Scientist Emeritus Accomplishments

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  I reviewed abstracts for the Society of Exploration Geophysicists 2014 annual meeting.
  
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  I participated in planning meetings for the Geophysical Methods Development Project (MRP), the Alaska Airborne Geophysics Project (MRP), Science Center OFA research, and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) cooperative research.
  
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  I continued software development for the Geophysical Methods Development Project (MRP), the Alaska Airborne Geophysics Project (MRP), and the Probabilistic Mineral Assessment Project (MRP).
  
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  I contributed to development of a new Project website for the Geophysical Methods Development Project (MRP).
  
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  I continued editorial duties for the Integrated Methods Development Project Circular.
  

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  A theme session honoring my work in the greater Yellowstone area at 2014 GSA
  
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  A keynote talk on "Pleistocene glaciations of the Greater Yellowstone area" at 2014 GSA
  
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  Field Trip Leader "Glacial and Quaternary geology of the northern Yellowstone area" for 2014 GSA
  
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   In June of 2012, I received the "Distinguished Career Award " of the American Quaternary Association at its Biennial Meeting in Duluth, Minnesota.  
  
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   On August 16 and 17, 2012,I co-led a field trip to Yellowstone for the Geologists of Jackson Hole.
  
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  On Sept 20, 2012, I gave a talk on the Pleistocene glaciation of the greater Yellowstone area for the Geologists of Jackson Hole.  .
  
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  In November, 2013, I received the "Distinguished Career Award" of the Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division of the  Geological Society of America at its annual meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.    
  
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  October, 2012 and again in 2013, I gave a class lecture and then led a one-day field trip on the Pleistocene glaciation of the greater Yellowstone area for Montana State University. 
  
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  In July, 2013, I gave a talk on Yellowstone Geology at Bozeman Lodge, a retirement community.  
  
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  In 2013, I served on a committee to evaluate and rank more than 70 applications for the position of geomorphology Professor in the Earth Science Department at Montana State University.   
  
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  In 2012 and 2013 (planned for 2014) I led a one day field trip on the glacial and Quaternary geology of the northern Yellowstone area for lay people in a Bozeman church group.     
  
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  In 2012 I led a field trip (90 scientists) for the Binghampton Geomorphology Symposium on the glacial and Quaternary geology of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  
  
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  For the Geological Society of America meeting of the Rocky Mountain and Cordilleran Sections in Bozeman, Montana on May 21, 2014,  there was a theme session  “Honoring Kenneth L. Pierce and the breadth of his research in Greater Yellowstone.”
  
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  On May 22, 2014, I led a field trip tilted  “Glacial and Quaternary Geology of the Northern Yellowstone Area, Wyoming and Montana" for the Geological Society of America.  
  
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  I have served on several Masters committees of graduate students in the Earth Science Department of Montana State University.    
  
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  I have served on the Ph.D. Committee of  Theresa Krause in the Earth Science Department of Montana State University.  
  

Participated in numerous activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami

Wrote three validated geographic-based global application programs, a program applicable to Alaska, and the associated elevation database methodology for gravity data processing.

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  Since retiring in 1991, my principal accomplishments/contributions to the USGS mission were completing and revising after review several manuscripts planned as part of the Northeast Glacial Aquifers RASA project, plus collecting data, analyzing, and writing USGS reports on two aspects of bedrock hydrology that were matters of personal interest.
  
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  In 2012-2014, I have analyzed and written a Ms. on estimating low-streamflow statistics at ungaged sites in the lower Hudson River basin of New York, and another on hydrogeology of a reach of the Susquehanna River valley near Binghamton.  Each of these manuscripts is or soon will be in colleague review.   I have also served as colleague reviewer for several manuscripts generated at the New York Water Science Center, and one at the request of a journal, and have occasionally replied to inquiries from the public.  Also, l have been called upon to act/sing in several skits honoring colleagues upon their retirement.
  

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  Co-convener of a symposium, The Northern Appalachians: “What We Have Learned in the Past 40 Years”, honoring Chris Hepburn at the 2013 NEGSA Section Meeting. I also wrote an abstract and presented a paper at the symposium. 
  
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  I led a field trip (with a guidebook, published as an Open File Repot 2014-1026).
  
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  Technical Review of Tucker and others “Geologic map of the Dusar Deposit, Heart Province, Afghanistan, modified from the 1971 original compilation of V.I. Tarasenko and others”
  
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  Co- recipient of the Structural Geology and Tectonics Division, GSA 2013 Outstanding Publication Award for the map “Hibbard, J.P., van Staal, C.R., Rankin, D.W., and Williams, H., 2006, C.R., Rankin, D.W., and Williams, H., 2006, Lithotectonic map of the Appalachian orogen, Canada-United States of America; Geological Survey of Canada, “A” Series Map 2096A, 2 sheets (1:1,500,000), doi: 10.4095/221912.
  
