Biographical Information
Recipient of the 2001 Biggs Award for Excellence in Earth Science Teaching from the Geological Society of America, Dr. Grosfils regularly offers courses at Pomona College in planetary geology (Geo 20B), geophysics (Geo 155) and environmental remote sensing/GIS (Geo 110). In recent years he has also taught topical courses in geomathematics and research methods and as part of the College's freshman seminar program (ID1). He co-designed the collaborative Earth, Planetary & Space Science tracks in Geology and Physics at the college, and is one of the founding members of the multi-institutional Keck Undergraduate Computational Science Education Consortium. In addition to supporting senior theses and independent study efforts in a wide array of fields, Dr. Grosfils has worked with students on major hydrology and geophysical research projects in Idaho and Canyonlands National Park in Utah , and has directed Keck Geology Consortium planetary geology research projects in Virginia and at the Goddard Space Flight Center.
In addition to enjoying his teaching interactions with undergraduates, Dr. Grosfils has been fortunate to have an extensive array of talented students participate in several NASA-funded investigations of geological processes on Venus and Mars, efforts which have focused primarily on assessing the formation and development of volcanic and tectonic features in order to understand how the complex geological surfaces of the two planets formed and evolved. These research efforts commonly integrate analysis of NASA remote sensing data with numerical modeling and (at times) field work. In addition to promoting student participation, research projects are often conducted in close collaboration with colleagues, for instance from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA), Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.), Lunar and Planetary Institute (Houston, TX), University of Nevada, Reno (Reno, NV), and/or Trinity University (San Antonio, TX). Since starting at Pomona College in 1995 Dr. Grosfils has received two NASA-ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowships (Goddard Space Flight Center; Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and a Part-Time Faculty appointment at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He has also spent time in residence at the National Air and Space Museum 's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (Smithsonian Institution) and, most recently, he travelled to New Zealand as a Fulbright U.S. Senior Scholar to initiate several new projects with colleagues at the University of Auckland (IESE) and Victoria University of Wellington (SGEES).
Courses Taught
Geology 20B: Introduction to Geology (Planetary Geology)
Geology 110: Remote Sensing of Earth's Environment
Geology 129: Geophysics of the Solid Earth
Geology 160: Geomodeling
Recent Publications
- Grosfils, E.B., Magma reservoir failure on the terrestrial planets: Assessing the importance of gravitational loading in simple elastic models, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 166, 47-75, 2007.
-
Kostama, V.-P., M.A. Ivanov, A.T. Polit*, T. Tormanen, E.B. Grosfils, J. Raitala, and G. Neukem, The topographic and morphologic characteristics of Reull Vallis, Mars: Implications for the history of the Reull Vallis fluvial system, Journal of Geophysical Research—Planets, 112, E11001, doi:10.1029/2006JE002848 (19 pgs), 2007.
-
Schultz, R.A., J.M. Moore, E.B. Grosfils, K.L. Tanaka, and D. Mège, The Canyonlands model for planetary grabens: Revised physical basis and implications, in The Geology of Mars: Evidence from Earth-Based Analogues , edited by M.G. Chapman and I.P. Skilling, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- Reinen, L., E. Grosfils, R. Gaines, and R. Hazlett, Integrating research into a small geology department’s curriculum, CUR Quarterly (invited), 26, 109-114, 2006.
- Kortz, K. M., Grosfils, E. B. , Sakimoto, S. E. H., Emplacement of long lava flows within a graben network in Radunitsa Labyrinthus, Carson Quadrangle, Venus, Geophysical Research Letters, 30, no. 17, 2003.
- Ernst, R. E., Desnoyers, D. W., Head, J. W., Grosfils , E. B. , Graben-fissure systems in Guinevere Planitia and Beta Regio (264 degrees E-312 degrees E, 24 degrees -60 degrees N), Venus , and implications for regional stratigraphy and mantle plumes, Icarus 164, 282-316, 2003.
- Grosfils, E. B. , Schultz, R. A., Kroeger, G., Geophysical exploration within northern Devils Lane Graben, Canyonlands National Park, Utah ; implications for sediment thickness and tectonic evolution, Journal of Structural Geology, 25, 455-467, 2003.
Professional Memberships
Geological Society of America
American Geophysical Union, Sigma Xi, NAGT, PKAL and CUR |
