Michael Wysession
Dr. Michael E. Wysession is a Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his Sc.B. from Brown University and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University, both in geophysics.
An established leader in seismology and geoscience education, Wysession is noted for his research on the composition of Earth’s deep mantle, particularly the core-mantle boundary. Other areas of contributions in his more than 100 published papers include the structure of the Mid-continent Rift, the tectonics and structure of African plates, intraplate seismicity, and the visualization of seismic wave propagation.
Wysession has served the geophysical community on the Board of Directors of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Board of Directors; as Chair of IRIS Education and Outreach); co-creator of the NSF CIG (Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics) program; Chair of the NSF Earth Science Literacy Initiative; and editor of the American Geophysical Union’s Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Geophysical Research, and EOS.
Wysession is a leader in geoscience literacy and education. He has coauthored more than 30 textbooks, ranging from Pearson’s national elementary and middle school science programs to the popular graduate-level Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, and Earth Structure. Wysession was Chair of Earth and Space Sciences for the influential National Research Council’s report A Framework for K-12 Science Education, and Chair of Earth and Space Science for the writing of the new national K-12 Next Generation Science Standards, which is currently revolutionizing the teaching of science in most U.S. primary and secondary schools. Wysession is a frequent lecturer (>300 presentations) and guest on television and radio programs concerned with earthquakes, Earth structure, human impacts, climate change, and science education. Wysession is the author of four video lecture courses with the Teaching Company’s Great Courses series: How the Earth Works, The World’s Greatest Geologic Wonders, National Geographic’s Polar Explorations, and The Science of Energy.
Wysession’s research and science literacy work have been recognized through a Packard Foundation Fellowship, an NSF Presidential Faculty Fellowship, the Innovation Award of the St. Louis Science Academy, a Distinguished Faculty Award of Washington University, the Ambassador Award from the American Geophysical Union, of which he is a Fellow, and the Frank Press Award from the Seismological Society of America.