Barry Voight

Barry Voight (born 1937) is an American geologist, volcanologist, author, and

Barry Voight
engineer. After earning his Ph.D. at Columbia University, Voight worked as a
professor of geology at several universities, includingPennsylvania State University, Born 1937 (age 80–81)
where he taught from 1964 until his retirement in 2005. He remains an emeritus Nationality American
professor there and still conducts research, focusing on rock mechanics, plate Alma mater University of Notre
tectonics, disaster prevention, andgeotechnical engineering. Dame
In April 1980, Voight's publications on landslides and avalanches and other mass Columbia University
movements attracted the attention of Rocky Crandell of the United States Geological Scientific career
Survey (USGS), who asked him to look at a growing bulge on the Mount St. Helens
Fields Volcanology,
volcano in the state of Washington. Voight foresaw the collapse of the mountain's
engineering
north flank as well as a powerful eruption. His predictions came true when St.
Helens erupted in May 1980; Voight was then hired by the USGS to investigate the
Institutions Pennsylvania State
debris avalanche that initiated the eruption. After his work at Mount St. Helens
University
brought him international recognition, Voight continued researching and guiding
monitoring efforts at several active volcanoes throughout his career, including Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia, Mount Merapi in
Indonesia, and Soufrière Hills, a volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. For his research, publications, and disaster
prevention work as a volcanologist and engineer
, Voight has been honored with numerous awards,appointments, and medals.

Contents
Personal life and education
Teaching career
Volcanological work and research
Early assignments
Later studies
Recognition and legacy
Publications
References
Sources

Personal life and education

Born in 1937,[1] Voight grew up in Yonkers, New York.[2] His brothers are actor Jon Voight and songwriter Chip Taylor,[2] actress
Angelina Jolie is his niece, and musician James Haven is his nephew.[3] His own daughters are Lisa and Barbara.[4] Voight's father
was professional golf player Elmer "Elmo" Voight, a leader in the effort to break the color barrier in golf,[4] and his mother Barbara
was a teacher and swim instructor.[5] Voight and his brothers grew up playing golf, and Barry also developed an interest in
swimming.[5]

Voight graduated from Archbishop Stepinac High Schoolin 1955.[6] After high school, Voight pursued a 5-year intensive dual-degree
program at the University of Notre Dame, studying landslips alongLake Michigan[7] and receiving undergraduate degrees in geology
in 1959 and in civil engineering in 1960.[8] He earned his master's degree in civil engineering from Notre Dame in 1961.[9] Voight
attributes his interest in science to his mentors at Notre Dame, professors Ray Gutschick and Erhard Winkler.[10] After spending one
year studying at Cornell University, Voight transferred to Columbia University, where he
graduated with a Ph.D. in geology in 1965, studying rock mechanics and structural geology
under Fred Donath.[11] While at Columbia, Voight was named a President's Fellow, and taught
a lecture course called "Geology for Engineers".[9]

Teaching career
Voight began teaching in 1961, serving as ateaching assistant at the University of Notre Dame
while pursuing his master's degree in civil engineering. From 1961−1963, he served as a
teaching assistant at Cornell and Columbia. In 1964, he joined the faculty at Pennsylvania
State University (Penn State) as an assistant professor of geology
, becoming a full professor of
geology and geotechnical engineering in 1978.[9] Voight taught at Penn State for more than
[12] Voight as high school
four decades, retiring from teaching in June 2005 but continuing his research.
student in 1955
While at Penn State, Voight had a joint affiliation with the school's Department of Mineral
Engineering and taught courses in physical geology, mechanics of geological materials, and
volcanology. During his career, he also lectured as a guest professor at theDelft University of Technology in the Netherlands in 1972,
working under Jacques Dozy,[13] and served as a visiting professor at the University of Toronto in 1973 and at the University of
California, Santa Barbara, in 1981.[9] Still an emeritus professor at Penn State,[14] he initiated an endowment under his name to
[13]
contribute to the education of volcanic hazard specialists from developing countries.