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  Member of the Board of Trustees, Geological Society of America Foundation.
  
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  A major effort has gone into organizing and plotting the considerable chemical data available for igneous rocks within and adjacent to the Littleton-Lower Waterford map area, NH-VT. The three age groups (Ordovician: Ammonoosuc Volcanics /Oliverian-Highlandcroft Plutonic Suites; Silurian: Comerford Intrusive Complex; and Devonian: Littleton Formation/”New Hampshire plutonic suite”) are distinct. A surprise is that the Devonian mafic rocks are compositionally similar to the Comerford and unlike the Ordovician. Based on the data set, the map pattern for the manuscript map has been revised.
  

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  2013. Prepared section on geology along the Colorado Trail for inclusion in new guide book published by the Colorado Trail Foundation
  
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  Spring 2013. Gave evening lecture on “The Earth’s Changing Climate” at Lookout Mountain Nature Center (part of the Jefferson County Open Space Program)
  
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  Summer 2013. Visited Grand Teton National Park to present discussions of geologic mapping in the Teton Range videotaped under a grant to Pro. Carol Frost (University of Wyoming) from the National Park Service and Grand Teton Natural History Association to conduct interviews with geologists who have made significant contributions to Teton geology
  
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  Fall 2013. Conducted class and field trip on “Reading the rocks in your backyard” of University of Denver Senior learning program
  
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  Fall 2013. Taught all day geology class for Lookout Mountain Nature Conducted local field trip for participants in the class
  
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  Presented paper at GSA Annual Meeting on “ Rocks above the clouds: the Colorado 14ers and their bearing on the uplift history of the central Rocky Mountains”
  
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  Winter 2013. Prepared discussion on geology of the Jefferson County Open Space Parks for the Open Space web site.
  
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  Spring 2014. Prepared biographic sketch for publication in Rocky Mountain Geology”
  

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  Critically reviewed a manuscript for Mike Hayes, et al.   
  
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  Administer diver proficiency test to two candidates for WFRC dive team
  
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  Critically reviewed another manuscript for Mike Hayes, et al.  
  

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  Distinguished Visiting Scholar, University of Oxford, Jan. 2012-Jan. 2014.
  
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  University of Oxford, 2013 School of Geography and the Environment, Colloquium on Dust and Human Health.
  
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  Invited seminars and talks:
  
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  Environmental Protection Agency Directorate for Sustainable Development and NGO Partners for Livable Communities, Washington, DC, 2013: Atmospheric dust in the American West – Sources, amounts, sizes, and its effects on ecosystems and people.
  
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  University of Arizona, Dust and Human Health Conference, Evaluating health risks of atmospheric dust from understanding the sources, compositions, and transport pathways of dust.
  
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  International Society for Aeolian Research, Board of Directors, elected 2014; guest editor, Aeolian Research 2013-14.
  
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  Graduate Faculty, University of Colorado
  
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  Affiliate, Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado
  

Serves on an examining committee for post-PhD HDL degrees in France

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  Woody Savage been an Adjunct Professor in both the Geoscience Department and the Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, since 2008. His role is to provide a professional and real-world practice perspective on both the research the graduate students are conducting and on their presentational and writing skills. He served on the thesis committees for one PhD and one MS during the past school year (both passed!).  
  
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  Woody has served as the Southern Nevada Geosciences representative on the Nevada Earthquake Safety Council (NESC) for about six years.  NESC is hosted by the Nevada Division of Emergency Management, meets quarterly alternately in Reno/Carson City and Las Vegas and is supported in part by FEMA.  He has been active in NESC in giving presentations on the need for improved seismic instrumentation, serving on the committee that updated the NESC Strategic Plan, and providing assistance to the NESC leadership when asked. 
  
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  Woody is completing his sixth year of service to the Seismological Society of America as a member of the Board of Directors under the auspices of the USGS.  He also served as the Vice President during the time when the SSA developed a detailed strategic plan to guide future activities and evolutions of the organization.
  
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  Woody continues to serve as the designated USGS representative to COSMOS (the Consortium of Organizations for Strong Motion Observation Systems).  COSMOS has a small membership, a motivated Board, and is one of the sponsors of the Bruce Bolt Medal.  He serves as one of the two COSMOS representatives on the Bolt Medal Panel, which conducts the selection of the recipient of the Bolt Medal on an annual basis.
  

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  Continuation of data collection for a joint USGS-CA Dept. of Water Resources field site in South San Francisco Bay.  Record at the site started in 1989 and we are funded by DWR to extend the record to 2016 water year.  Data are reported to various entities, but a summary report that will not be formally published is in preparation.
  
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  Identify and archive important historical data and materials from early USGS studies in San Francisco Bay (mostly 1968-1980).  Deaths and retirements left a large amount of "boxed" materials that I am going through.
  
