Science & a Movie: Dante’s Peak

May 14, 6:00 p.m.

Join PacSci for an evening honoring the anniversary of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption. Local geology expert Jackie Caplan-Auerbach will share her experience studying volcanoes, with a talk focused on the science of eruptions and how films portray these events—what they get right, and what they don’t.

After the presentation, guests will enjoy a special screening of Dante’s Peak, followed by a Q&A with Jackie exploring the geological activity that continues to shape our region today.

Please note, the featured film is rated PG-13 and this event is recommend for ages 13 and up.

Schedule

Doors: 6 p.m.
Program Starts: 6:30 p.m.
Screening Starts: 6:50 p.m.

About the speaker

Jackie Caplan-Auerbach is a professor in the Geology department at Western Washington University.

Her undergraduate years were spent at Yale University where she earned degrees in both Physics and English then spent 6 years as a high school physics teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to Honolulu to pursue graduate study.

In 2001, Jackie earned her Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, after which she spent 5 years working for the Alaska Volcano Observatory, first at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and then as a Mendenhall Postdoc with the U.S. Geological Survey.

She has been at Western since 2006, teaching about topics ranging from introductory geology to earthquake seismology to mantle convection. Her research focuses on the seismic and acoustic signals generated by volcanoes and landslides.