menlo Park, CA Tephrochronology: The Study of Ancient Volcanic Ash Layers, and their Use in Deciphering Geologic History
Jul 19 2004 Dr. Jay Lund Univ. of California, Davis Large-scale optimization for California water supply, flood control, and conflict resolution among multiple uses
Jun 14 2004 Dr. James Deacon University of Nevada, Las Vegas Connectivity in the Desert Aquatic Ecosystems: The Devil's Hole Story
May 10 2004 Steven Ingebritsen USGS, NRP, Menlo Park, CA Crustal Permeability As A Dynamic Parameter
Apr 12 2004 Dr. Deborah Kelley School of Oceanography, Univ. of Washington Atlantis Massif 30 N The Lost City Hydrothermal Field: A New Submarine Ecosystem
Mar 08 2004 Prof. Marion Diamond UC Berkeley Benefits of Enrichment at Any Age
Feb 23 2004 Stephanie Prejean USGS, Anchorage, AK New Insight into the Processes that Trigger Earthquakes in the Long Valley Caldera, California
Jan 12 2004 David Morrison Nasa-Ames Asteroid and comet impacts on Earth - a hazard for the future?
2003
Nov 10 2003 Jim Estes USGS, Western Ecological Research Center, Santa Cruz Field Station The recovery and subsequent collapse of kelp forest ecosystems in western Alaska
Aug 11 2003 Charlie Paull Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute New Views on the Distribution and Geologic Controls of Chemosynthetic Biologic Communities
Jul 14 2003 John Barron USGS Volcano Hazards The evolution of the climate of coastal Northern California during the past 15,000 years
Apr 14 2003 Chris Potter NASA Integrated Studies of Carbon, Nitrogen, and Surface Hydrologic Budgets for California
Mar 10 2003 Tomas Roffe USGS, Bozeman, MT Charismatic megafauna and nefarious microfauna of Yellowstone: the Brucellosis Controversy
2002
Nov 18 2002 Timothy Rood, Calthorpe Assoc.; David Howell, USGS; Eric Yurkovich, USGS; Daniel Bosch, Robert Mondavi Family of Wines; Skip Pack, Dynamic Graphics; David Ramsey, USGS; Peter Dartnell, USGS; Joel Robinson, USGS GIS at the USGS and Beyond
Sep 09 2002 John Takekawa USGS/WERC Foraging Ecology and Contaminant Risks of Diving Ducks in San Francisco Bay Estuary
Jul 08 2002 Mark Marvin-DiPasquale USGS, Menlo Park Mercury contamination of ecosystems and the role of microbiology
Apr 22 2002 Frank Sulloway UC Berkeley Birth Order Family Dynamics and Creative Lives: From Darwinian Evolution to World History