Christina Massell Symons Representing Recent Graduates of SIO Member, SIO Alumni Network Leadership Team Member Education Network Executive Committee

Chris earned a PhD in 2002. With the guidance of Peter Lonsdale she logged nearly 200 days at sea, and two days below sea level, mapping the seafloor along the rim of the Pacific Ocean Basin. The deformation of subducting lithosphere at the Peru-Chile Trench and the Tonga-Kermadec Trench was the primary focus of her dissertation.

As an undergraduate, Chris was drawn to study the Earth at Stanford University where her "classroom" was the Sierra Nevadas and the northern California Coast, culminating in a BS degree in 1993. Her interest in structural geology and tectonics, plus two amazing field seasons in Montana's Rocky Mountains was all the convincing she needed to pursue a MS degree, in her home state of Texas. At UT-Austin she joined a team studying the tectonics of the Pacific-Australian plate boundary south of New Zealand and later returned to continue the collaboration as a postdoctoral researcher Summer internships with Mobil and later Texaco stimulated a growing interest in global climate change that led to her participation with UC's delegation to the 2000 Kyoto Protocol Conference.

Currently, Chris and a team of SIO scientists are developing a digital library of resources for Earth science education. This collaborative effort among SIO scientists, UCSD librarians, K-12 educators, and data managers is an initiative within NSF Digital Library program.

Recognizing the profound disconnect among decision makers, the scientific community, and the teachers of our future leaders, Chris seeks out opportunities to teach undergraduates, speak to local groups, and visit K-12 classrooms in order to convey the impact and relevance of science in our daily lives.