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Dr. Susan W. Kieffer,

member of the National Academy of Sciences and MacArthur  Foundation award winner,

will present two lectures at LSU, March 2 and 3, 
as part of the Chancellor's Distinguished Lecture Series.
Dr. Kieffer has degrees in math, physics, geology and planetary science (Ph.D. from Cal Tech, 1971), which is apparent in the interdisciplinary nature of her work. She is internationally renowned and a leading authority on the mechanisms of meteorite impact, geyser dynamics, volcanic eruptions and river floods as a result of her focus on "very, very high speed flows". She was the first scientist to describe the physics and chemistry involved in the eruptions on Jupiter's moon Io, the lateral blast associated with the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, the dynamics of Old Faithful as seen by a micro video camera lowered into the geyser between violent eruptions,  the hydraulics of rapids of the Colorado River (for which she has produced a series of four maps) and with colleagues described the dynamics of the Chixculub meteor impact that caused vaporization of limestone, which resulted in massive amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and thus, had a major influence on environmental conditions. This ultimately resulted in a major extinction event 65 million years ago.

Her main interests are geological physics, including planetary sciences, solid-state geophysics, volcanic environments, theoretical modeling studies of planetary phenomena.and music. "My geology parallels my music practicing," Kieffer said. "I always seem to skip the slow movements to get on to playing the fast ones." Her published works range from lattice dynamics to droplet chondrules to river hydraulics to impact craters. Many of these works appear in the prestigious journals "Science" and "Nature".  She has edited the book "Microscopic to Macroscopic: Atomic Environments to Mineral Thermodynamics" published by the Mineralogical Society of America.  She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (elected in 1986), a fellow of the American Academy ofArts and Sciences and the American Geophysical Union, a life fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America, has served on the Canadian Geo-Science Council for disposal of spent nuclear fuel, and is a former Department Head of Geology at the University of British Columbia and a Regent's Professor at Arizona State University. Her many other awards include, in part, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Mineralogical Society of America Award (for outstanding scientists under 35 yrs of age), the Day Medal of the Geological Society of America,  the California Institute of Technology, Distinguished Alumus Award and the first Shoemaker-Bowie Lecturer of the American Geophysical Union.

Kieffer is  also collaborating with an english teacher to teach science to homeless and at-risk 7-12 graders in Phoenix. Many of these youngsters, Kieffer explained, have low reading skills, low math skills, and the typical teenage fear of math and science. Many of them have shifted schools perhaps four times a year, with each school change costing a half-year in educational advancement.  However, working with the youngsters in 1997-98, Kieffer said, "We changed their perception of science and they loved it.  Their excitement level was high, and conceptually, they understood complex things like meteors and impact." Equally importanly, the teacher changed her style of teaching and her geology course is one of the most popular in the school for at risk 9-12 graders

For her highly creative work, she received The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award, described the fellowship program as "a stipend paid over five years to individuals who show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work". Her MacArthur Fellowship allowed her to leave a tenured faculty position and found Kieffer and Woo, Inc., R & D company to develop nonlinear data analysis and prediction techniques.

"MacArthur Fellowships come with no strings attached," Kieffer said. "They hope you will do something for the betterment of humanity. The fellowships give you the permission to explore, so I've tried out being in the private sector as well as the at-risk education project. It's been quite a unique time of life."

(Information adapted from the Illinois Wesleyan University and the MacArthur Foundation webpages and the speaker's vita.)