Brian J. Mitchell

Phone: (314)977-3123
Fax: (314)977-3117
email: mitchbj@eas.slu.edu

In January 1999 I completed 25 years of service at Saint Louis University, having joined the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in January, 1974. I was pleased to join a department with a distinguished history (the first Department of Geophysics in the western hemisphere) where I worked with three active well-known researchers in Seismology. Fr. Bill Stauder, as Department Chair at the time, continued the tradition established earlier by Fr. James Macelwane, in which research was emphasized, but good teaching was also encouraged. My interests, and related background and training, allowed me to immediately contribute to research on seismic wave propagation and properties of intraplate earthquake zones that had been of long-standing interest to the department. I served as department chair between 1981 and 1994, during which time I tried to continue the long-established traditions of the department and, at the same time, tried to develop a strong program in Geology. Although not entirely achieved during my chairmanship, the latter goal has been realized under the present department chair, David Crossley.

I have been fortunate to have participated in a wide variety of research, service, teaching, and miscellaneous activities while at Saint Louis University. Many of these are described on linked pages that can be accessed if you click on the appropriate box below. An activity not included in the boxes is the establishment of a group of broadly based permanent seismic stations in the central United States (BILLIKEN), done in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), and several organizations that provided sites for the stations. Another activity, research on Svalbard, conducted on an Arctic archipelago between 1976 and 1986, is listed under both Research and International Activities. That work extended over an 11-year period and involved contributions by five SLU faculty members and 14 students, as well as several scientists and students from four European institutions.