PATIENCE ANNE COWIE
 Professor of Geodynamics

School of GeoSciences, Edinburgh University,
Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UNITED KINGDOM

Telephone: 0131 650 5886
Fax: 0131 650 2524
E-Mail: patience.cowie@ed.ac.uk

Education:

Doctor of Philosophy in Geology February 1992 Columbia University, New York, USA
Master of Philosophy in Geology December 1989 Columbia University, New York, USA
Master of Arts in Geology January 1988 Columbia University, New York, USA
Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Geology/Geophysics July 1985 Durham University, England
                                                                                                                       

Professional Experience:

Aug 08- present

 Professor of Geodynamics, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh

Jan 03- Aug 08

 Reader in Structural Geology, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Edinburgh

Oct 94- Dec 02

 Royal Society of London Research Fellow, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Edinburgh: Mechanics of fault formation and growth in the brittle crust
Feb 93- Sep 94
 NERC Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Edinburgh: Numerical and theoretical modelling of fault growth with complementary field studies
Feb 92-Feb 93
 Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, Université de Nice, France: Developing a numerical model for seismic faulting

Sep 91-Jan 92

 Research Assistant to A. Malinverno (Associate Research Scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, New York, USA): Quantifying the contribution of faulting to the roughness of sea-floor topography
                                       

Membership of Professional Societies:

AGU; GSA; EGU; Sigma Xi

Research Grants:

Current:
LiDAR and field study of surface rupture and post-seismic slip for the 6th April 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (M6.3), NERC Urgency grant 67,000GBP (4/2009-5/2010)
Testing Theoretical Models for Earthquake Clustering Using Cl-36 Cosmogenic Exposure Dating of Active Normal Faults in central Italy, NERC grant 450,000GBP (10/2007-10/2010)
Integrated Field and Numerical Test of Stream Erosion Models Using the Transient Response of Bedrock Rivers to Tectonic Forcing, NERC grant 150,000GBP (10/2004-03/2009)(link to project details)

Previous and completed:
A High-Resolution Long-Time-Scale Fault Activity History, Whakatane Graben, NZ. NERC grant (co-PI) 85355GBP+studentship (ended 03/03) (jointly held with U. Southampton)
Field Testing an Episodic Subsidence Hypothesis in the Loreto Basin, Baja California Sur, Mexico. NERC Isotope Geosciences Facilities grant 3700GBP
Mechanics of Fault Propagation in the Brittle Crust. Royal Society, recurrent grant (1994-2002)
Scale Dependence of Groundwater Flow and Contaminant Transport in Fractured Rock. EU 4th Framework in Environment and Climate (co-PI) 180000GBP (ended 12/00)
Quantifying Tectonic Strain at Slow Spreading Ridges. NERC (Bridge) grant (co-PI) 530,000GBP (jointly held with U. Durham) (1/6/95-31/5/99)
Prediction of Subseismic Faults. Statoil/BP/Saga/Shell 133000GBP (1/1/97-31/12/98)
Numerical Modelling of Fault Populations. Shell Research 25000GBP (1/6/95-30/5/96)
Outcrop Studies of Fault Populations in SE Utah. Shell Research, field grant 3500GBP (1/3/94-1/5/94)

 

PhD/Masters Student Supervision:

Continuing:
 
Alex Whittaker
PhD: 2002-present
Response of Erosional-Depositional Systems to Fault Growth in Extending Continental Crust, Italy (NERC funded)
Graduated:    
Zoe Shipton
PhD: 1995-1999
 Fault Displacement Profiles and Damage Zone Geometry: Interpreting the Record of Fault Growth in the Navajo Sandstone (NERC funded)
Kathryn Hardacre
PhD: 1996-2000
 Controls on Fault Network Evolution and Population Statistics - Insights from Field Studies and Numerical Modelling (NERC funded)
Aileen McLeod
PhD: 1996-2000
 Propagation and Linkage of Normal Faults, Northern North Sea (NERC/Industry funded)
Ellen Wolfenden
MSc: 1998-1999
 Now PhD at Royal Holloway-University of London (NERC funded)
Aderson Nascimento
PhD: 1997-2001
 The Role of Pore Pressure Diffusion in a Reservoir Induced Seismicity Site in NE Brazil (CNPq funded).
Peter McFadzean
PhD: 1998-2002
 Mechanics of Fault Linkage: Volcanic Tableland, California (NERC/Industry funded)
Ruth Gilpin
PhD: 1998- 2002
 Evolution of Drainage Patterns Around Propagating Faults (NERC/Industry funded)
Estelle Mortimer
PhD: 2000-2004
Episodic Tectonic Subsidence Due to Fault Interactions, Baja Mexico (NERC funded)
Sue Taylor
PhD: 1999-2004
Fault Network Evolution in the Whakatane Graben, New Zealand (NERC funded)

 

General Recognition:

Member of NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) Peer Review College, appointed June 2006
Adjunct Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, USA, 2003-2006
Visiting Guest Investigator, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, USA, Sept-Dec 2002
Faculty of Science nomination for Leverhulme Prize Fellowship, 2001.
Visiting Guest Lecturer in Geodynamics (1 month) at Univ. Natal, NE Brazil, March 1997.

Journal editorships:
Science Editor for GEOLOGY, appointed Jan 1st 2009
Associate Editor: Journal of Geophysical Research (1998-2002)
Guest editor: Basin Research Thematic Set (2000)
Guest editor: Journal of Structural Geology Special Issue (1995-1996)

Conference convener:
Earth System Processes - GSA & GSL Meeting (Edinburgh, UK, 2001)
Fall AGU (special session) (USA, 2000)
Fault Populations Conference (Edinburgh, UK, 1994)

Invited speaker at conferences:
Keynote Speaker Geological Society of London: Structure, Geomechanics and Fluid Flow in Fault Zones (London, 2008)
Keynote Speaker Geological Society of America: Importance of Sediment Flux in Controlling River Long Profile Evolution (Denver, 2007)
Keynote Speaker European Geosciences Union: Importance of Sediment Flux in Landscape Evolution (Vienna, 2007)
Keynote Speaker EGU Special Session: Migration of fault activity in extensional settings (Vienna, 2006)
British Geophysical Association Meeting: Scale Invariance and Scale dependence in Earth Structure and Dynamics (London, 2006)
DAHLEM Workshop: Dynamics of Fault Zones (Berlin, 2005)
InterMARGINS Workshop: Modelling the Extensional Deformation of the Lithosphere (Switzerland, 2004)
EEC Research Conference on Seismic Hazard (Italy, 1998)

American Geophysical Union (USA,1998)

Geoscience 98 (UK, 1998)
Geodynamics Workshop (Utrecht Univ., The Netherlands, 1996)
RIDGE Theoretical Workshop (USA, 1995)
External PhD Examiner:
University of Liverpool, Imperial College London, University of Oxford, University of Rennes, University of Ulster, Ecole Normale Superieure Lyon, University of Aachen, University of Cambridge.

Invited seminar speaker:

U. Cambridge (1995, 1998, 1999); U. Oxford (1995, 1996); U. Liverpool (1996); U. Leeds (1997, 1998); U. Gottingen, Germany (1998); U. Grenoble, France (1999); Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, USA (2001,2002); Harvard U., USA (2001), U. Aachen (2001), UCL (2004), Free Univ. Berlin (2005).