Leif is a creative young professor at the University of Oregon whose broad research interests span many of the most fundamental questions in volcanology. Leif uniquely blends theory and modeling with observational constraints, using process-based simulations to develop hypotheses that are tested with field and laboratory data. Leif’s most mature line of work, initiated during his Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley, examines the formation and evolution of magma chambers, with implications for the size and spacing of volcanic centers and the thermal evolution of Earth’s crust. Leif’s understanding of the connections between volcanism, global-scale geodynamics, and tectonophysics is evident in his novel insights into classic problems like the Chicxulub impact and Deccan Traps flood basalts at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, as well as corner flow in subduction zones and associated arc volcanism and trench migration. He is presently developing a new framework for understanding the evolving topography of volcanic islands like Hawaii through coupled models of lava flows and landscape evolution. Leif is equally talented at problems and processes at vastly shorter length and time scales, as evidenced in his work, begun during his postdoc at Stanford University, on oscillations of magma in interconnected conduit and dike systems as an explanation for very long period seismic events at Kīlauea and Erebus. And, in addition to all of these volcanology projects, Leif maintains an equally impressive research program on the topographic evolution of glaciers and ice sheets by river networks on the ice surface. In honor of Leif’s scientific passion, vision, and accomplishments, we bestow upon him the 2018 Hisashi Kuno Award.
—Eric M. Dunham, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
