Susan Werner Kieffer

Research centers on numerical modeling of planetary volcanism and meteorite impacts. She has written papers on rare and violent geologic events, such as the impacts at Meteor Crater, Manicouagan and Chicxulub, the volcanic eruption at Mount St. Helens, and the catastrophic 1983 flood at Crystal Rapids on the Colorado River. All of these events are characterized by extreme nonlinear behavior. As a MacArthur Fellow, she expanded her civic activities to include developing methods for teaching science to homeless and at-risk 7-12 students.