Volcanological work and research

Early assignments
Voight performed work in 1971–1973 for the United States Bureau of Mines.[9] In 1978, he
published the first volume of a treatise on avalanches, titled Rockslides and Avalanches. After
the second volume was released in 1980, the work became a benchmark in studying
avalanches and other forms ofmass movement.[7][15]

A month prior to the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens,[15] Voight was contacted by Rocky
Crandell,[16] a United States Geological Survey (USGS) employee working in the Vancouver
office near the mountain.[17] Crandell sought Voight's expertise in landslides, hoping Voight
would opine on a growing bulge, 270 feet (82 m) long, which had emerged on the mountain's
north face.[16][18][16][19] In his reporting to Crandell and his associates, Voight said that the
bulge could fail and collapse the volcano's entire north sector. He suggested they begin
monitoring the rate of movement of the bulge, worried that the collapse could trigger an
eruption. He also advised hiring a local surveyor to take measurements, offending several of
the geologists.[20] Shortly after, Voight left the mountain and returned to teaching classes at Voight correctly predicted a
Penn State. Before the eruption, he had sent his full report to the USGS, summarizing his bulge collapse that caused
predictions, depicting the failure of the bulge and the collapse of the mountain's north side Mount St. Helens to erupt on
May 18, 1980.
followed by a violent eruption.[21][22] After a magnitude 5.1 earthquake centered directly
below the north slope caused that part of the volcano to slide,[23] Mount St. Helens erupted,
[24]
causing $1.1 billion in damage and killing 57 people.

After the eruption, Voight accepted a position as a consultant for the USGS. He led the investigation into the volcano debris
avalanche which had occurred during the eruption, guiding other volcanologists including Harry Glicken,[25] who built upon Voight's
preliminary research to create his report "Rockslide-Debris Avalanche of May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens Volcano, Washington"
(1996).[26] Voight's work won him international renown,[11] and he later cited his experiences there as "career-changing".[27]
Although Voight already had a burgeoning interest in volcanology, the eruption at Mount St. Helens propelled him to dedicate
himself to the field. His work helped reinvigorate widespread interest in landslides and other phenomena at volcanoes that potentially
pose a threat to life.[12] After completing his research at Mount St. Helens, Voight began analyzing the volcanic hazards from several
other active volcanoes.[27]

In 1985, Voight blamed human error for the Armero tragedy in Colombia, where more than 23,000 died from an eruption from the
Nevado del Ruiz volcano. He stated that while categorically accurate predictions of volcanic eruptions were impossible,
unpreparedness for the disaster exacerbated the death toll.[28] In January 1986, Voight visited Nevado del Ruiz responding to
concerns from the Colombian government that the northeastern section of the volcano might cave in, causing another eruption. He
established a monitoring network ofreflectors and used laser ranging to track how the distances to these reflectors changed over time.

When one reflector indicated significant movement, and large cracks became visible from the air, Voight contemplated initiating an
evacuation, but waited. By March 1986, he realized the widening cracks were caused by the creep, or gradual shifting, of one of the
volcano's glaciers, rather than rock movement.[15] After leaving Colombia, Voight compiled the 14-page report "Countdown to
Catastrophe" (1988),[29] which analyzed how volcanic hazard management had failed at Armero.
[15]

Later studies
When Voight began research at Mount Merapi in Java, Indonesia, in 1988, it was largely unknown to volcanologists. It had been
omitted in the Smithsonian Institution's 1981 publication Volcanoes of the World, despite being densely populated, having close to a
million people on its slopes as of 1996. Voight set up meters to record movement within the volcano, and educated local scientists on
volcanic monitoring.[30] In July 1989, he obtained a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Natural and
[15]
Manmade Hazard Mitigation for his proposal to predict eruptions at Merapi.

After his funding ran out, he temporarily abandoned his research. An eruption from the volcano in 1994 produced pyroclastic flows
that killed 63 people, including guests at a wedding ceremony. Returning to Merapi the following year, Voight compared data from
the dead and survivors, including the extent of their burn areas, clothing worn, and lung damage. He concluded that protective, long-
.[30]
sleeved clothing and masks enhance chances of survival when exposed to eruptive activity

In April 1989, Voight returned to Colombia to the volcano Galeras after being contacted by the United Nations Disaster Relief
Organization. People in Pasto, located at the foot of the volcano, had become alarmed by noises and shaking from Galeras. While
Galeras proved far easier to climb than Nevado del Ruiz, land mines planted to hinder guerrilla forces dotted the slopes of the
mountain. With USGS geologist Dick Janda, Voight drew a hazard map that included several populated areas within the danger zone.
[31] phreatic eruption, which Voight and his team failed to predict.
Before Voight left Galeras, the volcano underwent an unexpected

