Gregory S. Baker, the Jones/Bibee Associate Professor of Geophysics, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, was the inaugural recipient of the Early-Career Award of the Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society. Baker specializes in near-surface geophysics to image the upper 200 meters of the Earth’s surface. His work includes developing new geophysical instrumentation and data processing techniques, improving standard operating procedures of data acquisition, and demonstrating applied examples of state-of-the-art techniques. His diverse research projects include imaging recent sediments within lakes on Baffin Island for climate-related studies; environmental site characterization on Fort Wainwright and Fort Richardson, Alaska; glacio-geophysics research at Matanuska Glacier, Alaska; archaeo-geophysics studies on an early Roman fort in Jordan; a joint EPA–U.S. Forest Service project restoring wet meadows in the Great Basin of Nevada; a time-lapse hydrogeophysical study at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and development of new technology for landmine detection based on acoustic resonance properties of soils. He has also spent the past nine years as director of NSF-sponsored projects designed to enhance diversity in the geosciences by providing unique opportunities to underrepresented student populations.

Selected Publications

Baker, G.S., 2008, “Improving Our Understanding of Near-surface Seismic Reflection Data Quality,” Invited contribution to The Leading Edge Special Issue 27: 1526-1534.

Ambrose, H.M., Baker, G.S., Oleson, J.P., Sherwood, A., Reeves, M.B., and de Bruijn, E., 2007, “High-Resolution Archaeological Geophysics Survey Using Electrical Resistivity, Magnetic Gradiometry, and Ground-Penetrating Radar at a Second-Century Roman Fort, Humayma, Jordan,” Geoarchaeology 85: 332-343.

Baker, G.S., Jordan, T.E., and Talley, J., 2007, “An Introduction to Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR),” in Baker, G.S., and Jol, H.M., eds., Stratigraphic Analyses Using GPR: Geological Society of America Special Paper 432: 1–18.

Gilcrist, L.E., Baker, G.S., Sen S., 2007, “Preferred Frequencies for Three Unconsolidated Earth Materials,” Applied Physics Letters 91: 254-257.

Stokes, P.J., Baker, G.S., Briner, J.P., and Dorsey, D.J., 2007, “Multifaceted Outreach Model for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences in Buffalo, NY,” Journal of Geoscience Education 55 (6): 574-580.

Bennett, G., Weissmann, G.S., Baker, G.S., and Hyndman, D.W., 2006, “Sequence Bounding Paleosols on Fluvial Fans Defined by Ground Penetrating Radar in the Eastern San Joaquin Valley, California,” Geological Society of America Bulletin 118: 724-732.

Tags: Environment • Geophysics • Geoscience • Gregory S. Baker