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Tom Pierson
Tom Pierson started his geologic education collecting rocks from neighbors’ driveways in New Jersey in the late 50’s and completed it in 1977 with a PhD in geology from the University of Washington. After three years of post-doctoral research with the New Zealand Forest Service, he returned to the U.S. He has been a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory and an adjunct professor of geology at Portland State University. Pierson focuses on hazards involving the mobilization and rapid movement of rock debris and water down the flanks of volcanoes. His current projects include the assessment of lahar, debris-avalanche and flood hazards at Mount Hood. Pierson is currently a fellow of the Geological Society of America and a member of the American Geophysical Union and the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior. His bibliography includes over 60 scientific publications.
