Dr. Glenn Thompson

Biography

My career has had 3 main stages:

1996-2013: REAL-TIME MONITORING/OPERATIONS

In 1996 I was hired by the British Geological Survey (BGS) to help monitor seismicity due to the ongoing eruption of the Soufriere Hills Volcano , in Montserrat. I was impressed by the systems the US Geological Survey's VDAP team had installed, and realized that this was something I could build on. So I trained as a systems analyst/programmer, and worked in the IT industry, before joining the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute (UAFGI) in 1998 to build the first web-based volcano-seismic monitoring system for the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) . In 2000, I rejoined BGS to rebuild and lead the seismic monitoring program at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) , and I expanded the seismic monitoring to locate and quantify pyroclastic flow and lahar signals, since those were the primary hazards. In 2006 I returned to UAFGI where I further developed seismic monitoring systems for AVO and the Alaska Earthquake Information Center (AEIC) (the latter became the Alaska Earthquake Center (AEC) in 2013).

2013-2018: RESEARCH SUPPORT

Supporting the research of university professors and graduate students has always been part of my job, but it became my main role in 2013 when I joined the University of South Florida (USF) School of Geosciences . This position included roles as Field Technician, Systems Administrator, Data Manager, and Programmer for the new Seismology Group. I also taught classes in Time Series Analysis, Seismic Data Analysis, and Programming.

2018-Present: PRIMARY RESEARCH

In 2018 I was given a small startup to help build my own research program. This has enabled me to build upon innovative work I did at UAFGI and MVO

as well as forge collaborations with NASA Kennedy Space Center.

More details about current and past projects can be here.