Curriculum Vitae of Paul E. Olsen

[http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~polsen/nbcp/peo.cv1.html]
(part 1)
(go to part 2 [publications])
(go to part 3 [abstracts])
(go to pt. 4 [articles on Olsen's research])
(go to P. Olsen, Departmental page)
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5852-6326

My Google Scholar Citations


Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
of Columbia University
61 Rt. 9W
Palisades, New York 10964-1000
polsen@ldeo.columbia.edu
send e-mail to Paul
 

Born: August 4, 1953, New York City. U.S. Citizen

Education:

B.A., Geology Yale University, (with honors), 1978
M. Phil., Ph.D., Biology, Yale University, 1984

Paul E. Olsen in Morocco

High Atlas Mountains, Ait Ourir, Morocco, 2011
(photo by Mohammed Et-Touhami)

Interests:

Solar System Dynamics from Earth's Geological Record, Astrochronology, Earth System Science, Paleobiology and Causation of Mass Extinctions, Paleoclimate, Sedimentology

Awards and Honors

2024: Joe Webb Peoples Award of the Geological Society of Connecticut
2015: Thomas Jefferson Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Natural Science
2011-2013: Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award ($75,000).
2008-present: National Academy of Sciences (http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=04292008)
1998-1999: Don R. and Patricia Kidd Boyd Lecturship in Petroleum Geology, Department of Geological Sciences, UT Texas, Austin.
1997-1998: Mobil Foundation Award.
1986-1988: Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow.
1985-1986: Arco Petroleum Research Fellowship.
1976: Golden Hammer Award, Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University.
1970: Presidential Commendation, Richard Milhouse Nixon.

Positions Held:

Jan., 2007 to present : Research Associate, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC.
Jan., 2003 to present: Research Associate, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA.
Jan., 1999 to 2001: Paleontological Society Distinguished Lecturer.
Jan., 1998 to present: Honorary Board of Directors, Fundy Geological Museum, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Jan., 1997 to 2007: Vice President, Board of Directors, Black Rock Forest Consortium
Jan., 1995 to present: Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
Jan., 1991 to 1994: Associate Professor of Geological Sciences, Department of Geological Sciences, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
July, 1985 to present: Research Associate American Museum of Natural History.
Nov., 1985 to present: Research Associate Virginia Natural History Museum.
Sept., 1984 to Dec. 1990: Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences, Department of Geological Sciences, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
March, 1987 to March, 1990: Associate Editor, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Sept., 1983 to August, 1984: Postdoctoral Fellow, Miller Institute of Basic Research in Science, University of California, Berkeley.

Service to Scientific Community:

2020: NASEM, Catalyzing Opportunities for Research in the Earth Sciences (CORES); 2012: NRC, Committee on New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences at the National Science Foundation 2010-2011, NRC Panel on Scientific Ocean Drilling; 2010-2011: Board of Directors, DOSECC: 2003-present, Lamont representative to DOSECC; 2004-2007, NSF panel; 2005, Geosystems (NSF); 2003: DOSECC, Best Practices Workshop and Annual Meeting Participant; 1999: NSF Science and Technology Center, site review team; 1995-1997: Member Science Advisory Committee, International Scientific Drilling Program (Potsdam, Germany); 1994-1996: Member, Steering Committee, Earth Systems History, NSF; Columbia Representative to Black Rock Forest Consortium; Participant in Continental Scientific Drilling Forum Meetings; Leader of Field trips for Scientific Drilling Organizations; Principle Leader of International Geological Congress Field Trip T351 (NC. to Nova Scotia); Organizer and co-chair of ICDP sponsored Understanding Lacustrine Environmental History Through Continental Drilling (1997); Organizer and co-chair of NSF and ICDP sponsored International Workshop for a Climatic, Biotic, and Tectonic Coring Transect of Triassic-Jurassic Pangea (1999)

Public Education in the Media:

1984-2025: Interviewed on numerous television and radio shows including National Public Radio, The Nature of Things, History Channel. Good Morning America (TV), RAI's Italia Sera (Rome, TV), CBC - As it Happens, Morningside, NBC News, CBC - Maritimes (TV), New Jersey Network (TV), MSNBC, Discovery Channel, BBC, etc. Interviewed for numerous magazines and newspapers including American Scientist, TIME, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, National Geographic, Science Times, Science News, Discover, Boston Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, Readers Digest, Science Digest, New Scientist, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, etc.