Although Pasto was unaffected, six scientists attending a United Nations workshop for natural disaster relief were killed.[31] After
reviewing deformation data from the day before the eruption, Voight discovered that no acceleration in the deformation process had
occurred. He surmised that phreatic eruptions do not exhibit an acceleration in deformation before taking place and left after
.[15]
confirming that the volcano's monitoring system functioned properly

In the early 1990s, Voight performed volcanic hazard assessments at Cotopaxi in Ecuador]l and at Nevado del Huila in Colombia,
where his research was impeded by guerrilla factions and drug cartel operations. He also assisted with assessment activity at Mount
Pinatubo in the Philippines, Mount Redoubt in the United States, Mount Bandai, Mount Unzen, and Mount Ontake in Japan, and
Bezymianny and Shiveluch in the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia.[13]

Voight's successful prediction that an avalanche at St. Helens could provoke a lateral eruption, an eruption from the volcano's flank
rather than its summit, attracted the attention of the government ofMontserrat in March 1996. Worried about an expandinglava dome
at the Soufrière Hills volcano, the island's government asked Voight to assess its potential for an avalanche that could generate an
eruption. Voight thought it was unlikely that the crater would collapse, but expressed concern over a possible pyroclastic flow that
could reach the city of Plymouth in approximately three minutes. The city and a village on the mountain were evacuated, and within
[14]
three years, pyroclastic flows overtook the abandoned sites.
Following these eruptions, Voight served as a member of the Risk Assessment Panel that advised Montserrat's government, and he
co-established the Caribbean Andesite Lava Island Precision Seismo-geodetic Observatory (CALIPSO) with a team of international
scientists.[32] He continued research at the island with Steven Sparks, a geoscientist at the University of Bristol, establishing the
SEA-CALIPSO system to analyze Soufrière Hills by using seismic waves and explosions in the ocean. Among other findings, this
effort detected a major fault trending north-to-west under Montserrat's western side.[14] Voight still oversees hazard assessments at
[13]
the volcano, providing his input during eruptive periods in 2006 and 2010.

With his students, Voight has analyzed pyroclastic flows, volcanically induced seismicity, volcanic debris avalanches, and volcanic
eruption prediction. Voight has also served as a consultant geotechnical engineer for dams, tunnels, and nuclear power plants, helping
plan engineering projects in France, India, Ireland, Somalia, Papua New Guinea, Canada,[9] and Turkey, as well as in the United
States.[11] Voight's research interests in lava dome collapses, stratovolcanoes, monitoring of active volcanoes, and pyroclastic flows
est Indies, Italy, and Chile.[33]
have brought him to Iceland, Indonesia, the W

Combining his knowledge of engineering and geological concepts, Voight developed the widely used anelastic strain recovery (ASR)
method for measuring stress on deep rock.[11] With a team of geologists, he also derived the material failure forecast method (FFM),
which predicts eruption times for volcanoes based on changes in the mountain's surrounding seismic and deformation data.[34] He
currently serves as a member of the United States Geological Survey's Volcano Hazards Response Team, and has responded to
[14]
potentially eruptive volcanoes in Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Chile.

Recognition and legacy

Throughout his career, Voight has received multiple accolades and citations for his research as a professor and for his professional
work as a geologist and volcanologist. In 1984, the Institution of Civil Engineers awarded him the George Stephenson Medal,[9]
[35]
recognizing one of his articles as among "the best work published in [their] journals".

The same year, Voight earned an award for "significant original contribution to research in rock mechanics" from the United States
National Committee on Rock Mechanics. For his help monitoring the Mayon Volcano in the Philippines in 1985, he was granted a
key to Legazpi, Albay, which had been threatened by Mayon's impending eruption. 1989 saw another major year of honors for
Voight, as he was named a MacQuarie Research Scholar and again garnered an award from the United States National Committee on
Rock Mechanics for his original findings. Voight has appeared as a distinguished lecturer several times, including at the University of
Utah's College of Mining Engineering (1990), the University of California, Santa Barbara (1992), and the Association of
Environmental & Engineering Geologists(1992).[9]