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  Presentations to various groups on a variety of earth science topics.  These include oral presentations and a wide variety of poster presentations.  Many of these involve collaboration with other USGS scientists.  These are given at meetings and various shows in the area.  I also have participated in a variety of events where USGS has had a booth or other presence.
  
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  Collaboration with emeritus and volunteer scientists from Geologic Div. to perform various live-music/visual shows relating to the music of Antarctic Exploration.  We are given shows at the Smithsonian in DC, the Russian Geographical Society in St. Petersburg RU, and several SCAR international meetings (last one was in Portland OR in 2012).  We have also performed a version of the hour-long presentation on the Menlo Park campus, Stanford University, and at other local venues.
  
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  Member of the USGS string band, which performs at nearly all of the Menlo Park Campus social events and occasionally at other locations.
  
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  The program was developed because the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty was in December 2009.  We started the celebration with small presentations at the USGS Open House in Spring, and developed an hour-long presentation with both live audio and projected visuals by Fall.  It was approved by the Smithsonian, and we presented it at the gala anniversary celebration event in the National Air and Space museum.  Since then, we rewrote the program, added a bunch of original Russian music that was written by a meteorologist in Antarctica, and translated the entire slide show into Russian.  We took this to St. Petersburg in 2012 and presented it in the historic Russian Geographical Society auditorium.  We don't have any plans for a repeat performance at this time.  We do, though, hope to record some of the Russian music, now that the sheet music has been recently published.  There might be some info on our web site:  http://www.leftbanktrio.com 
  

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  Presented 6-8 oral papers at international and national meetings, for example at the annual and section meetings of the Geological Society of America and the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. 
  
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  Annually hosted and conducted the Chapman Seminar Series for the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
  
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  Presented 4 invited seminars at Kyoto and Tohoku Universities, Japan, on subduction zone seismicity and the habitats of high-magnitude megathrust earthquakes.
  
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  Participated as a member on NSF's Marcus Langseth Scientific Oversight Committee. 
  

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  From November 2013 through February 2014 I assisted Reno Field Station Staff in recovering fish tags from the American White Pelican colony on Anaho Island, Pyramid Lake, Nevada. Reno Field Station was contracted by Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge to estimate the magnitude of endangered Cui-ui taken by American White Pelican.
  
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  In January 2014 I participated in a presentation by folks from the Columbia River USGS and Reno Field Station to the Moapa Dace Biological Action Committee on the WFRC Moapa Dace population viability analysis.
  
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  In January 2014 I represented WFRC and received the Partners In Conservation Award from the Secretary of Interior. The award was for “Restoring Threatened &Endangered Fishes of the Truckee River Watershed Partnership”.
  
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  In February 2014, I attended a ceremony hosted by The Nature Conservancy to present individual awards to all members of the Truckee River Watershed Partnership.
  
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  In February 2014, because of my experience and expertise pertaining to the predator/prey relationship between American White Pelican and Cui-ui, I was requested to review the following document by the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge staff; “Anaho Island National Wildlife Refuge Natural Resource Management Plan”. The review was returned in a timely manner.
  
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  In April along with the Reno Field Station staff, former staff members (volunteers), and I assisted the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Fisheries folks in capturing fish for the Cui-ui hatchery, and for determining year class structure. Year class structure is determined by sacrificing 500 adult fish, and using their operculum for aging. Carcasses are iced and disseminated by a tribal representative to tribal members allowing them to continue this cultural tradition. The tribe is known as the “Cui-ui eaters”.
  
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  Also in April I was called by the United States Attorney to be deposed on a United States District Court, District Court of Nevada trial pertaining to habitat restoration activities on Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. I was called in for deposition because I was a former member of the Ash Meadows Recovery Implementation team, and conducted studies on the habitat requirements of the refuge’s threatened and endangered fishes.
  
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  In May I worked in the Reno Field Station lab cleaning operculum and after cleaning began attributing an age for each fish. The information will be given to the Reno Field Station staff, and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Fisheries staff.
  

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  I have received the Department of Interior's Citizen's Award for Exceptional Service.
  
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  I was elected as a fellow in the Geologic Society of America.
  
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  I was an invited speaker at a National GSA and at the High Country Rotary Club. In both cases, I was introduced as USGS Emeritus.  
  

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  Lecture, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA: Living the high life (well, mostly) in the North Cascades: An overview of North Cascades Geology
  
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  Lecture, Jefferson county Land Trust, Port Townsend, WA: Mapping a tectonic plate collision: Rocks and Rain in the Olympic Backcountry.
  
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  Lecture: Peninsula College, Port Angeles, WA: Mapping a tectonic plate collision: Rocks and rain in the Olympic backcountry
  
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  Review USGS manuscripts
  

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  Member, NASA Special Regions Science Advisory Group: Advises NASA and the international community what areas are permissible for future landing sites on Mars, to make risk of biologically contaminating the surface of Mars acceptably low.
  