Service to Industry:

2009-2011: Consultant to SHORE Exploration & Production Corporation.
2008-2011: Course M111: Lacustrine Source Rocks and Rift Tectonics Course. Nautilus Corporation.
2008: Recruitment Field Course for Exxon/Mobil (with Michael Braun, David Reynolds, Martha Withjack, Roy Schlische).
1984-1998: Mobil Oil, Rift Basin Tectonics Course (with Martha Withjack, Roy Schlische, Robert Clarke, John Wagener, John Armentrout, Martin Link); Marathon Oil, Lacustrine Exploration Course (with William Bosworth, Joseph Lambiase); Consultant to Eastern Exploration Inc.; Consultant to Exxon, Texaco, Mobil Oil, Citco, Arco Petroleum, North Central Oil, Cornell Oil.

Teaching: (go to Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences)

2011-2018: Frontiers of Science (Columbia Core course, undergraduates)
2007-present: Paleobiology and Earth System History (Advanced Undergraduate and Graduate Students)
2006-present: Seminar in Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution (Graduate Students)
2003-2004: Seminar in Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution (Graduate Students)
2003: Seminar in Sedimentology I (Graduate Students)
2002: Seminar in Stratigraphy (Graduate Students)
2002: Seminar in Vertebrate Paleontology: Mass Extinctions: Their Causes and Consequences (graduate students)
2000: Rift Basin Field Seminar in Paleontology and Stratigraphy (graduate students)
1997: The Earth System: Life System (undergraduates)
1997: Seminar in Paleontology (graduate students)
1996-1998: Earth Systems Field School at, Biosphere 2 Center
1993: Seminar in Global Ecosystems and the Carbon Cycle (graduate students)
1993-present: Seminar in Structural Geology (graduate students)
1989-present: Seminar in Stratigraphy (graduate students)
1989-present: Dinosaurs and the History of Life (non-major undergraduates)
1985-1986: Advanced General Geology (undergraduates, incoming graduate students)
1984-present: Concepts and Methods in Biostratigraphy (undergraduates, graduate students)
1984-1992: Time in the Earth Sciences (undergraduates)

Professional Affiliations:

American Geophysical Union, Society for Economic Mineralogists and Paleontologists, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carolina Geological Society, New York Geological Association, Sigma Xi, Paleontological Society, Geological Society of America, New York Paleontological Society

