MK106 - Scott Burns - Exploring the Missoula Floods: Insights into Geology and Environmental Impact

Scott is a Professor Emeritus of Geology and Past-Chair of the Dept. of Geology at Portland State University where he just finished his 33rd year of teaching.  He was also Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at P.S.U. from 1997-1999.  He has been teaching for 53 years, with past positions in Switzerland, New Zealand, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana.  He is a 6th generation Oregonian who grew up in Beaverton and is very happy to be "home" after a 25 year hiatus!  Scott specializes in environmental and engineering geology, geomorphology, soils, and Quaternary geology. In Oregon, he has projects involving landslides and land use, environmental cleanup of service stations, slope stability, earthquake hazard mapping, Missoula Floods, paleosols, loess soil stratigraphy, radon generation from soils, the distribution of heavy metals and trace elements in Oregon soils, alpine soil development, and the terroir of wine.  He has been active in mapping landslides in the Pacific Northwest since his return to Portland.  Scott has won many awards for outstanding teaching with the most significant being the Faculty Senate Chair Award at Louisiana Tech University in 1987, the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Portland State Alumni Association in 2001, and the George Hoffmann Award from PSU in 2007.  He has authored over 100 publications and has had over 25 research grants.  His first book, Environmental, Groundwater and Engineering Geology: Applications from Oregon, came out January of 1998. His second book, Cataclysms on the Columbia, the Great Missoula Floods came out in October of 2009 and is co-authored by Marjorie Burns, a friend and professor at PSU.  Scott has been the president of the Faculty Senate at three different universities: Louisiana Tech University and the American College of Switzerland and Portland State University.  He actively helps local TV and radio stations and newspapers bring important geological news to the public. For the past 49 years he has been studying wine and terroir – the relationship between wine, soils, geology and climate.