Chris Newhall

Chris Newhall is a “volcano epidemiologist" who studies historical eruption precursors, modern volcanic unrest, and eruptive behavior as reconstructed from stratigraphic, petrologic, and historical data. He has been privileged to work on volcanoes in the US, Guatemala, the Philippines, Indonesia, Ecuador, DR Congo, and Japan, and to visit many more.

His undergraduate study was at Univ of California, Davis, with a year at Univ of Canterbury; his postgraduate studies were at UC Davis and Dartmouth. Most of his career was with the US Geological Survey, but also included work as an affiliate professor at the Univ. of Washington, as professor and volcano group leader at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, and as visiting professor at Univ. of the Philippines. He is a past chairman, World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO); godfather of the WOVOdat epidemiological database of worldwide volcanic unrest; and a long-time student of how to reduce volcanic risks.

He is now semi-retired near Mayon Volcano, Philippines, where he continues work with students and where he and his wife Glenda are developing Mirisbiris Garden, a hobbyist botanical garden and nature center.