For his service as a professor at Penn State, Voight has been given two awards, specifically for his research. In 1990, he received the
Wilson Research Award from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences for excellence in research.[36] In 1991, he gained a Faculty
Scholar Medal for "Outstanding Achievement in the Physical Sciences and Engineering".[9] In 2008, Voight was appointed a Union
Fellow of the American Geophysical Unionfor “fundamental contributions to the understanding of volcano deformation, assessment
of volcano hazards, and forecasting", and the following year, he was awarded the Schuster Medal by the Canadian Geotechnical
Society for "outstanding achievements in research on geologic hazards in North America".[13] For "his research, teaching and
consulting work", the Engineering Geology Division of the Geological Society of America presented him with their 2010
Distinguished Practice Award.[33]

Voight received the Thorarinsson Medal of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior in
2013, granted to a "scientist of outstanding distinction who has made fundamental contributions to research in volcanology",[37] and
in 2017 he was elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering for "contributions to the understanding, management,
and mitigation of geologic hazards."[38]

Recalling a conference where Voight appeared, Bill McGuire, Emeritus Professor of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at University
[39]
College London, described him as "an illustrious expert on volcano instability and landslides".
Citing Voight for his Distinguished Practice Award, colleague Richard Gray named him among his "profession's brightest and
productive members".[11] When Voight published his failure forecast prediction mechanism, USGS geologist Robert I.illing
T praised
[15]
it as "a significant refinement in the interpretation of monitoring data".

Publications
According to Voight's curriculum vitae from Pennsylvania State University, he has published more than 400 papers or abstracts and
edited 15 books, and his works have been cited more than 9,000 times. In addition to journal articles, Voight has written or helped
write at least 21 books and monographs since 1965; his co-authors include R.S.J. Sparks, A. Neri, D. Elsworth, A. Belousov, and G.
Mattioli. His most recent book, The Eruption of Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat from 2000 to 2010, was published in
2014.[13][40] He continues to publish articles, most recently co-authoring the paper "Human survival in volcanic eruptions: Thermal
injuries in pyroclastic surges, their causes, prognosis and emergency management" (2017) in the journalBurns.[41][42]