Grants and Contracts

2023-present: Using osmium iIotopes to distinguish PGE traces of volcanic winter cryptotephras from redox boundary concentrations at mass extinction horizon. (P. E Olsen, C. Class, C. Doherty, K. Bermingham) (LDEO Climate Center, $11,990)
2023-present: Colorado Plateau Coring Project 2: A continuous record of Triassic-Jurassic environmental change. (P. E. Olsen, A. RoyChowdhury, C. A. Suarez, Krijgsman, L. Becenti, S. T. Kinney, R. Mundil, G. Muttoni, C. Rasmussen, M. Ruhl, M. F. Schaller, V. Vajda, B. Wang, J. H. Whiteside) (ICDP, $1,500,000),
2022-present:RAPID: Collaborative Research: Opportunity to acquire continuous, high-resolution geochemical proxies for paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, and modern hydrogeology from CPCP cores (S. T. Kinney, P. E. Olsen, A. RoyChowdhury) (NSF, Columbia component, $94,790).
2021-present:Accessing an Untapped Reserve of Geochronology for Paleoclimate and Paleobiology for the Early Mesozoic (and beyond) (P. E. Olsen, S. T. Kinney, C. Chang) (LDEO Climate Center, $11,000).
2021-present: Leveraging the Geologic Record to Constrain Solar System Evolution, Earth-Moon Dynamics, Paleoclimate Change, and Geological Time: Project 4, Solar System Dynamics from Continental Climate Rhythms, 200-240 Ma (P. E. Olsen, S. T. Kinney) (Heising-Simons Foundation, $995,148).
2019-present: Differentiating Ice Versus Algal Rafted Debris in Sedimentary Records (P. E. Olsen , C. Chang) (LDEO Climate Center, $6,435).
2014-2016: CO.2014-2016: CO2 and Amplification of Orbitally Forced Changes in the Hydrological Cycle (P.E. Olsen, D.V. Kent) (LDEO Climate Center, $9,150).
2013-2014: Collaborative Research: Filling the Triassic geochronologic gap: A continuous cored record of continental environmental change in western North America (P.E. Olsen, D.V. Kent, R. Mundil, G. Gehrels, R.B. Irmis) (NSF ~$700,000; P.E. Olsen component $384,123).
2013-2014: Filling the Triassic geochronologic gap: A continuous cored record of continental environmental change in western North America (J.W. Geissman, P.E. Olsen, J. Sha, R. Molina-Garza, W.M. Kuerschner, G.H. Bachmann) (ICDP, $250,000).
2011-2012: Coring and Logging Through Newark Basin Formations at Lamont-Doherty (D. Goldberg, D.V. Kent. P.E. Olsen) (Sandia Technologies, LLC, ARRA, $862,819).
2010-2012: Millennial-Scale Dynamics of the CO2 Super-Greenhouse at the End-Triassic Extinction (P.E. Olsen, S. Hemming, E. Rasbury, S.L. Goldstein, D.V. Kent) (LDEO Climate Center, $8,000).
2008-2010: SGER: Triassic-Jurassic Mass Extinction Caused by Volcanism? Bio- and Magnetostratigraphic Tests in Eastern North America and Morocco. (P.E. Olsen and D.V. Kent) (NSF, $75,846).
2008-2010: ICDP Workshop on the Colorado Plateau Coring Project: 100 Million Years of Climatic, Tectonic, and Biotic Evolution in Continental Cores. (J.W. Geissman, G.H. Bachmann, R.C. Blakey, D.V. Kent, W.M. Kuerschner, P.E.. Olsen, J. Sha) (ICDP, $32,550).
2007-2009: Bollide, Flood Basalt, or Artifact, Ir and Nd-Sm clues to the Climatic Catastrophe at the Triassic Jurassic Boundary. (Olsen, P.E. and Hemming, S.) (LDEO Climate Center, $6,000).
2007-present: Workshop on integrated scientific coring on the Colorado Plateau: Early Mesozoic history of west Pangea. (P.E. Olsen) (NSF, $29,265).
2006-2008: Workshop on integrated scientific coring on the Colorado Plateau: Early Mesozoic history of west Pangea. (P.E. Olsen, D.V. Kent, J. Geissman) (DOSECC, $36,000).
2005-2007: Boreal Milankovitch Climate Cyclicity in China: Towards Calibrating Solar System Chaos and Developing a Time Scale for the Jurassic. (Liu, J. and Olsen, P.E.) ((LDEO Climate Center, $5,800)
2005-2007: Collaborative Research: Calibration of the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic timescale using U-Pb dating of the high-resolution magnetostratigraphy of the Newark Supergroup (D.V Kent and P.E. Olsen) (NSF, $86,210).
2005-2007: Milankovitch Modification of Lacustrine Ecosystem Development. (Whiteside, J.H. and Olsen, P.E.) (LDEO Climate Center, $6,000)
2003-2005: Extension of the Newark geomagnetic polarity reference sequence to address problems of the Carnian and the Middle Triassic. (D.V. Kent and P.E. Olsen) (NSF, $166,760).
2001-2003: Upgrading of the Scanning Electron Microscope/X-Ray Microanalysis Facility at LDEO (P. Olsen, M. Anders, E. Bonatti, R. Fairbanks, R. Sambrotto, D. Breger, S-W. Chan, N. Landman) (NSF $277,865).
2001-2003: High-resolution Cyclostratigraphic and Paleomagnetic Constraints on the Age and Biogeography of New, Diverse Tetrapod Assemblages from Paleoequatorial Rift Basins of Southeastern North America (P. Olsen, D. Kent) (NSF $130,000).
2000-2002: Orbital Forcing of Continental Eocene Climate: The Green River Formation of Wyoming (P. Olsen,  N. Christie-Blick, S. Hemming) (NSF $35,107). 2000-2001: Climate Model - Data Comparisons and Discrepancies for the Pangean World  (Carboniferous-Jurassic) (P. Olsen, D. Kent) (LDEO Climate Center., $5,000).
2000-2002: Search for the J1 Cusp in Mesozoic Rift Basins of Eastern North America. (D. Kent and P. Olsen) (NSF $100,000).
1999-2001: Filling the Norian (Late Triassic) Gap in Tropical Tetrapod Diversity, eastern North America. (P. Olsen and H.-D. Sues) (NSF $100,000).
1998-1999: International Workshop for a Climatic, Biotic, and Tectonic Coring Transect of Triassic-Jurassic Pangea (1999). (P. Olsen and D. Kent) (NSF $40,000).
1998-1999: International Workshop for a Climatic, Biotic, and Tectonic Coring Transect of Triassic-Jurassic Pangea (1999). (P. Olsen and D. Kent) (ICDP $26,000).
1998-2000: Search for the J1 Cusp in Mesozoic Rift Basins of Eastern North America. (D. Kent and P. Olsen) (NSF $157,630).
1998-2000: Orbital Forcing of Lacustrine Sequences - Argana Basin, Morocco. (P. Olsen) (LDEO Climate Center., $6,000).
1997: Workshop: Understanding Lacustrine Environmental History Through Continental Drilling (1997). (P. Olsen) (ICDP - $50,000).
1996-1997: Configuration of Pangea During the Late Triassic. (D. Kent and P. Olsen) (NSF $25,000).
1995-1997: The Effects of Milankovitch Climate Cycles and Paleolatitude on Triassic Floral Diversity. (S. Fowell and P. Olsen) (NSF $165,000).
1994-1995: Acquisition of a Mass Spectrometer System for K/Ar dating by the 40Ar/39Ar Method. (W. Broecker, M. Anders, D. Kent, C. Langmuir, and P. Olsen) (NSF $185,000)
1993-1996: Milankovitch Forcing of Continental Monsoons Across the Equator of Pangea. (P. Olsen and D. Kent) (NSF $380,000).
1990-1993: 30 Million Year Record of the Evolution of a Continental Rift: the Newark basin. (P. Olsen and D. Kent) (NSF $2,100,000). The Newark Basin Coring Project (NBCP)
1990-1991: Anatomy of a Continental Rift.. (M. Steckler, J. Diebold, P. Olsen) (NSF $50,000)
1990-1992: A Triassic Synapsid-Dominated Tetrapod Assemblage of Gondwanan Aspect from the Richmond Basin of Virginia. (H. D. Sues and P. Olsen) (NSF $99,876)
1990-1991: A Triassic Synapsid-Dominated Tetrapod Assemblage of Gondwanan Aspect from the Richmond Basin of Virginia (H-D. Sues and P. Olsen) (Nat. Geographic. Soc. $14,000)
1989-1990: Hudson River Seismic Experiment (J. B. Diebold, G. Bond, P. Buhl, R. C. Raleigh, L. Seeber, and P. Olsen) (NSF $180,000).
1989-1990: A Late Triassic South American Vertebrate Assemblage from Virginia. (H-D. Sues and P. Olsen) (Nat. Geographic. Soc. $11,000)
1988-1990: Early Mesozoic Continental Tetrapod Diversification and Extinction in Eastern North America. (NSF $135,000).
1988-1989: Distribution of Extension with Depth in the Newark Basin. (G. Karner, M. Steckler, P. Olsen) (NSF $65,000).
1988-1990: Comparison of Growth Structures Along Border Faults... (American Chemical Society $18,000).
1988-1990: Paleomagnetism of the Newark Supergroup... (D. Kent and P. Olsen) (NSF $150,000).
1987: Paleomagnetism of the Newark Supergroup: A Test of the Paleomagnetic Euler Pole Model. (D. Kent and P. Olsen) (NSF $20,000).
1987: Faunal Change Across the Triassic-Jurassic Boundary in Nova Scotia. (N. Shubin, and P. Olsen, M. H. Anders) (Nat. Geographic. Soc. $14,050).
1986: Diverse Early Jurassic Tetrapod Assemblage from Nova Scotia. (P. Olsen and N. Shubin) (Nat. Geographic. Soc. $13,700).
1984-1988: N. E. U.S. Neotectonic Research. (L. Seeber and P. Olsen) (N.R.C. $200,000).

