Michelle Coombs Explained

Honorific Suffix:Ph.D.
Michelle L. Coombs
Workplaces:Alaska Volcano Observatory
Honorific Prefix:Dr.
Titles:Geologist and Past SIC (AVO)
Affiliate Faculty (UAF)
Education:Williams College (BA)
University of Alaska Fairbanks (PhD)

Michelle Lynn Coombs is a geologist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). She was the Scientist-in-Charge from 2016 to 2023.[1] [2] Coombs is a fellow of the Geological Society of America.[3]

Education

Personal life

Coombs is married to USGS geologist Evan Thoms.[5] [6]

Michelle is originally from Maine, where Coombs is a common last name.[7] [8]

Career

Coombs was the Scientist-in-Charge (SIC) of AVO from 2016 to 2023.[9] As the SIC, she was in charge of coordinating emergency responses to volcanic eruptions, and guides the process of monitoring volcanic activity in Alaska.[10] She is frequently quoted in the news as a subject-matter expert on volcanoes in and around Alaska.[11] As the SIC, she was also the main contact from the media to AVO. Dr. Matthew Haney became the new SIC of AVO in August 2023, succeeding Coombs.[12] [13]

She is the second woman in AVO history to serve as the Alaskan SIC, as Terry Keith held the position from .[14] When she became SIC in 2016, she was one of 3 women serving as a Scientist-in-Charge of a USGS-operated Volcano Observatory, but as of March 2023, she was the only one.[15]

She has worked with the AVO since 2004, before which she worked for the USGS's Volcano Hazards Program out of Menlo Park, California;[16] which she joined after completing her Ph.D.[17]

While Coombs was in college, she was a field assistant to Judy Fierstein. Once she began working at AVO, she became a mentee of Terry Keith and Tina Neal.

Coombs was the advisor to a 2011 internship studying the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano.[18] She had previously co-edited a 2010 U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper on the eruption.[19]

Coombs has also been a participant of a volcanic eruptions workshop from the National Academies.[20]

Research

Coomb's main research focus is volcanology.[21] Much of her research is on volcanic geology in Alaska, but she has also published research on volcanoes in Hawaii,[22] and her doctoral dissertation was on Mount Desert Island, Maine.[23]

Coombs is an expert on the geology of the Aleutian Arc, having published extensively on it.

In 2019, Coombs and a group of collaborators were awarded a NSF grant to model eruptions of Alaskan volcanoes.[24]

Affiliations

As well as currently being a fellow to the Geological Society of America (GSA), she stood on the Student Awards Committee for the American Geophysical Union (AGU) from 2011–2015.[25]

Coombs was an Associate Editor for the Bulletin of Volcanology (2013–2016), and was on the editorial board of Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (2007–2018).[26] She has also served as a Steering Committee member for the Community Network for Volcanic Eruption Response (CONVERSE).[27]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Michelle Lynn Coombs . April 9, 2023 . Loop . Frontiers Media.
  2. Web site: Alaska Volcano Observatory . August 15, 2023 . Alaska Volcano Observatory.
  3. Web site: Fellowship: All Active and Current GSA Fellows . The Geological Society of America.
  4. Volcanic Eruptions and Magmatic Flows . April 11, 2005 . Office of Communications (Williams College) . Williamstown . Lemoine . Noelle.
  5. Web site: Jardin . Xeni . 2006-08-23 . ISS astronaut snaps photo of volcano erupting on Earth . 2023-04-10 . . en-US.
  6. Web site: Evan E Thoms . 2023-04-10 . U.S. Geological Survey.
  7. Web site: Wigglesworth . Shelley . Catching up with the Coombs: Family reunion set for Nov. 5 . 2023-04-10 . . en-US.
  8. Web site: 2005-12-19 . Clarence "Clem" Coombs . 2023-04-10 . . Fryeburg.
  9. Gillies . Yvette . April 4, 2016 . New Scientist-in-Charge at the Alaska Volcano Observatory . 2023-04-10 . . Anchorage. USGS
  10. Web site: January 6, 2017 . 15 Amazing Jobs at the Interior Department . April 9, 2023 . . en.
  11. Examples include:
  12. https://avo.alaska.edu/ Alaska Volcano Observatory
  13. https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/matt-m-haney United States Geological Survey, Staff Profiles, Dr. Matt M. Haney
  14. Web site: Klemetti . Erik . March 27, 2023 . The Changing Face of Volcanology . April 7, 2023 . . en.
  15. Web site: Klemetti . Erik . March 29, 2023 . A Long Way Still to Go to Create Representative Volcanology . April 7, 2023 . . en.
  16. Web site: Michelle Coombs . April 9, 2023 . Alaska Volcano Observatory.
  17. Web site: Diggles . Michael . Peninsula Geological Society January 2003, Lecture . April 9, 2023 . diggles.com (Mike Diggles).
  18. Web site: 2011 NAGT-USGS Interns . 2023-04-10 . USGS NAGT Interns . en.
  19. 2010 . Power . John A. . Coombs . Michelle L. . Freymueller . Jeffrey T. . The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska . U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1769 . 10.3133/pp1769. Smithsonian Libraries
  20. Book: ((National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine)) . Volcanic Eruptions and Their Repose, Unrest, Precursors, and Timing . The National Academies Press . 2017 . 978-0-309-45415-5 . Washington, DC . en . Appendix B: Workshop Participants . 10.17226/24650 . National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
  21. Web site: USGS Volcanoes . Volcano Hazards Program . January 13, 2017 . Meet: USGS Geologist Michelle Coombs . 2023-04-09 . Facebook.
  22. Web site: Hulihia Kīlauea – A Complete Change, part 1 – Teachers . 2023-04-09 . . en.
  23. Coombs . Michelle L. . Petrology and Geochemistry of the Southern Shatter Zone, Cadillac Mountain Pluton, Mount Desert Island, Maine . 1994 . Williams College .
  24. Web site: NSF awards $19 million in natural hazards research grants . 2023-04-10 . . English.
  25. Web site: AGU . American Geophysical Union . February 24, 2015 . Outstanding Student Paper Awards . April 9, 2023 . . en-US.
  26. Web site: Michelle L. Coombs, Ph.D. . April 9, 2023 . U.S. Geological Survey.
  27. Web site: Welcome . 2023-04-13 . Community Network for Volcanic Eruption Response (CONVERSE) . [Community Reports] . en.

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