References
1. "Voight is The Champ for Pa"(https://web.archive.org/web/20140728234618/http://www .timesleader.com/stories/Voi
ght-is-The-Champ-for-Pa%2C226210). Times Leader. February 19, 2013. Archived fromthe original (http://www.time
sleader.com/stories/Voight-is-The-Champ-for-Pa,226210)on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
2. "Chip Taylor And Jon Voight: Growing Up Yonkers" (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12248875
8). NPR. January 12, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
3. Applebome, Peter (December 20, 2009)."From Writing 'Wild Thing' to Nostalgia for Yonkers" (https://www.nytimes.c
om/2009/12/21/nyregion/21towns.html). The New York Times. Sulzberger Jr., Arthur Ochs. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
4. Vogrin, Bill (February 11, 2015)."Side Streets: It's all about family, not fame, for Colorado Springs member of the
Voight clan" (http://gazette.com/side-streets-its-all-about-family-not-fame-for-colorado-springs-member-of-the-voight-
clan/article/1546142). The Gazette. Steever, Dan. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
5. Bamberger, Michael (August 6, 2014)."New York club professional Elmer Voight raised a geologist, a singer and an
Academy Award-winning actor" (http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/new-york-club-professional-elmer-voight-raised-
geologist-singer-and-academy-award-winning-actor). Golf Magazine. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
6. Stern, Gary (April 26, 2007)."Stepnac inducts Voights into hall of fame"(https://www.newspapers.com/image/16552
6336). The Journal-News. White Plains, NY. p. 2B – via Newspapers.com.
7. "A Feeling for Land" (http://news.psu.edu/story/141465/1983/03/01/research/feeling-land)
. Pennsylvania State
University. March 1, 1983. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
8. Newsletter of the Engineering Geology Division of the Geological Society of America (2010), p. 4.
9. "Penn State: Geoscience Faculty Pages, Barry V oight" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130907162328/http://www3.g
eosc.psu.edu/people/faculty/personalpages/bvoight/index.html) . Pennsylvania State University. 2005. Archived from
the original (http://www3.geosc.psu.edu/people/faculty/personalpages/bvoight/index.html)on September 7, 2013.
Retrieved July 22, 2014.
10. Newsletter of the Engineering Geology Division of the Geological Society of America (2010), pp. 3–5.
11. Newsletter of the Engineering Geology Division of the Geological Society of America (2010), p. 2.
12. Elsworth, Derek (June 2005)."Barry Voight Retires" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100609181707/http://www .geos
c.psu.edu/people/faculty/personalpages/bvoight/documents/retirement.pdf) (PDF). Pennsylvania State University.
Archived from the original (http://www3.geosc.psu.edu/people/faculty/personalpages/bvoight/documents/retirement.p
df) (PDF) on June 9, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
13. Voight, Barry (April 2017)."Curriculum Vitae – Barry Voight" (http://www.geosc.psu.edu/sites/default/files/voight_cv_
2017elsVersion.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved August 6, 2017.
14. Fergus, Charles (October 14, 2009)."Scientist's work will allow better prediction of volcanic events"(http://news.psu.
edu/story/141688/2009/10/14/research/scientists-work-will-allow-better-prediction-volcanic-events). Pennsylvania
State University. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
15. Brown, Nancy Marie (March 1, 1990)."In the Interest of Public Safety"(http://news.psu.edu/story/141481/1990/03/0
1/research/interest-public-safety). Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
16. Thompson, p. 76.
17. Thompson, p. 31.
18. Harris, p. 204.
19. Olson, pg. 71.
20. Thompson, p. 77.
21. Thompson, p. 97.
22. Olson, p. 72.
23. Harris, p. 205.
24. Bagley, Mary (February 28, 2013)."Mount St. Helens Eruption: Facts & Information"(http://www.livescience.com/275
53-mount-st-helens-eruption.html). Live Science. Purch. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
25. Thompson, p. 151.
26. Glicken, p. 9.
27. Newsletter of the Engineering Geology Division of the Geological Society of America (2010), p. 6.
28. Fisher, Heiken, and Hulen, pp. 273–74.
29. Countdown to Catastrophe(https://books.google.com/books?id=MVYfSQAACAAJ)
. Google Books. 1988. Retrieved
July 27, 2014.
30. Brown, Nancy Marie (June 1, 1996)."Terrible Beauty" (http://news.psu.edu/story/141027/1996/06/01/research/terribl
e-beauty). Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
31. Veggeberg, Scott (July 31, 1994)."Danger: Scientist At Work" (http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1994-07-31/news/9
407291074_1_galeras-volcano-eruption-volcano-crater) . Orlando Sentinel. Greenberg, Howard. Retrieved July 26,
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32. Messer, Andrea (December 19, 2008)."CAT scan reveals inner workings of volcanoisland" (http://news.psu.edu/stor
y/181105/2008/12/19/cat-scan-reveals-inner-workings-volcano-island)
. Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved
August 8, 2017.
33. Newsletter of the Engineering Geology Division of the Geological Society of America (2010), p. 3.
34. Bickford, p. 129.
35. "ICE Publishing Awards 2015" (http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/pages/awards/2015). Institution of Civil Engineers.
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36. "Wilson Award for Excellence in Research"(https://www.ems.psu.edu/node/884). Pennsylvania State University
College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
37. "Thorarinsson Medal" (https://web.archive.org/web/20170729051204/http://www .iavcei.org/iavcei-awards/thorarinsso
n-medal.html). International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior. 2017. Archived from
the original (http://www.iavcei.org/iavcei-awards/thorarinsson-medal.html) on July 29, 2017. Retrieved August 5,
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38. "National Academy of Engineering Elects 84 Members and 22 Foreign Members" (https://www.nae.edu/?id=165210).
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39. McGuire, pp. 11–12.
40. The eruption of Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat from 2000 to 2010(https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/881218984).
Wadge, Geoff; Robertson, Richard E.A.; Voight, Barry. London. ISBN 9781862396302. OCLC 881218984 (https://ww
w.worldcat.org/oclc/881218984).
41. Baxter et al., p. 1051.
42. Baxter, Peter J.; Jenkins, Susanna; Seswandhana, Rosadi; Komorowski, Jean-Christophe; Dunn, Ken; Purser ,
David; Voight, Barry; Shelley, Ian (August 2017). "Human survival in volcanic eruptions: Thermal injuries in
pyroclastic surges, their causes, prognosis and emergency management" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/282
33579). Burns: Journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
. 43 (5): 1051–69.
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