Absaroka Mountains

Paul J. Dial

Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)

M.S. Geology/1992 Southern Illinois University

B.S. Geology/1989 Eastern Illinois University

Resume

After receving my B.S. degree in Geology from Eastern Illinois University, I attended Graduate school at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. My M.S. thesis was based upon the processing and interpretation of high resolution seismic reflection data from the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which is located in Northern Arkansas, Southeastern Missouri, Western Tennessee, and Western Kentucky. The New Madrid Seismic Zone was the site of the largest earthquakes ever to occur in the continental United States, East of the San Andreas. The 1811-1812 sequence of three earthquakes all had body wave magnitudes estimated to be above >7.0. The New Madrid region is currently the most seismically active region of the central and eastern United States. Following the completion of my M.S. degree, I began work on a Ph.D. degree at Southern Illinois University. My work focused on Tau-p processing of 20-sec seismic reflection data collected as part of the 1986 GLIMPCE project. After three semesters, I decided to follow a career in the environmental field as a Staff Geophysicist for a private firm in Pennsylvania. At the end of two years at that company, I came to the realization that research and teaching in Geology and Geophysics was what I really wanted to do.

In the Fall semester of 1995 I returned to the Ph.D. program, this time at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). I am currently working on my dissertation which will be based upon integrated geophysical modeling of the North African continental crust. My topics will include processing and modeling of gravity, earthquake waveforms, and surface wave dispersion analysis. I should be completing and defending my dissertation in the Fall of 1998. After completing my dissertation I hope to find either an academic or industrial position located in the Rocky Mountain region.

Also in the Fall of 1995 I married Wendi D. Montgomery. She is also a Geology student. She finished her B.S. degree in Geology in the summer of 1997 at UTEP. My wife entered the Graduate School at UTEP in the fall of 1997. Her M.S. project will be based upon studies of the geologic and tectonic processes on the planet Venus.

Both my wife and I are originally from southern Illinois, but love the mountain scenery of the West. We plan on living in the Rocky Mountains after our degrees are finished. We are both interested in teaching in an Earth Science-related field or conducting research in the Rocky Mountains.

Other interesting images

North African Lithospheric Database

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