PhD Candidate (UIUC) | NSF Graduate Research Fellow | Science Communicator | STEM and LGBTQ+ Advocate

During my Ph.D. program, I was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and University of Illinois Graduate College Fellow in the Department of Geology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), working with Dr. Trish Gregg (UIUC) and Dr. Wendy Stovall (U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program) studying volcanic flank eruption hazards. I have also been working with Dr. Stovall, Dr. David Damby (USGS Volcano Hazards Program), and Dr. Sara McBride (USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center) studying hazard communication during the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption and summit collapse of Kīlauea Volcano. Thus, my dissertation encompasses both geoscience and social science, an interdisciplinary combination made possible through my NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!
I grew up in Los Angeles, CA, and am an alumnus of Harvard-Westlake School ('11) and Pomona College ('15). I have always been fascinated with understanding the history and behavior of our home planet, with my earliest inspiration coming from the mesmerizing volcanic eruption animation sequence in Disney's Fantasia. My geologic interests were further cultivated by elementary and middle school geoscience lessons (particularly on planetary geology and terrestrial earthquakes), my Hawaiian heritage (having participated in the Kamehameha Schools' Explorations Program when I was 11 years old), and my first formal geology class (which I took as a high school senior). In fact, I discussed the importance of volcanoes in Native Hawaiian culture and oral tradition on a recent episode of the podcast Native America Calling.
I was also fortunate to have participated in numerous summer programs in high school and college where I conducted a variety of astronomy and geology research projects. My most memorable summer research experiences include the Advanced Teen Astronomy Camp at Arizona's Mt. Lemmon Observatory (2008), the COSMOS program hosted at UC Irvine (2009), the Physical Sciences Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the American Museum of Natural History, New York (2013), and the Lunar Planetary Institute's Summer Intern Program (2015) in Houston, Texas, adjacent to NASA's Johnson Space Center.
At Pomona, under the thoughtful and encouraging mentorship of Dr. Eric Grosfils, I completed a senior thesis investigating how ring faults form and promote caldera formation on the summits of volcanoes (such as Kīlauea, whose summit caldera is shown behind me on the Home page of this website). This work provided me with valuable numerical modeling experience that I have applied to subsequent volcano geophysics projects, including: the first chapter of my thesis, which originated from my 2016 Fulbright Research Fellowship in New Zealand, and my fourth (and final) chapter evaluating the risk posed by global flank eruption hazards. The Research tab provides more detailed information on all four of my thesis chapters.
Click below to view my CV (updated August 2023)
I grew up in Los Angeles, CA, and am an alumnus of Harvard-Westlake School ('11) and Pomona College ('15). I have always been fascinated with understanding the history and behavior of our home planet, with my earliest inspiration coming from the mesmerizing volcanic eruption animation sequence in Disney's Fantasia. My geologic interests were further cultivated by elementary and middle school geoscience lessons (particularly on planetary geology and terrestrial earthquakes), my Hawaiian heritage (having participated in the Kamehameha Schools' Explorations Program when I was 11 years old), and my first formal geology class (which I took as a high school senior). In fact, I discussed the importance of volcanoes in Native Hawaiian culture and oral tradition on a recent episode of the podcast Native America Calling.
I was also fortunate to have participated in numerous summer programs in high school and college where I conducted a variety of astronomy and geology research projects. My most memorable summer research experiences include the Advanced Teen Astronomy Camp at Arizona's Mt. Lemmon Observatory (2008), the COSMOS program hosted at UC Irvine (2009), the Physical Sciences Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the American Museum of Natural History, New York (2013), and the Lunar Planetary Institute's Summer Intern Program (2015) in Houston, Texas, adjacent to NASA's Johnson Space Center.
At Pomona, under the thoughtful and encouraging mentorship of Dr. Eric Grosfils, I completed a senior thesis investigating how ring faults form and promote caldera formation on the summits of volcanoes (such as Kīlauea, whose summit caldera is shown behind me on the Home page of this website). This work provided me with valuable numerical modeling experience that I have applied to subsequent volcano geophysics projects, including: the first chapter of my thesis, which originated from my 2016 Fulbright Research Fellowship in New Zealand, and my fourth (and final) chapter evaluating the risk posed by global flank eruption hazards. The Research tab provides more detailed information on all four of my thesis chapters.
Click below to view my CV (updated August 2023)

goldman_cv_aug2023.pdf |