Presidential Faculty Fellow/Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PFF/PECASE)

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9629018 Wysession The P.I.'s research involves using seismology to map the interior of the Earth, and interpreting these maps to understand the big picture of what our planet is made of and how it works. Just as medical doctors use a sonogram or CAT-scan to image a patient, he uses the reflecting and refracting waves from large earthquakes to image the Earth. This most significant contributions have come through the mapping of the highly variable boundary between Earth's core and mantle, half-way to the center of our planet. This information has helped change the ways geologists perceive the dynamic processes at work inside the Earth. Over the next five years he will continue to develop his research program in the mapping of Earth structure in several directions. He will concentrate on the core-mantle boundary region, but will examine other regions of the Earth, including the Earth's core, the olivine phase transitions at depths of 410 and 660 km, and the upper mantle structure beneath spreading plate boundaries.