University Park, Pa. -- Kevin Furlong, professor of geosciences at Penn State, has been named a Fellow of the Geological Society of America (GSA).
GSA Fellowship is an honor bestowed in recognition of distinguished contributions to the geosciences. Furlong receives this honor "for his distinguished contributions to the multidisciplinary study of lithosphere processes, including plate boundary evolution, thermal structure of the continents and their implications for natural hazards. He also is recognized for playing a major role in geoscience education."
In general, Furlong studies plate tectonics and the evolution of the lithosphere, the Earth's crust and the portion of the mantle just beneath it. His research includes studies of earthquake zones in the American West, New Zealand and Tibet including the San Andreas Fault, Hayward Fault, Alpine Fault and others. He also developed a series of courses focusing on the causes and consequences of natural hazards aimed at both general education and upper-level student communities. The key to the purposes of these courses is to link the physical processes that drive disasters with the societal impacts.