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  Member, Charles Brothers' PhD Committee. University of Texas, Austin.
  
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  Member, Giovanni Leone's PhD Committee, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
  
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  Member, Mars Task Group, Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union
  
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  Guest Editor (1 of 3), special issue of Planetary and Space Science, May 2014 issue.
  

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  I have continued to finalize primary research in “Land Cover Applications and Global Change.”
  
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  I also participated in the Fall American Geophysical Union meetings and presented.
  
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  Compiled NDVI and rare but valuable stable isotopic data for the Great Plains grasslands and posted them for access on the web site at the EROS Center.
  
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  Compiled stable isotopic data for detailed grassland sites at Makoce Washte and prepared these for deposition and data access from my web site.
  
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  Provided numerous lectures and seminars about EROS to local community organizations.
  
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  Organized and implemented 3 outreach programs on “EROS Center: The Hidden Jewel in Sioux Falls” Backyard” for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. These included very valuable seminars on the history and role of EROS, a special detailed tour of EROS, and presentations on exemplary activities.
  
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  Compiled citations of all my professional publications and provided them to the web site with access to most articles.
  
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  Delivered two courses on “CO2 and Climate Change” with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute” with presentations by EROS staff and a tour of the center.
  
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  Member Science Advisory Board (SAB) USGS John Wesley Powell Center for Earth System Analysis and Synthesis
  
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  Reviewed numerous proposals and publications for the USGS, other agencies, and journals.
  
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  Identified potential applications of EROS Center data sets for use by Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, and other conservation organizations.
  

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  Federal Firearms Instructor (FFI), Pacific Region.  Tinsley is 1 of 6 Pacific Region FFI personnel who conduct firearms safety training for USGS field personnel who may elect to carry a firearm for defense against wild animals while conducting fieldwork in Alaska or other areas of the conterminous United States. Three (3) courses are taught annually.
  
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  STAMP (Safety Training at Menlo Park).  This group meets monthly for a couple of hours under the direction of Menlo Park Safety Officer Michael Ramirez, and consists chiefly of the Collateral Duty Safety Officers  (CDSO) from the respective Science Center located in Menlo Park. Tinsley represents the Firearm Safety Committee.
  
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  Aviation Response Plan Updates and Maintenance: Tinsley tracks changes in Interior Department regulations concerning use of aircraft for post-disaster reconnaissance missions, and provides updates as needed to the Science Center’s internal website. 
  
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  California Earthquake Clearinghouse: The USGS is one of the principal members of the California Earthquake Clearinghouse, a consortium headquartered in the California Geological Survey. Following the State Governor’s declaration of a disaster, the Clearinghouse decides how best to articulate the response to that disaster, and also serves as a point of exchange for reliable information about the event, be it earthquake, fire, or tsunami. Tinsley occasionally attends meetings and participates in drills and related events.
  
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  Ask A Geologist:  Tinsley serves one day per month as an expert, who responds to questions emailed to the USGS-sponsored website, giving the questioner scientifically accurate but not overly technical responses to the questions distributed by the server.
  
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  Secretary, Supervisory Committee, Menlo Survey Federal Credit Union (MSFCU): Tinsley is the recording secretary and archivist for the 5-member MSFCU Supervisory Committee, an oversight body that ensures that management and the Board of Directors take actions that conform to regulations promulgated by the National Credit Union Association, a national organization that sets and enforces standards for Credit Unions nationwide. 
  
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  Household Battery Recycling: Tinsley operates the household battery recycling activity, at least the recycling that occurs in Building 3 at the Earthquake Science Center mailboxes. This activity was initiated long ago by Ms. Clarissa Nixon, who has since retired. As Nixon neared retirement, Tinsley took over hauling the batteries to San Mateo County’s household recycling center located in San Carlos, CA, near US 101 and Ralston Avenue. This occurs about once per month, at present rates of consumption.
  

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  Since retiring in January, 2014, I have been working to complete obligations related to grants from three outside government agencies (Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, and Utah State Department of Environmental Quality). This includes preparation of a talk of final results delivered at two meetings.  I presented the talk at a meeting with the Bureau of Land Management and Colorado River Salinity Control Science working group and my co-investigator delivered the talk at a stakeholders’ meeting in Utah. The final deliverable for these grants is a U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report (OFR) that will include all data collected and a summary of methods used in the study.  I am in the process of accumulating and culling all geochemical data collected and writing the OFR (I anticipate releasing report for review in early July 2014). In April, I participated in a field trip to the study area to collect additional samples for the Utah State work (this work will be now be spearheaded by co-investigator as the grant continues until end of the year).
  
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  Additional work includes continuation of scientific reviews, scientific inquires, scientific mentoring, and maintaining a soils laboratory.