Erin Cunningham | PhD in Geology

Department of Geology, University of Maryland

Email: ecunnin2@umd.edu

 

Curriculum Vitae

 

I. EDUCATION

 

2019-

Postdoctoral Student at Geology Department, University of Maryland

 

2013- 2019

PhD in Geology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

Dissertation: Seismic Constraints on Sediment and Upper Lithospheric Structure across the Continental United States

Committee: Vedran Lekić (Advisor), Nicholas Schmerr, Lara Wagner, Michael Brown

 

2009-2013

B.S. in Geology (Minor in Physics) Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118

Research: Quantification of Grain-size Distribution in Submarine Channels

Advisor: Kyle Straub

 

II. REASEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

PUBLICATIONS & MANUSCRIPTS

 

1. Cunningham, E. , & Lekić, V.  (2019) Constraining Crustal Structure in the Presence of Sediment: A Multiple Converted Wave Approach, Geophysical Journal International,, ggz298

 

2. Gao, C., Cunningham, E. , & Lekić, V. (2019) Spurious Low Velocity Zones in Joint Inversions of Surface Waves and Receiver Functions.  Geophysical Journal International,, ggz345

 

 

3. Cunningham, E. , & Lekić, V.  Shallow low velocity layering in the Atlantic Coastal Plain: implications for hazard assessment (submitted to BSSA)

 

4. Cunningham, E. , Wagner, L., & Lekić, V., The crustal structure of the southeastern United States (in preparation)

 

INVITED TALKS

 

Sediment and crustal structure of the Eastern United States, Potomac Geological Society of Washington, 2018

 

 

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

 

1. Cunningham,E. Constraining sedimentary basins in the Southeastern US using P-to-s receiver functions AGU Fall Meeting S23C-0545. 2018.

2. Cunningham,E. Lithospheric structure and relationship to seismicity beneath the Southeastern US using receiver functions. AGU Fall Meeting T11A-0442. 2017.

3. Cunningham,E. Lithospheric structure of the Southeastern US, GeoPRISMS mini-workshop: ENAM science advances. 2017.

4. Cunningham, E.E., Lekić,V. Constraining crustal structure in sediment dominated regions: An H-k-v stacking method  AGU Fall Meeting 2016

5.  Cunningham,E. Constraints on the structure of the continental upper crust and lithosphere across the USArray- a focus on receiver function analysis. Seismology Student Workshop, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University.  Session VII: Large Scale Tomography. 2016

6. Zamudio, K. Keithline,N. Blum, C. Cunningham,E.  Fromont, A. Jorgensen, M. Lee,R. McBride,K. Berrios,P. Harper,C. Pellerin, L. McPhee, D. Ferguson,J. Gravity and Magnetotelluric Modeling of the Santo Domingo Basin, Northern New Mexico. GP13B-1299, 2015.

7. Cunningham, E.E., Lekić,V. The structure of the continental crust: comparison of body wave apparent incidence angle and receiver function results, AGU Fall Meeting T11-2915, 2015

8. Cunningham,E.E., Lekić, V. New Seismic Observables Constrain Structure within the Continental Lithosphere, AGU Fall Meeting 2014

9. Cunningham, E.E., Frassetto, A., Lekić, V. Obtaining interpretable receiver functions to study lithospheric structure in the central US, AGU Fall Meeting, T53C-2722, 2012.

 

ONGOING COLLABORATIONS & OTHER ACADEMIC PROJECTS

 

2015-2019| Crustal Research Group

2019| Seasonal and Multi-year trends in stream water salinization

2018-2019| Transdimensional Hierarchical Bayesian Inversion of Spectroscopic Signals in Asteroids and Meteorites.

 

WORKSHOPS & RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

 

2015| Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience, Santa Fe, NM

Research: Magnetotelluric Model Appraisal in the Santo Domingo Basin, New Mexico.

Training: Field Techniques including Vibroseis survey, Magnetotelluric survey (MT), Time-Domain electromagnetics survey (TDEM), gravity survey

 

2013| IRIS, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Training: 4-day short course and group project on seismological data processing methods (Seismic Anisotropy)

 

2012| IRIS Internship - IRIS headquarters, Washington, DC and UMD, College Park

Research: Obtaining interpretable receiver functions to study to study lithospheric structure in the central US

 

2011| Fermilab Natural Areas, Batavia, IL

Research: Distribution and control of invasive prairie species: Alliaria petiolata, Cirsium arvense, and Pastinaca sativia.

Training: Commination to the public and community engagement, responsible for leading 2 volunteer work days

 

III. ACADEMIC TEACHING EXPERIENCE

 

2018| Monarch Academy, Glen Burnie, MD

Developed presentation and activity to teach 5th grade students about earthquake location and wave propogation

 

Fall 2013 & Fall 2014 & Fall 2016 |Teaching assistant for GEOL 200 Earth’s Fury

This is an I-serires (interactive learning) course at university of Maryland requiring intensive involvement and direction from teaching assistants. Communication and teaching of students 3 days a week including two “lab-lecture” classes, twice a week online quizzes, and discussion/writing classes. New class as of Fall 2013 and so worked with professors to help develop class, write labs and quizzes, and help develop science-writing and communication skills in students.

