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Dr. John C. Mutter
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Biography
I am involved in three different but inter-related roles at Columbia.
1. I am a Professor
in two departments at Columbia; The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Department of International and Public Affiars. In the academic role
I teach and advise at two distinctly different levels. At the undergraduate
level I co-teach an Introductory course in Earth Sciences most often taken
by students needing to satisfy their science requirement. In that course I
am able to teach about the Earth's complex dynamic systems like earthquakes
and climate variations such as El Nino to very bright undergraduates who have
had little exposure to Earth Sciences - they are bright about something else
(Art History maybe). I find it a challenge and a joy. Also at undergraduate
level I teach a seminar section in the new Core Curriculum course called Frontiers
of Science that is now required by all Columbia College stunts in their first
year. Topics
range well beyond Earth Sciences into neurobiology and quantum mechanics; real
challenge for someone like most scientists who specialized early on in his
career.
I also teach a graduate level course in Marine Seismology where we learn how
seismic energy can be used to learn about the interior of the Earth. In
my role with the School of International and Public Affairs I am the Associate
Director of the PhD Program in Sustainable Development that had its first
intake of six students in Fall 2004. This
program provided PhD training in the intensely cross-discipline area of sustainable
development with themes ranging from the economics of natural resource management
to ecological preservation and its interaction with economic development. I
advise all the students on their natural science needs for the studies. I also created a teach with a group of faculty colleagues a course titled Environmental Science for Susatainable Devlopment that is a core requirement for the PhD students and am developing a similar course for the undergardute special concentration in sustainable development that will be given first in the Spring of 2008.
2. I do research and that too falls into two categories. At the Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory I have, since my PhD training, studied the continental
margins, oceanic crust and mid-ocean ridge tectonic evolution using geophysical
methods, primarily marine reflection seismology. My early research interests
included the study of physical mechanisms and processes associated with seafloor
spreading, continental extension and the development of passive continental
margins. Initial studies focused on rifting and volcanism in the Norwegian-Greenland
Sea. I continued those research thrusts with studies of active rifting in
the Woodlark Basin off Papua New Guinea, as well as his other work on complex
system dynamics. More recently he has turned my attention to the vexing issue
of the role of Earth systems in sustainable development. I have used my expertise
in the behavior of these systems, and the inherent limits to their predictability
as the basis for studying science-based issues of sustainable development.
Currently, I am focusing on understanding how scientific advances made in
developed countries can be used to elevate the condition of people in developing
countries.
I am especially interested in the way in which natural systems interact with
human well-being. We know very well that the world's poorest people
suffer disproportionately from natural disasters but it seems that it is possible
to extend that obvious impact to an entire range of natural effects, not
all of which are geophysically extreme. It seems very plausible that
vulnerability to natural variations and changes at all scales and magnitudes
presents a barrier to human development (see EOS recent article in Publications).
3. I have responsibility for several activities for the Earth Institute and until July 2007 was Deputy Director. The Institute is taking a comprehensive approach to understanding to nexus
between the Earth's environment and the nature of the human condition. It
is probably no accident that most of the world's poor people live in arid
or tropical environments and suffer more from variations in natural conditions
than those in the temperate zones. Perhaps an enhanced understanding of the
relationship between the natural systems and human development can be used
to improve the condition of the world's poor and for the lives of all. This
is a undertaking of humbling dimension and scope and I am working to apply
my experience as a science manager (two terms as Interim Director at Lamont
as well as its Executive Deputy Director) to this daunting but critical problem. For the Earth Institute I direct the Fellows Program. This program brings early career researchers from around the world to the Institute to study diverse issues in sustainable development. I am also advancing programs of research, education and practice in the area of natural disasters and sustainable development which aims to understand the role that such disasters play in determining the development pathway for impacted countries. I have also made a special study of the mortality from Hurricane Katrina and developed a unique web tool to gather information on deceased victims www.katrinalist.columbia. Additionally i work with Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative www.realizingrights.org on bringing rights-based approaches to development in the Millennium Village project of the Institute millennium villages and with the International Council on Human Rights Policy ICHRP on issues of Climate Change and human rights, These projects in human rights are new ventures for me and i look forward to advancing them in the future. Finally, though this is not really research per se, with a Lamont colleague David Ho, and Craig Calfee who is a bicycle designer and builder from California, we are introducing to west Africa the idea of cargo bicycles made with bamboo frame sections because they can be made to suite local needs, from local materials and do not require significant infrastructure to build: see BambooBike
I received a B.Sc in Physics and Pure Mathematics from the University of Melbourne,
Australia, an M.Sc in Geophysics from the University of Sydney, Australia,
and a Ph.D. in Marine Geophysics from Columbia University. I was born in Melbourne,
and am an Australian citizen and permanent U.S. resident.
I have authored or co-authored more than 70 articles in scientific journals
and many popular articles. Fieldwork includes over three years at sea on research
30 cruises aboard Columbia's vessels and others in all parts of the
world's oceans, crossing the equator, the Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle.
I am married to Carolyn Zehnder Mutter, Assistant Director for Science Management
of the International Research Institute (IRI) for climate predication located
on the Lamont-Doherty campus of Columbia. I have five children, three girls
and two boys. And they are all wonderful.