Theses Sponsored

  1. Schlische, R. W., 1990, Aspects of the Structural and Stratigraphic Development of Early Mesozoic Rift Basins of Eastern North America. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 479 p.
  2. Fowell, S. J. 1993, Palynology of Triassic/Jurassic boundary sections from the Newark Supergroup of Eastern North America: Implications for catastrophic extinction scenarios. [Ph. D. Thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 133 p.
  3. Reynolds, D. J., 1993, Sedimentary basin evolution: tectonic and climatic interaction. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 215 p.
  4. LeTourneau, P. M., 1999, Depositional History and Tectonic Evolution of Late Triassic Age Rifts of the U. S. Central Atlantic Margin: Results of an Integrated Stratigraphic, Structural, and Paleomagnetic Analysis of the Taylorsville and Richmond Basins. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 294 p.
  5. Malinconico, MA. L., 2002, Lacustrine organic sedimentation, organic metamorphism  and thermal history of selected Early Mesozoic Newark Supergroup basins,  Eastern U. S. A., [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 419 p.
  6. Rainforth, E. R., 2005, Ichnotaxonomy of the fossil footprints of the Connecticut Valley (Early Jurassic, Newark Supergroup, Connecticut and Massachusetts). [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 1302 p.
  7. Machlus, M., 2004, Orbital forcing of continental Eocene climate: Detailed stratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Green River Formation in Wyoming. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, 123, p.
  8. Whiteside, J. H., 2006, Catastrophic, Climatic, and Biotic Modulation of Ecosystem Evolution. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 220 p.
  9. Liu, J., 2007, New Traversodontid Materials from the North Carolina, USA and the Taxonomy, Phylogeny of Traversodontidae (Synapsida: Cynodontia). [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 195 p.
  10. Nesbitt, S., 2008, The Relationships and Rise of the Archosaurs. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 250 p.
  11. Kinney, S. T., 2022, Re-evaluating the Timescale of Rift and Post-rift Magmatism on the Eastern North American Margin via Zircon U-Pb Geochronology. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 464 p.
  12. Chang, C., 2024, Sediment Histories: Early Mesozoic Ice and North American Pleistocene-Holocene Deglaciation. Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 310 p.

(go to part 2 [publications])