 

Fall2013 & Spring 2014 & Spring 2017 | University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Teaching assistant for GEOL 110 Physical Geology. Worked with seismology lab to develop a new seismology lab for the course in 2014.

 

2013 | Gorman Crossing Elementary, Laurel, MD

Developed presentation and activities to teach 4-6 grade students about earthquakes and hazards

 

2012| Tulane University, New Orleans, LA

Developed and wrote original experimental labs for sedimentology and depositional mechanics classes using the existing sedimentology flume.

 

 

IV. ACADEMIC SERVICE (including Department/University Service )

 

 

2016-2018 | Graduate Student Government, University of Maryland, College Park MD

Served as geology department representative

For 2016-2017 academic year served as a member on the task force on sexual misconduct prevention.  This year long committee surveyed graduate students and worked with the university health center to advise the university on new policies to assist graduate students who feel they have been sexually harassed (Many suggested policies were adopted by the University for Spring 2019).

For the 2017-2018 academic year served on the budget committee, learned how to work and communicate with university administrators to best serve graduate student interests, including the food bank, housing, and graduate student organizations.

 

2014,2016, & 2018 | Volunteer with Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology: Education and Outreach at USA Science and Engineering Festival, Washington D.C.

Helped to educate and engage children and educators of children about seismology and teaching resources available through IRIS.

 

2016| Volunteer Editor for Science in the Classroom

Annotate recent science articles for high school and undergraduate students learning standards and develop an associated learning activity: http://www.scienceintheclassroom.org/research-papers/western-us-rise

 

2015 | Panel Participant on “So you’re thinking about grad school” University of Maryland, College Park MD

 

2015 | Co-President of the AAPG student chapter, University of Maryland, College Park MD

Organized Workshop from the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management on Geological and Geophysical Acquisition

Organized talk from Director of AAPG Geoscience and Energy Policy, Edith Allison on Methane emissions from unconventional oil and gas operations

 

 

V. HONORS AND AWARDS

 

2018| EarthScope National Meeting Scholarship

2017| Geological Society of America: Graduate Student Research Grant

2017| EarthScope National Meeting Scholarship

2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 | Earth Systems Science Interdisciplinary Center Student Travel Award

2014 | NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Honorable Mention

2013-2014 | Dean’s Fellowship - University of Maryland

2012 | New Orleans Geological Society George Schneider Scholarship

2009-2013 |Tulane Academic Founders Scholarship

2009-2013 |NCAA Scholar-Athlete

 

 

VI. NON-ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT and EXPERIANCE

 

2015-2019| Machine Aquatics Age Group Coach – Gears

Taught as a competitive year round swim program age group coach. Responsible for classroom or group management and program development for swimmers ages 8-13 and communicating training concepts with both swimmers and their parents. Developed adaptive teaching skills to maintain progress within the group while not “leaving swimmers behing”. Experience developing I- for swimmers with disabilities.

 

VII COMPUTER SKILLS

 

Daily use of Mac OS X; Daily programming in Matlab; advanced use of Adobe Illustrator; Daily use of Microsoft Office products; experience coding in Unix C-shell; C++, Fortran, and python; minor experience with GIS

 

VIII. REFERENCES

 

TEACHING

Vedran Lekić, University of Maryland, College Park

8000 Regents Dr.,

College Park, MD 20742

Email: ved@umd.edu

Phone: (301) 405-4086

 

Laurent Montesi, University of Maryland, College Park

8000 Regents Dr.,

College Park, MD 20742

Email: montesi@umd.edu

Phone: (301) 405-7534

 

Kevin Long, Machine Aquatics LLC, Fairland

204 Mill St NE,

Vienna, VA 22180

Email: Kevin@machineaquatics.com

Phone: (818) 355-9440

 

 

RESEARCH

 

Vedran Lekić, University of Maryland, College Park

8000 Regents Dr.,

College Park, MD 20742

Email: ved@umd.edu

Phone: (301) 405-4086

 

Lara Wagner, Carnegie-DTM

5241 Broad Branch Road NW

Washington, D.C. 20015-1305

Email: lwagner@carnegiescience.edu

Phone: (202) 478-8838

 

Thomas Pratt, USGS Reston

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive

Reston, VA 20192

Email: tpratt@usgs.gov

Phone: (703)648-6709

 

Nicholas Schmerr, University of Maryland, College Park

8000 Regents Dr.,

College Park, MD 20742

Email: nschmerr@umd.edu

Phone: (301) 405-4385