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Liam Toney

Email: ldtoney@alaska.edu
Phone: +1 360 305 8188
Web: liam.earth

Education

University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) | Fairbanks, AK | May 2023 (expected)
Ph.D. in Geophysics

Pomona College | Claremont, CA | December 2017
B.A. cum laude in Physics; minor in Geology

School for International Training | Jaipur, Rajasthan, India | August 2015–December 2015
Sustainable Development and Social Change program

Research Experience

U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Hazards Science Center | Golden, CO | June 2020–present
Student Trainee (Physical Science), Landslide Hazards Program

UAF Geophysical Institute (GI) | Fairbanks, AK | August 2018–present
Graduate Research Assistant

GNS Science | Waikato, New Zealand | April 2018–May 2018
Ashfall Geovisualization Developer

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) | Albuquerque, NM | June 2017–August 2017
R&D Intern, Geophysics Department

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) | Albuquerque, NM | June 2016–August 2016
Summer REU Intern (placement at SNL as part of the IRIS Undergraduate Internship Program)

Teaching Experience

GEOS 431/631 — Foundations of Geophysics | UAF | Fall 2020
Teaching Assistant

GEOS 436/636 — Programming and Automation for Geoscientists | UAF | Fall 2020
Teaching Assistant

Remote Online Sessions for Emerging Seismologists (ROSES) Summer School | August 2020
Instructor

Breakthrough Collaborative | Birmingham, AL | June 2015–July 2015
Teaching Fellow

Pomona College | Claremont, CA | January 2014–May 2016
Teaching Assistant, Physics Department

Publications

  1. Dannemann Dugick, F., van der Lee, S., Prieto, G. A., Dybing, S. N., Toney, L., & Cole, H. (in review). ROSES: Remote Online Sessions for Emerging Seismologists. Seismological Research Letters.

  2. Toney, L., & Allstadt, K. E. (in press). lsforce: A Python-based single-force seismic inversion framework for massive landslides. Seismological Research Letters.

  3. Toney, L., Fee, D., Allstadt, K. E., Haney, M., & Matoza, R. S. (2021). Reconstructing the dynamics of the highly similar May 2016 and June 2019 Iliamna Volcano (Alaska) ice–rock avalanches from seismoacoustic data. Earth Surface Dynamics, 9(2), 271–293. doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-271-2021

  4. Fee, D., Toney, L., Kim, K., Sanderson, R. W., Iezzi, A. M., Matoza, R. S., De Angelis, S., Jolly, A. D., Lyons, J. J., & Haney, M. (2021). Local explosion detection and infrasound localization by reverse time migration using 3-D finite-difference wave propagation. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9. doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.620813

  5. Toney, L., Abbott, R. E., Preston, L. A., Tang, D. G., Finlay, T., & Phillips-Alonge, K. (2019). Joint body- and surface-wave tomography of Yucca Flat, Nevada using a novel seismic source. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 109(5), 1922–1934. doi.org/10.1785/0120180322

Conference Presentations

Toney, L., Fee, D., & Witsil, A. (2020). An assessment of support vector machines for volcanic infrasound signal classification on local scales. Abstract S001-0012 presented at 2020 AGU Fall Meeting, online, 1–17 Dec. (poster)

Fee, D., Toney, L., Matoza, R. S., Sanderson, R. W., Haney, M., Lyons, J. J., Iezzi, A. M., Kim, K., De Angelis, S., Diaz Moreno, A., & Jolly, A. D. (2019). A framework for improved infrasound back-projection on local and regional scales. Abstract S41E-0577 presented at 2019 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 9–13 Dec. (poster)

Toney, L., Fee, D., Allstadt, K. E., Haney, M., & Matoza, R. S. (2019). A tale of two very large avalanches: Probing the limits of seismoacoustic avalanche characterization on Iliamna volcano, Alaska. Abstract S23D-0658 presented at 2019 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 9–13 Dec. (poster)

Toney, L., Fee, D., Haney, M., Matoza, R. S., & Allstadt, K. E. (2019). Seismoacoustic insights from the May 22nd, 2016 Iliamna volcano rock and ice avalanche. Abstract 47 presented at 2019 SSA Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 23–26 April. (poster)

Toney, L., Abbott, R. E., & Preston, L. A. (2017). Joint body-and surface-wave tomography of Yucca Flat, Nevada. Abstract S33A-0854 presented at 2017 AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 11–15 Dec. (poster)

Toney, L., Abbott, R. E., Knox, H. A., Preston, L. A., & Hoots, C. R. (2016). Surface-wave tomography of Yucca Flat, Nevada. Abstract S51A-2744 presented at 2016 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 12–16 Dec. (poster)

Open Source Code Contributions

PyGMT | github.com/GenericMappingTools/pygmt
Contributor

lsforce | code.usgs.gov/ghsc/lhp/lsforce
Co-developer

rtm | github.com/uafgeotools/rtm
Co-developer

sonify | github.com/liamtoney/sonify
Developer

Service

Referee
Surveys in Geophysics

Student Member | March 2021–present
AGU Seismology Section Executive Committee

Co-founder & Member | September 2020–present
GI Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

Vice President | May 2020–present
GI Graduate Student Association (GIGSA)

Treasurer | April 2019–May 2020
GIGSA

Honors & Awards

Secretary of Energy Achievement Award
U.S. Department of Energy (as part of the Source Physics Experiment, Phase II, Dry Alluvium Geology team)

Honorable Mention
John Hunter Excellence in Plotting Contest, SciPy 2020

Distinction in the Senior Exercise
Physics Department, Pomona College

Pomona College Scholar
Pomona College

Tileston Physics Prize
Physics Department, Pomona College

Professional Affiliations

American Geophysical Union | 2016–present

Seismological Society of America | 2019–present

Technical Skills

Coding

Software

Fieldwork

Date Duration Activity Location Role
July–August 2019 4 weeks Seismic and infrasound station installation/maintenance Adak/Atka/Chuginadak/Umnak islands, Alaska, USA Assistant
April 2018 1 day Volcanic gas flux measurement Whakaari/White Island, New Zealand Assistant
April 2018 2 days Microgravity survey Mount Tongariro, New Zealand Assistant
February 2018 1 week Seismic deployment Southland, New Zealand Assistant
July 2016 1 week Active-source seismic survey Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, USA Assistant

Last updated 8 April 2021