Michael E. Wysession (born December 6, 1961) is a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, and author of numerous science textbooks published by Pearson Education, Prentice Hall and the Savvas Learning Corporation. Wysession has made many contributions to geoscience education and literacy, including chairing the inclusion of Earth and space science in the U.S. National Academy of Science report ''A Framework for K-12 Science Education '' and the U.S. K-12 ''

Next Generation Science Standards The Next Generation Science Standards is a multi-state effort in the United States to create new education standards that are "rich in content and practice, arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an inter ...

Education and research

Wysession earned his B.Sc. from Brown University in 1984 and his Ph.D. at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in 1991, and has been on the faculty at Washington University since then. His research has focused on using seismic waves to identify the composition and structure of Earth's mantle, with a special focus on the boundary between the mantle and core. In 1996, Wysession created one of the first maps of the structure of Earth's core-mantle boundary, and in 1999, he created the first accurate computer-generated animation of the way

seismic waves A seismic wave is a wave of acoustic energy that travels through the Earth. It can result from an earthquake, volcanic eruption, magma movement, a large landslide, and a large man-made explosion that produces low-frequency acoustic energy. ...

propagate through

Earth's mantle Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate rock between the crust and the outer core. It has a mass of 4.01 × 1024 kg and thus makes up 67% of the mass of Earth. It has a thickness of making up about 84% of Earth's volume. It is predominantly so ...

. An example of his research was the identification with Jesse Lawrence of the

lower mantle The lower mantle, historically also known as the mesosphere, represents approximately 56% of Earth's total volume, and is the region from 660 to 2900 km below Earth's surface; between the transition zone and the outer core. The preliminar ...

Beijing Anomaly.

Leadership

Wysession is chair of the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

(NSF)-sponsored Earth Science Literacy Initiative, leading a research community-based effort that created a concise document of what all citizens should know about Earth science. He has been active for many years with the leadership of IRIS (

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) is a university research consortium dedicated to exploring the Earth's interior through the collection and distribution of seismographic data. IRIS programs contribute to scholarly research, ...

), including serving as chair of the Education and Outreach Program, working to advance global awareness of earthquakes and seismology. Wysession helped to create the NSF program on Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics. He has been an editor of five scientific journals published by the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's a ...

and is currently editor-in-chief of ''Perspectives of Earth and Space Scientists.''

Textbooks

Wysession has authored and co-authored many K-12 textbook programs including the K-8 national science programs ''Interactive Science'' and ''Elevate Science'' and the high school programs ''Physical Science: Concepts in Action'', ''Experience Chemistry'' and ''Experience Physics''. He is also co-author of a leading undergraduate/graduate geophysics textbook with Seth Stein entitled ''Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, and Earth Structure.'' Wysession is author of three video courses with Wondrium (formerly The Great Courses/

The Teaching Company The Teaching Company, doing business as Wondrium, is a media production company that produces educational, video and audio content in the form of courses, documentaries, series under two content brands - Wondrium and The Great Courses. The comp ...

):,
How the Earth Works
',
The World’s Greatest Geological Wonders
'
National Geographic Polar Explorations
and
The Science of Energy
'.1Wysession, M. E., The Science of Energy: Power and Resources Explained video course of 24 half-hour lectures The Teaching Company, Chantilly, VA, 2016. He is the designer and instructor of a 3-day course entitled ''Earth, Moon, and Mars'' that he presents at different

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

locations. Wysession is a frequent lecturer internationally at teacher organization meetings (such as the

National Science Teachers Association The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), founded in 1944 (as the National Science Teachers Association) and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is an association of science teachers in the United States and is the largest organization ...

), science centers, and other venues.

Awards

For his research, Wysession received a

Packard Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private foundation that provides grants to not-for-profit organizations. It was created in 1964 by David Packard (co-founder of HP) and his wife Lucile Salter Packard. Following David Packard's death ...

''Fellowship for Science and Engineering'' (1992) and a National Science Foundation ''

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. The White ...

(PECASE)'', awarded at the White House (1996). For his education and outreach, Wysession received the inaugural '' Ambassador Award'' from the American Geophysical Union (2014), the ''Frank Press Service Award'' from the

Seismological Society of America The Seismological Society of America (SSA) is an international scientific society devoted to the advancement of seismology and the understanding of earthquakes for the benefit of society. Founded in 1906, the society has members throughout the wo ...

(2016), and the ''Geosciences in the Media Award'' from the

American Association of Petroleum Geologists The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) is one of the world's largest professional geological societies with more than 40,000 members across 129 countries as of 2021. The AAPG works to "advance the science of geology, especially as ...

(2021).

References

External links

Washington University Academic HomepageBiography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wysession, Michael E. 1961 births Living people American geophysicists American science writers Brown University alumni Northwestern University alumni Washington University in St. Louis faculty Scientists from Missouri Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers